BASINGSTOKE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Minutes of meeting held on September 28th 2006
Venue: Cliddesden Primary School

Apologies:
None received.

Welcome: 
The Chairman, Dave Shave-Wall welcomed all to the first meeting of the third season.

Main Item:
Guy M. Hurst “The Astronomer – The Early Years”
Mr Hurst talked about the history and successes of the Astronomer magazine, of which he is Editor. Mr Hurst is also the Director of the UK Nova Patrol and a former BAA President. A very informative and entertaining talk full of encouragement for amateur observers was enjoyed by the large audience.
Questions followed.

Inauguration of Honorary President:
Following his talk Guy M Hurst was presented with a certificate signed by the Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary on behalf of the Society inaugurating him as Honorary President of the Basingstoke Astronomical Society.

Extraordinary General Meeting
An EGM was called at 8.45pm to forward the proposal, circulated to members in advance, to raise the annual subscription fee for members to £12.50 and the visitors meeting fee to £2 per meeting. The proposal was made from the Chair and was seconded by Chester Bates.  There being no objections the motion was carried by the majority vote of members attending.
The Secretary, John Stapleton, explained that the attendance book would be carried around and monies collected and signed off in the book at future meetings. 

Pluto:
A cake baked in honour of the demise of Pluto as a planet was baked by Andria Harbinson and was enjoyed at coffee.

Coffee

Admin.:
Members were reminded that the Treasurer was available to collect subscriptions and that they were now due.
An observations board had been prepared by Brendan Shaw and would become a regular feature for display at meetings.
The chairman had prepared business cards and enquired what members thought of the logo he had used. It was agreed that this image should be adopted as the regular Society logo.
The Society had enjoyed advertising coverage with articles about the Chairman’s observatory appearing in the Basingstoke Gazette and the Sky at Night magazine.  The Society does not yet appear in Astronomy Now magazines listings due to the advance time required by them for publication.  The Secretary expects the Society to appear in future editions.
John Stapleton has received an invitation for a group of about 12 members to visit Sir Patrick Moore at his home in Selsea on November 11th and three places were offered to be filled.  Peter Heath, Bernie Sullivan and Roy ? responded.
The members were made aware of the FAS Convention to take place on September 30th although this date clashes with our own planned Public Open Evening.
The date and venue for the Society Christmas Dinner was confirmed as December 8th at The Fox at North Waltham. £10 deposits were required a.s.a.p.
Leaflets about OU Astronomy courses were made available.
It was suggested that John Stapleton could run a BAS Adult Education course for beginners.
The school is to be visited by the Astronomy Roadshow mobile planetarium and an evening show for the Society is also possible aa show of hands was taken to gauge the level of interest in this event.

What’s Up?:
Due to technical difficulties the “What’s up?” presentation was unavailable.

News:
The Chairman reported a collection of news items gleaned from the web and other sources. Discussion was included.

Item:
John Murphy showed and talked about some of the recent images he had made.

Close:
The meeting closed and members were invited to reconvene at the pub.