Shooting star captured for one in a million Northumberland family portrait

An evening of stargazing has left a Morpeth family with a photo which is simply out of this world.
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Steve Swan, his partner Louise Redpath and their children Harry, 13, and Rose, 11, were soaking up the stargazing event at The Twice Brewed Inn, near Hadrian’s Wall, on Saturday night, and jumped at the chance to get a group shot in front of the amazing aurora display they’d been enjoying.

Little did they know they’d be going home with a once-in-a-lifetime photo, taken by The Twice Brewed’s resident stargazer, Wil Cheung and courtesy of the stunning shooting star which took it upon itself to do a spot of photo bombing.

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Steve said: “We’d already had a fantastic night, stargazing to the south of the pub and then Wil invited us all to go out to the north side as the aurora was looking so amazing.

Steve Swan and Louise Redpath with their children Harry and Rose at The Twice Brewed Stargazing event. Picture: Wil CheungSteve Swan and Louise Redpath with their children Harry and Rose at The Twice Brewed Stargazing event. Picture: Wil Cheung
Steve Swan and Louise Redpath with their children Harry and Rose at The Twice Brewed Stargazing event. Picture: Wil Cheung

“We couldn’t believe it when we saw the photo – ironically, we were the only ones in the group who didn’t get to see the shooting star when it happened – but we have a pretty special photo which captured the moment forever.”

Wil, who heads up the busy stargazing programme at the popular pub and restaurant, which is situated in the heart of the Northumberland Dark Skies Park, said: “I still can’t quite believe the photo caught it so perfectly.

“Getting the aurora in the background; and such a beautiful shooting star travelling across the sky just at the moment the family were posing for a photo – it’s amazing. I know I’ll never take another shot like that again. It’s a real one in a million stuff.”

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The photo is already one of the most liked photos on his Facebook photography page, notching up thousands of thumbs ups within a couple of hours of it being posted.

The aurora at The Twice Brewed stargazing event. Picture: Wil CheungThe aurora at The Twice Brewed stargazing event. Picture: Wil Cheung
The aurora at The Twice Brewed stargazing event. Picture: Wil Cheung

Steve, whose mum booked the stargazing session for the family as a Christmas present, said they’ll be getting the photo printed, framed and on the wall this week.

“Wil sent us a high resolution picture straight away and will be on the wall soon – it’s a really special family memory to have… and we’ll certainly be going back to do more stargazing. We all had a fantastic time.”

Louise is originally from Warkworth.

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