WITH this year’s Exmoor Dark Skies Festival well under way, organisers have appealed for more people to help as marshals at some of the upcoming larger events.

Help is needed with the Horner Astro Party being held on Sunday (October 22) and the Wimbleball Lake Moonlight Walk next Friday (October 27).

Exmoor National Park Authority volunteer and outreach officer Patrick Watts-Mabbott said: “They are fairly easy, mostly standing in a place and counting as people go by, or crossing them off a list.

“Being a dark skies event, you will need to be out in the dark and potentially finishing late.

“The Horner event will be around the farm and car park, but the Wimbleball event will involve being in a small groups at checkpoints spread around the lake, all close to parking points.”

Volunteers for the Horner event will be able to help the park authority’s existing team meet and greet and register families as they arrive and guide them around the site.

The Wimbleball event already has a volunteer and staff team in place but needs ‘a few extra people’ to help marshal the night walk around the lake.

The festival, which is in its seventh year, runs until October 29 and has more than 60 events suitable for all ages.

It is one of the UK’s largest dark skies festivals and helps to make Exmoor one of the top places to visit to learn about the starry skies in what is a designated International Dark Sky Reserve.

The ‘Moonlit Walk for Exmoor’ around Wimbleball is a new festival event this year and those taking part will be raising funds for three Exmoor charities.

Anybody interested in volunteering at the Horner event can sign up here.

Anybody interested in helping at the Wimbleball event can sign up here.

Or, volunteers can call Mr Watts-Mabbott on 07973727469.

Full details of the festival are available here.