IAN McMillan is to pen a poem celebrating the wonders of Yorkshire's dark skies at the invitation of the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Park Authorities.

The Bard of Barnsley – and now Freeman of Barnsley too – will be drawing on his observations of stargazing and hunting down the Aurora Borealis, as well as the special qualities of the night sky in the areas of low light pollution found in both national parks.

The verse will be completed ahead of the two National Parks’ second joint Dark Skies Festival, a week-long event held during February half-term.

"I'm very excited to be illuminating the Dark Skies Festival with the pure light of poetry, the only kind of light that doesn't pollute or distract," says Ian. "My light verse will concentrate the mind and the eyes on the darkness.”

Planning is well underway for the expanded Dark Skies Festival, which will incorporate several new events such as a starlight cross-country run at Cote Ghyll Mill, Osmotherley; a stargazing evening run by the York Astronomical Society at the Yorkshire Arboretum; an opportunity to contribute to a huge dark skies painting at the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes and a family night hike around Semerwater.

A dark skies poetry competition will be open to schools in and around the Yorkshire Dales National Park for all budding bards inspired by Ian McMillan’s words.

The event’s website has gone live at darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk and will provide festival-goers with programme details. The site also has information on how to make the most of the stargazing opportunities in the National Parks, such as visiting one of the six Milky Way Class Dark Sky Discovery sites, Danby, Sutton Bank and Dalby Forest in the North York Moors and Hawes, Malham and Buckden in the Yorkshire Dales. Each has sufficiently dark skies to view the galaxy with the naked eye.