Committee Meeting – 7 December 2009

Meeting minutes — By pcburns on December 14, 2009 at 7:16 pm

Venue

The Held at the home of Steve Woodbridge.

Attendees

John Price (Chairman)
Eric Grieve (Secretary)
Peter Campbell-Burns
Peter West
John Price
Steve Woodbridge
Kevin Pretorius
Danny Thomas

Minutes of the Last Meeting

Minutes of the last meeting were read and accepted.

Actions remaining:

JP to question members on level of interest in day trip. Action by next committee meeting.
EG Decimation of low interest books from Lib. Action by next committee meeting.
EG to speak to Army on future of Aldershot Observatory. Action by next committee meeting.
JP to seek members’ ideas for future programme topics. Action by next committee meeting.

All other actions were cleared or would be covered within reports

Reports

Chairman: The chairman provided a written report that would be presented at the AGM. He highlighted the fact that the Society had been busy during the year. On the point of Committee membership: the post of Secretary as held by Barry Bellinger would be split into Secretary and Programme Secretary. Danny Thomas has been nominated as Secretary and Kevin Pretorius as Programme Secretary. However both agreed that they would cooperate, as and when required, since the roles had a degree of overlap. Danny would also take on the post of Meetings Secretary from Eric Grieve. Eric would produce the minutes for the AGM and then pass any previous meeting information to Danny.

Secretary: Barry was away on business. It is widely known that Barry wished to be released from the committee, because of business commitments. The chairman stated how Barry had been a very successful programme secretary for about ten years and would be sadly missed. However he was confident in the new committee members. John Price said he would be placing on record his thanks to Barry for all this work for the Society. It was agreed that the process of greeting and hosting the visiting speaker should be formalised following Barry’s departure. Action new secretary.

Treasurer: John provided the report that would be issued at the AGM. Whilst the IYA cost £250, it must be remembered that a lot of publicity material still remain

Membership Secretary: Peter Campbell-Burns had provided a comprehensive report for the AGM. Membership, which is level at the moment, but a recruitment drive should soon be mounted.

Webmaster: Peter Campbell-Burns reported the boost to FAS visibility on the Web thanks to Richard Kacherek’s work on the revised Website design. Peter asked for recent photos of all new committee members.

Observing Co-ordinator: Steve reported no action at present, but a post meeting observing session would be planned for the spring.

Librarian: Eric provided a report to be issued at the AGM. 5% increase in book titles held and the loan telescope had been upgraded. Action remains.

Aldershot Observatory: Eric reported one school visit this quarter, no knowledge from the Military on the future of Dome. Action remains.

Committee Vacancies

Chairman was happy to say the Kevin and Danny had offered their services to the committee. The posts of Secretary, programme secretary and meetings secretary would then all be filled.

2010 Programme

The programme for 2010 was progressing well. Barry had just four blanks in the programme. Normally FAS members provide a couple of talks and we must not forget an observing session needs to be programmed in. The vexed question of the “Galaxy Zoo 2010 – Special guest speaker” and a policy for admission to celebrity speaker session was raised. It was agreed that the meeting would be by ticket only. Thus members would be initially offered tickets, then if numbers allow, others would be invited to apply for tickets at the normal price for one night visits (£2). Inviting people like Chris Lintott is for the membership not as a money making scheme. Action required John Price to check maximum seating allowed in hall, H&S? (The maximum figure is reported as 50.) Peter Campbell-Burns to check with Guildford AS the anticipated cost of the speaker. Action remains. Website needs updating with restrictions explained, Chris should now be named. Programme Sec needs to ensure Magazine entry for March 2010 has similar details.

FAS Constitution

John reminded all that this was a living document, the agreed committee post names will require updating and published on the website after the AGM. Action John Price to amend.

Outreach Activities

As mentioned in his report, Peter Campbell-Burns felt the Fleet carnival offered a good opportunity to the society, plan required to act on this.

SAGAS Issues

We now pay £15 per year membership. Farnham is to chair the next quarterly meeting; Donal McDonnell and John Moore have kindly agreed to give a presentation.

AGM Issues

All office reports would be placed on the Societies website.

AOB

hairman to thank Joy Shenton, with suitable gift, at AGM for all her help in providing the monthly meeting refreshments. Steve was thanked for providing the committee with tea and a nice Christmas tree to sit by!

Date of Next Meeting

It was proposed that an FAS meetings calendar be published on the website, to include general meetings and committee meetings at the beginning of the year. After some discussion it was agreed that committee meetings should be quarterly and set for the first Monday on the month. The next would be on Monday 1st March 2010. General meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month. Danny Thomas has agreed to take over the post of Meetings Secretary following the AGM.