Solar eclipse stuns crowds across Britain as viewers packed out parks after queueing 3hrs for sun-safe glasses

THE solar eclipse stunned crowds across the country yesterday with a once-in-a-generation display. London’s Greenwich Park was packed with viewers — some lucky enough to have got their hands on sun-safe glasses, others improvising the best they could. Light dims as thousands sit spellbound in Greenwich Park, South-East London Credit: Story Picture Agency The solar eclipse seen from Sheerness, Kent Credit: Alamy Heeding warnings not to look directly at the sun, one fan took expert advice to use a colander’s shadow to track the progress of the moon. Excited kids used cereal boxes to make pinhole viewers, including in Tynemouth on the North East coast. Sign up for the Tech newsletter Thank you! At the other end of England, gazers took to pleasure boats to take part off Falmouth, Cornwall. And one bloke even donned a welding mask to watch in Lickey Hills Country Park, Birmingham. Eclipse watchers take in the spectacle on a pleasure boat in Falmouth, Cornwall Credit: Getty Excited kids used cereal boxes to make pinhole viewers, including in Tynemouth on the North East coast Credit: PA In Cardiff Bay, Master’s student Will O’Grady, 36, shared his specially-equipped telescope with passers-by. He said: “Loads of kids loved it. It’s nice for people who are clearly visiting from another country as well. Their English is not great, but you get the idea of ‘Have a look’.” However, in Scotland clouds obscured the eclipse across much of the country. Thousands had gathered at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, hoping to snap up eclipse glasses. Most read in Tech The three-hour queue snaked hundreds of feet from the door of its gift shop in temperatures of 32C. The Observatory had to put up a sign outside saying it had sold out after flogging 15,000. It had ordered an extra 5,000 and customers were limited to just two each. Demand for safe specs was so high that thousands of hopefuls had desperately queued through the night outside a convenience store in Whitechapel, East London. Ali Raza, who owns AM2PM, said: “We had people coming from Surrey, Southend-on-Sea . . . “Yesterday night a lady came from Southampton, and loads of people have come from Birmingham as well. Using the colander technique to witness the historic event Credit: LNP A viewer uses a welder’s helmet to take in the display Credit: News Group Newspapers ltd “I already sold 6,000 pairs and at 2.30am we had a delivery from Spain, then by 9.30am we sold out everything.” Long lines formed in Weymouth, Dorset, from 6am as locals and holidaymakers tried to get their hands on a pair. Online stores had run out of the cardboard specs or were boosting them to astronomical prices — some topping £100 a pair. One canny trader flogged stock to commuters from the back of a van outside Waterloo train station in London. A stall in Old Spitalfields Market sold out in a matter of hours before being replaced by entrepreneurial teens reselling the coveted specs for £20 a pop. In Saltburn, Teesside, Rob Hen­derson stocked up with 750 pairs to help promote his architecture business. But his offer quickly went viral on social media and people drove from up to two hours away to get some. Rob said: “I had to stop work on my main job to hand out the glasses as it’s become so popular. “We ran out within four hours but I saved a couple of pairs for me and my son.” John Lewis said colander sales increased 40 per cent after the kitchen utensil was recommended as a way to watch the eclipse by viewing the shadows cast through its holes. A spokesman added: “Unlike eclipse glasses, you can use it to strain your spaghetti for dinner afterwards.” The last time an eclipse obscured 90 per cent of the sun over the UK was in 1999. Dhara Patel, a space expert at the National Space Centre, described it as “incredible” to be able to witness it, adding: “We’ve had solar eclipses over the last couple of years, about 30 per cent coverage. “They’ve been good, but this is definitely a different scale.” But not everyone was impressed. Rav Roberts, in Esher, Surrey, wrote on X: “It was rubbish”. Chris Beckett wrote: “Not a patch on the apocalyptic stonker of ’99.” Sue B said: “I thought it was just me, sat indoors and suddenly realised it had been and gone and I never even noticed!” Comment now