Britain’s first astronaut, Helen Sharman, recently visited our Broughton Moor Quarry to collect a piece of Cumbrian stone that will become part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Children’s Meeting Place at the United Nations office in Nairobi.
The visit was organised by Cumbria Geoconservation, a Special Interest Group of Cumbria Wildlife Trust, working with Burlington Stone Quarry Manager Ian Kelly after helping Dr Sharman select a suitable stone.
The anniversary will be marked during a ceremony on United Nations Peace Day, 21 September 2026.
Globetree is a Swedish organisation that strives to be a meeting place between children and adults in search of answers to children’s questions about the future. Since 2001, its Children’s Meeting Place has welcomed children from around the world in the grounds of the United Nations office in Nairobi. Astronauts from other countries are also expected to contribute stones for this special anniversary.
Helen Sharman said:
“I am delighted to be able to contribute such a meaningful and beautiful stone to the 25th anniversary of the Children’s Meeting Place and I am grateful to Burlington Stone for their generosity in allowing this to happen.
“Millions of years ago, lava from volcanoes formed spectacular mountains in what is now the UK’s Lake District. Much later, during the last ice age, glaciers transported boulders of this same rock found at Burlington’s quarries near Coniston, depositing those boulders on the ground when the ice melted.
“Neolithic people used some of these boulders to form one of the UK’s earliest stone circles: Castlerigg, in Cumbria. Like many people today, I have enjoyed the atmospheric beauty of the Castlerigg stones in their panoramic mountainous setting, wondering about their meaning to various people over the years and the life history of the stones themselves.
“This stone from Broughton Moor Quarry reminds me that the Earth is constantly changing and that we are all connected through the planet, through people, and through time.”
It was a privilege to welcome Helen to Broughton Moor Quarry and to help her select a piece of Cumbrian stone for such a significant international project. It’s fascinating to think that a stone with a geological history stretching back hundreds of millions of years will become part of a place dedicated to encouraging future generations to think about peace, the planet and our shared future.