William and Frances Dobie Charitable Foundation

Funding our mobile planetarium

William and Frances Dobie chose to give though their will by creating a charitable trust to 
donate to the charities and causes which they supported during their lifetime. William 
(Advanced Physics and Electronics, Kings College, 1950) always fondly remembered his 
Durham days, and wanted to give something back to help others. Both he and Frances cared 
deeply about inspiring and aiding people to access education, particularly in the areas of 
Science and Music. 

Part of their generous gift is being used to help fund a largescale upgrade to the 
software in our mobile planetarium. The mobile planetarium is an inflatable, dome-shaped theatre, designed to give exciting, educational and immersive experiences. 
Using a specialised projector, it allows us to transport groups of up to 25 people on a 
captivating journey into the solar system and beyond. The mobile planetarium has 
played an important role in our science engagement work in the local community for 
over 20 years.

The relatively light weight of the planetarium allows our team of volunteers to easily 
transport it across North East England, and it is offered free of charge to schools and 
community groups across the local area. Over a typical year, the planetarium enthrals 
over 700 school-aged children, as well as inspiring and engaging participants at 
community events, including our own Celebrate Science festival.

This generous gift from William and Frances Dobie has helped shape the future of the 
planetarium.

• Read more about our Science engagement work.
• Read more about our Physics engagement work.

Our aim is to make STEM subjects exciting and accessible to children and adults of all backgrounds, across the North East.  If you would be interested in supporting the upgrades to our mobile planetarium please contact our team.