GAZING at the stars is not reserved for readers of celebrity magazines these days, even though the art of astronomy is thought by some to have died when the space race was won, writes Victoria Minett.

In fact, a dedicated band of night-sky devotes have been monitoring the stars over Stratford for almost ten years and they are doing their best to stir up a little more interest.

Winston Hallett was instrumental in founding the Stratford Astronomical Society back in 1993, when a band of six enthusiasts gathered together at the Shakespeare Hotel to talk stars.

Since then, he has seen the society grow into a body with a strong membership and its own observatory at Bidford - it even won a Lottery grant of £3,500 to pay for new equipment.

Mr Hallett has been interested in the stars since he was a boy staring out of his bedroom window, but said that he was not alone.

"In the old days, we were all interested in the stars and the sky as it tells us where we came from and where we can go," he said.

"It is not like it is now, most children aren't really interested, which is a shame."

His interest stayed with him for years and years, but it wasn't until he was 68-years-old that he saw the society established.

Now aged 75, Mr Hallett remembers when the society was literally a group of friends that met in a pub, but they all handed over £10 each to help the new body get off the ground.

A base was found at the Home Guard Club in Tiddington, which was chosen because it has few street lights, thus making it much easier to see the stars, and because it has a licensed bar!

The group started with meetings once a month, with talks from top astronomers and scientists, taking the experienced stargazers to new levels of knowledge.

However, said Mr Hallett, it was acknowledged that newcomers might like to join and would not be able to comprehend the scientifically advanced sessions.

A new monthly event was born for newcomers and those who wish to brush up their telescopic skills and is still running today, but Mr Hallett said, there is a sad lack of children turning up to these sessions.

"It would be wonderful to see more children taking an interest in what is a fascinating science," he said.

"People forget that astronomy was the first science, we discovered the speed of light, gravity and Einstein's theory of relativity from the stars."

He hopes that more people will take up the hobby, which has led to some magical experiences.

Mr Hallett said top of his list of sightings were the rings around Saturn, which were breathtakingly beautiful, and the moons of Jupiter.

You cannot see the rings or moons without magnification, however, if you look east tonight (Thursday), the brightest star in the sky is Jupiter and when you have found that, look to the right and slightly higher in the sky is Saturn, both fascinating sights.

Of course, one of the most controversial topics for any astronomer has to be the concept of life forms existing on other planets and Mr Hallett is almost a believer.

"Think of it like this, there are 100,000 million stars in our galaxy, and 100,000 million galaxies in our universe - they are high numbers and it is hard to believe that we are on the only planet with life," he said.

However, Mr Hallett points out that the conditions for achieving life are so complicated that if there is anybody out there, there are not many of them.