The Summer Solstice is on its way, taking place on what we call the longest day of the year, and we on the Shotley peninsula will be among the first in the UK to see it occur.

The Summer Solstice occurs when one of the earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the sun, so therefore it reaches its highest position in the sky and is the day with the longest period of daylight.

In 2021, this day will be Monday June 21 and it is interesting to note the difference in times for sunrise and sunset across the country, with Lowestoft, the most easterly point in the UK, kicking us off at 4.31am.

Nub News has websites in towns across England and Wales, and the hours of daylight differ significantly between them.

For instance, our town furthest to the east is Felixstowe, where sunrise will be at 4.34am and sunset at 9.18pm, closely followed by the Shotley peninsula and then Hadleigh at 4.36am.

However in Falmouth, which is the furthest west town that has a Nub News site, sunrise will not be until 5.10am and sunset at 9.33pm.

Since pre-history, the summer solstice has been seen as a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals.

Traditionally, the summer solstice is seen as the middle of summer and referred to as "midsummer". Today, however, in some countries and calendars it is seen as the beginning of summer.

In 2021 the summer solstice, which is a one-off time on the longest day and not the whole day itself, will happen at 4.31am in Lowestoft.

The Solstice is the beginning of the astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere and it ends with the autumn equinox on September 22.

Solstice marks almost equal duration of day and night as the Sun crosses the Line of Equator and moves over the Northern Hemisphere.

A number of ancient celebrations are associated with the June Solstice. People used the day to organise calendars and farmers marked the day with sowing or harvesting of crops.

Many historians say, Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument in England, is an evidence of humans using June Solstice as a way of setting the time of the year.

According to the timeanddate.com, "In ancient China, the Summer Solstice was observed by a ceremony to celebrate the Earth, femininity, and the 'yin' forces. It complemented the Winter Solstice that celebrated the heavens, masculinity and 'yang' forces."

In Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, Summer Solstice is a time of midsummer night festivities as this is the time when countries near the Arctic enjoy the midnight sun.

There are two solstices each year - one in the winter and one in the summer.

The summer solstice occurs when the tilt of Earth's axis is most inclined towards the sun and is directly above the Tropic of Cancer.

The event signals the moment the sun's path stops moving northward in the sky, and the start of days becoming steadily shorter as the slow march towards winter begins.

However, we won't notice the days becoming shorter for a while.

The shortest day of the year isn't until Monday, December 21, known as the winter solstice; it lasts for 7 hours and 50 minutes in Britain, which is 8 hours, 48 minutes shorter than the June solstice.

At the winter solstice, the earth's axis is tilted furthest away from the sun directly over the Tropic of Capricorn bringing only a few hours of daylight.

In the southern hemisphere the dates of the two solstices are reversed. The winter solstice occurs on the same day in June and the summer solstice the same day in December.

The term "solstice" derives from the Latin word "solstitium", meaning "sun standing still".

Astrologers say the sun seems to "stand still" at the point on the horizon where it appears to rise and set, before moving off in the reverse direction.