O.A.S. mentioned in Canadian astronomy clubs newsletter

[Canadian Roger]

Those of you who attended the August 28th meeting at BEECHE may remember me: the guy from Canada.  I've been a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada since 1970.  The society is composed of 29 different groups, or "Centres" across Canada and I'm a member of the Hamilton Centre.

I'm the fellow who is the editor of "Orbit", our newsletter (in it's 46th year of publication), which normally means that I get to write 80% of it.  Although I do my best to make sure that the content of it reflects the interests of as many people as possible, there's no denying the accusation that it sometimes reads like "What Roger has done recently" (My response has always been that "I publish just about everything that is sent to me!").

This is very much the case with the most recent issue, and it means there is a two page article on the O.A.S. in the newsletter

Normally, the newsletter of the Hamilton Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada can be found on our web site - www.hamiltonrasc.ca , but we're having problems with it at the moment.

So I placed it on the "weebly" site I'll be using to distribute supplemental materials for the course I run for them:   http://hamiltonrascnova.weebly.com .  You can download it at http://hamiltonrascnova.weebly.com/uploads/3/9/0/3/39033593/orbsep14.pdf

My apologies in advance for not mentioning many names.  I didn't take notes, and I'm really awful at remembering names and faces.   This does NOT mean that I didn't thoroughly enjoy the meeting...far from it.  The next time I visit my daughter in Bromley, I'll be timing the visit so I can drop by BEECHE again.

[Rick]

Thanks for the newsletter, Roger. Good reading. Glad you enjoyed your visit.

[Canadian Roger]

One thing that I noticed was that there had been a couple of people who had been to my neck of the woods.  Carole (who shares a name with the lead singer of a Toronto band called Rough Trade), and someone who had been to a place called Lion Head (nice dark skies there!).

If anyone from the O.A.S. finds themselves over here and would like to spend an evening with our C14, or 16" RC, I'd love to be able to return the hospitality I was shown.

[Carole]

Very interesting read Roger, I had no idea you had found me previously via my website.  Sorry I didn't go to the pub but was feeling very tired that night, I think I had had a few busy days. 

As for EQMod, I only use it basically, you'd do better to ask the guys they are far more technical than I am and I am sure there are more things you can do with it that I don't use, and yes if I ever visit Burlington again I must do it in the fall (we just missed that), and hope to see the aurora and come to your local group meeting.  As I am sure you realise we passed through Hamilton a few times but mainly on the freeways.

Carole

[Canadian Roger]

Carole...

I could have done with another page, or two, to discuss some of the differences I found, and the many similarities.

Hmmm...since I'm always looking for things to write about, perhaps I'll save that for a future issue.

One of the things I found interesting was that you get a very large fraction, or even a majority, of your members out to meetings.

I'd love to know if this is the case in other similar groups in the UK, or if it's something special that you do.  For instance, we count ourselves fortunate if we get a quarter of our members out to a meeting (we have about 120 members all told).  The other Centres in the RASC are similar.

So, is this something we're doing wrong, the OAS doing right, a difference in "culture" between North America and the UK, or some combination of all three?

[Carole]

I don't think it's a difference across the pond, many of our guest speakers comment on what good attendance we have compared with other UK groups.  I don't think we had anything like as many attend as usual at the last meeting as I think many must have been on holiday.  Normally the hall is packed out. 

Not even sure why we are different to other groups in this respect. 

Carole

[Canadian Roger]

So people come out because the meetings are enjoyable.

Why are the meetings enjoyable?

Because people come out to them, of course!


It's an enviable position to be in!

[Rick]

Having interesting talks helps. Having a social coffee break helps. Having members mostly living within not that many miles helps. Most of all, having enthusiastic sociable members helps.

[ApophisAstros]

as a relatively new member i also find everyone brings something different
to the party , i have learnt a lot by meeting different people.
just wish id joined 20 years ago!
roger

[Canadian Roger]

Roger...

I know what you mean.  I was fortunate in that I joined my club in 1970, as a teenager.  A good part of how I define myself is as an amateur astronomer, and a member of my club.   

Amateur astronomy, though, is a great hobby, and the longer you're involved in it, the more areas you get a chance to explore.  From variable star observing, sketching the Moon and planets, astrophotography, eclipse chasing (I've been to three total solar eclipses and one annular), public outreach, to educator, I've had a chance to try all sorts of things.   Fortunately, my club has been large enough (most of the time) that there was always someone to learn new things from.

The O.A.S. looks like a great group, with a lot of enthusiastic members and a wide variety of interests.  I think you are lucky to have found them!