The transit of Venus on June 4, 2012, was presented through NASA beam-back from Hawaii at the fully packed Church of St Michael and All the Angels in Much Hoole. Jeremiah Horrocks lived at Much Hoole, and may have been a lay reader at the church at the time he observed the Venus transit in 1639.
Before the start of the transit, Robert Walsh (a member of the JHI) presented the history and science of the importance of the observations at the St Michael School. At the time of the first contact, Julia Usher’s duet for clarinet and saxophone, specifically composed for this event, was presented at the church, in front of an audio-visual installation designed by UCLAN fine art student David Henckel. The music was broadcasted throughout the world via NASA TV.