| Attendees: | Committee: Kevin Pretorius. Nigel Thomas, Peter Hall, David Hepper, plus members |
| Apologies: | Committee: Danny Thomas, Andrew Collins |
| Minutes: | Committee: Kevin Pretorius |
Note: These minutes are published on our website, and provide a summary of the reports, discussions, and election results of the AGM. Our financial statement and the full text of our committee member reports are available to members of the society upon request.
Welcome by the President
John Price opened the AGM with a few personal thoughts and introduced the agenda.
Committee Members’ Reports
Kevin Pretorius – Chairman, Programme Secretary, Telescope Librarian and acting Club Secretary
Kevin summarised his various roles and thanked the committee and other volunteers for their hard work in running the society, and our in-house speakers for their talks.
He highlighted his involvement in the Blackwater and Hawley Fayre; opening the observatory for Alex Baker (MP for Aldershot); and participating in the very successful and popular Heritage Weekend this year. He has also supported an Outreach event; hosted an Observing Night. He developed new software to produce finder charts (for our Observing nights) and a database to support and manage our Schedule.
He highlighted the free publicity given to us in the December edition of Astronomy Now.
He encouraged members to make more use of the telescope library.
Danny Thomas – Webmaster
(Danny’s report was read by Kevin)
Danny reported that the website is running smoothly, but emphasised the need to remain vigilant against hackers, as we receive about 1000 attempted attacks per month. None have been successful.
Danny has advised the society on its PLI insurance, recommending the Federation of Astronomy Societies’ policy offering no less cover than our prior policy at lower cost. He has renewed our agreement with the MOD for use of the observatory and supported the Heritage weekend opening of the observatory.
Danny has stepped down from the role of Secretary at SAGAS, but continues to represent Farnham AS at these meetings, and to run their website.
David Hepper – Membership Secretary
David summarised his role as membership secretary in supporting members and joiners with their subscription renewals, tracking attendance at meetings and reporting numbers to the committee. Thanks to MemberMojo much of the admin of membership management is automated.
We currently have 88 members, essentially the same as this time last year, with new joiners matching leavers.
Andrew Collins – Outreach Coordinator & Club Secretary
(Andrew’s report was read by Kevin)
Andrew summarised his role in running outreach events with youth groups and in opening the Observatory to the public for events. Some 11 event were planned, but only half proceeded due to weather conditions.
The Aldershot Telescope remains a popular draw for the public, and Garner’s field is a popular location for stargazing events with scouts and guides.
Andrew noted that he had had 9 enjoyable years in this role but will not be standing for re-election this year.
Nigel Thomas – Observing Coordinator
Nigel reported that with additional dates on the observing schedule, we managed to run 5 observing nights last season, and thanked Kevin and Andrew for running two of those events. This season, the weather has been less favourable, and no events have yet been run.
Nigel has renewed our licence to use the observing site for another year and reported very good relations with the owners.
Nigel expressed some disappointment with the small numbers of attendees at these events, and would like to see more, but nevertheless commented that these were always fun, social get togethers for both observers and imagers.
Nigel has introduced additional flexible arrangements for visual observers to attend, but this too has stimulated less interest than he had hoped.
Nigel explained that whilst he is happy to run the observing sessions until the end of this season, he will not be standing for re-election to this role.
Peter Hall – Treasurer
Peter summarised some of the main financial factors affecting our balance sheet over the year.
One of the bigger itemised costs was for the repair of our solar telescope, which is now working well. We made savings on insurance costs by switching back to the Federation of Astronomy Societies’ PLI policy, and we came in under budget for speaker fees.
Last year we announced a plan to spread a necessary subscription fee increase from £15 to £25 over two years. Whilst our performance this year has been a little better than forecast, our balance is still in the red and with some known increases in costs for next year, the committee has decided to continue with that plan. Our single adult membership will rise to £25 for the coming membership year, with other subscription options adjusted similarly.
There was some discussion about the right level of reserves to hold, but the annual subscription was still noted to be good value and to compare favourably with other societies.
Peter thanked the committee for their help and guidance throughout the year.
Election of Committee Members
Following the normal AGM process, members were asked to approve the election of the Committee through a show of hands. As above, Nigel and Andrew were not standing for re-election, but Ian Poyner stood for Secretary, and Steve Woodbridge for Observing Coordinator.
The following nominees were duly elected to the following roles for 2025.
- Chairman – Kevin Pretorius
- Programme Secretary – Kevin Pretorius
- Webmaster – Danny Thomas
- Membership Secretary – David Hepper
- Telescope Librarian – Kevin Pretorius
- Outreach Coordinator – none.
- Observing Coordinator – Steve Woodbridge
- Secretary – Ian Poyner
- Treasurer – Peter Hall
Thank Yous
Kevin expressed thanks on behalf of the committee for everyone who has helped with the society in any way, and made particular mention of the following individuals, and awarded them small gifts…
- Chris Reed – for preparing our newsletter
- Lynne Watson & Robert Barnard – for running our tea room and organising our buffet
- Gos – for running the bar and setting up the room each month
Any Other Business
Kevin announced that the Child Protection Policy has been revised – primarily to require that Young People under the age of 18 need to be accompanied on Observing Nights.
Kevin invited everyone to make the most of their membership and to take part in as many society events and activities in 2026 as they can. Come to the talks, get along to observing nights, and volunteer at outreach events.
Kevin also announced that the 2026 Speaker Programme is now completed and will soon be available on the website.