NWGAS Minutes -- Saturday, 19th February, 2000

The meeting was held in room 542 at the Maxwell Building of Salford University, C/o Salford AS.

Representatives from Liverpool AS, Altrincham AS, Salford AS and Manchester AS were present. Apologies for absence were received verbally from Chester AS and Preston AS.

Minutes of the last NWGAS meeting, held at the invitation of Liverpool Astronomical Society, were read.

In view of Kevin Kilburn’s decision to stand down as NWGAS Secretary, a vote of thanks was recorded. KJK said that at a recent meeting of the Liverpool AS, at which his decision had been communicated, Richard Sargent (Chester AS) had agreed to take over as Secretary, pending approval from the NWGAS delegates. Unfortunately Richard could not be present at the Salford meeting but he was unanimously accepted as the new Secretary. KJK agreed to take these Minutes and to pass them onto Richard.

There followed a general discussion re the ongoing aims of the NWGAS. It was felt that after six years the regular quarterly meetings to discuss the general management of the NW societies was still beneficial and slowly growing in usefulness. It allowed issues affecting individual societies to be aired and to be put into a general perspective. Ron Kelley, the NWGAS representative to the FAS, said that the NW Group was still perceived to be one of the most organised of the regional groups. The agreement that members of the NWGAS could freely attend each other’s meetings was seen as being very positive and allowed informal exchange of ideas and observations at a personal level within the societies. It was thought, however, that individual members of societies were not always aware of this agreement owing to poor communication within each society. This needed to be addressed, as some societies tended to exist as closed communities, intent on their own self-interest, without taking into account the wider perspective of amateur astronomy and shared ideas.

It was observed that the Chairmen of the NWGAS member societies were often unawares of the Group and that a letter should be sent to them, individually, inviting more involvement and co-operation. One suggestion was that joint visits to astronomical centres could be arranged to mutual benefit.

In summary, the function of the NWGAS was:

Both Liverpool and Manchester AS had long-established track records of organising local society conventions. This would continue. But because Liverpool had been temporarily evicted from its meeting room at the Museum, Manchester would have to temporarily continue the tradition alone. Tony Cross (MAS) said that the IAU meeting in Manchester in August 2000 would attract a great deal of attention to the city but, because of this, AD2000 might be unsuitable for the organisation of an Autumn amateur convention. He would look into it and report back.

  CfDS

Gerard Gilligan said that Liverpool Councillor Robert Osborne had taken on the role of CfDS rep for LAS but to date GG had been unable to see if he would also be prepared to represent the NWGAS.

At the last meeting, Gerard proposed that Colin Henshaw (Altrincham AS) take on the job of NWGAS CfDS rep. After some deliberation, Colin said that he felt that his rather direct approach to local councils re lighting might have a rather less than sympathetic ear. Diplomacy was not his style! Tony Cross said that this was academic now that Colin had taken on a teaching job in Saudi Arabia.

Gerard suggested contacting Bob Mizon of the BAA CfDS to appoint a co-opted member to join the NWGAS.

  Federation of Astronomical Societies

Next FAS meeting was 26th February. Ron Kelley would be there.

1. Observatory insurance: The FAS were bitterly disappointed re the response to the long negotiations necessary to arrange this with the insurers. Only four societies nation-wide had bothered to complete the forms and although there had been 32 other enquiries, this was far below the expected interest. It was therefore not viable. Much more commitment was necessary before further discussion would be even considered.

2. Public Liability Insurance. Late payers were threatening the continuance of this scheme because additional costs were being charged to the FAS by the insurers every time that late payers were added to the cover. It is very important that to minimise administration costs, all societies pay their subscription on time.

3. Starwatch UK. Work-experience students have been employed to work on the data.

4. The FAS needs an assistant Treasurer. Applicants are needed.

5. Minutes of the FAS meetings are not published but Ron Kelley will make available those items that can be disseminated.

  NWGAS on the WWW

http://www.manastro.co.uk/nwgas/

WWW access statistics for October 1999 - December 1999 inc: 

Society                            Oct       Nov       Dec** 

  NWGAS                            198       252       211
    Altrincham & Dist AS*          36        48        38
    Blackpool & Dist AS*           49        48        38
    Bolton                         60        58        54
    Chester AS                     55        57        57
    Furness AS*                    36        33        32
    Gwynedd AS                     19        23        16
    Liverpool AS*                  33        38        29
    Macclesfield AS*               73        74        75
    Manchester AS*                 24        28        26
    Preston & Dist AS*             21        31        17
    Salford AS                     24        37        25
    Southport AS                   29        31        25

Some other sites I also maintain...

  SPA                              1308      1916      1738
  Manchester AS                    1846      2739      2263
** December shows only 3 weeks figures due to a stats problem at U-NET.

*Indicates societies that also have their own web site.

CfDS
The CfDS web site is now... http://www.dark-skies.freeserve.co.uk

History of Astronomy
http://www.u-net.com/ph/astro-history/
I am looking for any material about astronomers that you can't find elsewhere on the internet. If you have any or know of someone, please take a look at the site to see what is currently there. Perhaps you could add to it. If you can help please contact me.

Other WWW Notes
Salford AS now have a new web site at http://www.salfordastro.org.uk

Updates - Please send me updated notices of meetings and any corrections, so that I can keep the web pages up to date.

Michael Oates
E-mail:
Home page: http://www.ph.u-net.com

  Society Reports

Liverpool AS reported that the Croxteth Park star party had not been well attended this year. Saturday had 150 visitors but rain and the fact that it clashed with Patrick Moore giving a talk in Liverpool, had affected attendance. Sunday was clear but the attendance was low.

Salford AS. Kath Redford asked to what magazines and affiliations societies subscribed. Salford subscribed to Steve Bennet’s Starchaser rocket society; the Society for Popular Astronomy; the BAA, and Astronomy Now. Following discussion it was agreed that Astronomy Now and Sky&Telescope represented good UK and US / international perspectives on contemporary astronomy. For the recorded documentation of collected amateur astronomical observations, the Journal of the BAA was a sound historical reference. The Manchester AS has S&T going back to the late 1940s; a full set of JBAA going back to 1891, and bound volumes of the RAS Monthly Notices spanning a century, between the 1850s and the 1950s. Liverpool AS has similar historical records. Kevin Kilburn said that for research purposes such libraries were gold mines of information and should be treasured.. (As an afterthought, our libraries could, and should, be made available for reference to NWGAS member societies. KJK)

Kath also asked what subscription rates were being charged to members of our societies. Salford membership was £12.50 with half price to retired, unemployed and junior members. Manchester was putting its membership fee up from £12.50 to £15.00 with half price for those under 16. Altrincham’s fee is £15.00. Liverpool charges £10.00 and half price for juniors (but also charges for the news letter). A general consensus was that fees had to cover running costs, publications, observatory/meeting room expenses, whilst leaving a bit over for books, instruments for loan, etc. What could be charged depended on local affluence, membership size and facilities offered to the members, including the frequency of meetings. No two societies in the NWGAS were the same in these respects, but for a typical subscription averaging 25-30p per week, it was felt that members were getting good value for money.

Manchester AS. Kevin Kilburn said that he had been researching the history of the MAS and the British Interplanetary Society (founded by P.E.Cleator in Liverpool in 1933) and is in e-mail contact with an MAS Honorary Member, Eric Burgess. Eric joined the MAS in 1934 but has lived in California since 1956. He is now 80 years old but was Manchester’s first ‘Rocket Man’, having launched solid-fuelled rockets from an inner Manchester suburb in 1936, until he was arrested for contravening the Explosives Act of 1875. (He got away with it!) He was the first signatory and the first post-war Chairman, in 1946, of the newly-incorporated, British Interplanetary Society, Ltd. His friend, Arthur C Clark became its second Chairman, in 1947, (despite what he says). Following Arthur Clark’s proposal in 1945 for manned geo-stationary space stations as extra-terrestrial radio and TV relays, Eric suggested using solar-powered , automatic satellites for orbiting telecommunications, the following year. History has shown Eric to be the more correct in his prediction. He is credited by NASA for co-inventing, with Charles A Cross, in 1952, the term interplanetary ‘probe’, which we now all take for granted. It was also Eric Burgess who over dinner, in November, 1971, first suggested to Carl Sagan that NASA should put a plaque, from all humanity, on Pioneer 10, the first interplanetary probe to leave the solar system. He last visited the MAS in 1978, when in the UK as science advisor to the James Bond movie, Moonraker.

  Next NWGAS meeting

11am, Saturday, 20th May, 2000 at the Godlee Observatory C/o Manchester A/S.

Please remember that these meetings usually last about 3hours and are attended by only one or two delegates; not necessarily, but often including the chairman or secretary from each of the member societies. The meetings are deliberately kept informal and although host societies are usually those that have free access to a meeting room, this is not strictly necessary. A quiet room in a local pub would do. Regular attendees of NWGAS meetings have repeatedly asked that societies who cannot otherwise attend, be invited to host meetings. The aim being to encourage participation from all NWGAS societies and give us old hacks a chance of a day out in places other than Liverpool, Manchester, Salford or Chester.

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