Peak Star Party 2012

[jamespels]

Hi all,

just to let you know PSP2012 is definitely going ahead, but I have had a small hiccup (got made redundant - anybody looking for a technical project manager in the Midlands?!) that means I haven't been able to put as much time into it as I would have liked.

Provisional details:

- 19 - 22 October (incorporates International Astronomy Day Part 2 on the Friday; Orionids meteor shower; almost no moon)

- same location, pending final negotiations with Shallow Grange

- same prices, barring some minor tweaks (we lost out to PayPal and other fees on the additional people in each pitch last year)

- catering through the weekend to cope with day visitors a lot better

- huge 20m x 20m marquee for trade stands, exhibition, workshops, talks, etc.

- possibly a formal imaging workshop (tbc on this).

We are working on the final bits and bobs at the moment and will definitely have at least a simple website and booking form available by the New Year.

Thanks for your patience, everybody!

James.

[cotterless45]

Briiliant ! many thanks for all your work in putting this together.

It would be superb to get the same pitches again.

[Patbloke]

Top class James, I have started a small society at work and would like to book a few pitches together (same location as last time would be great especially next to Cotterless45 (SAS))

I can't wait yippee

[Jiggy 67]

Count me in, be good to see you again Patbloke. Sorry to hear about the redundancy James, I'm sure you will be sorted soon

[Moonshane]

Definitely interested again. Will hope to get there a bit earlier this time - better planning on my part!! Removal of my front seat a requisite unless I can get a bigger car by then!

[Stu]

Count me in too! Would actually prefer to be at the top of the field, nearer the action this time - maybe that way I will wake up if there are clear skies :-)

Stu

[kharga]

The PSP is mentioned in Asronomy Now Jan2012 (page 72). Shame they don't know where the Peak District is on their map!!

[George!]

Here we go again

[kharga]

....and a write-up on page 90 of Astronomy Now!

[nightfisher]

would be nice to do it again

[ismangil]

I will plan to camp this time! Day visit is fine last time this time I want more...

I kept in touch with Ian Poyser, resulting in a finder scope project ongoing... Please don't forget to invite him again.

[George!]

Ive gotta think about this later

[jamespels]

So, anyone fancy a star party in the Peak District?

I'm about a month early, but I think that's how it all started last time round...!

[kharga]

See C'est la vie: UCAS, star parties and a flight to remember! for a write-up of the PSP and other things!!!

[Uplooker]

I am certainly interested in attending again. As someone has already mentioned, I too would really like to have the same pitch as 2011 - Pitch 24 in the Camping Field please, nudge nudge, wink wink :-)

[altruythm]

This is a definate for me! I had a wonderful time this year. The farm campsite was brilliant, and I had a brief chat with the farmer too - what a great guy!

James, if I could provisionally book pitch 4 on the overflow field again (as long as it still has EHU) it would be appreciated. As soon as the booking page goes live I shall make the payment immediately.

Thanks for all your hard work organising the 2011 PSP and thanks for sorting out 2012 too James. Also thanks to the Pauls for their massive input.

[imarcs]

Yep, count me in too. Had a blast last time and deffo up for the same again this coming year.

[ismangil]

So, anyone fancy a star party in the Peak District?

I'm about a month early, but I think that's how it all started last time round...!

Book me an electric pitch please!

[jamespels]

Quick shout out for some help -

if anyone is familiar with setting up Joomla! (v1.7), particularly on Lime Domains / Goto Names (a hosted LAMP stack), can you drop me a PM please? I am having a hellish time getting the e-mail settings sorted out!

On a similar note, the same goes for virtuemart. I am trying to get v2.0 set up on the above Joomla! site and failing miserably - we can launch with manual ticket management and cheques only but would prefer to have online bookings!

All of this is an effort to write a stable website and booknig system that will avoid the pain we had with EventElephant last year so any help much appreciated!

Thanks,

[Asur84]

I'm deffinately going to give this one a look in.

[TinaP]

Hi James, count me in.... This time hopefully not in the bale store, lol.

[CJBooth]

Sounds good, I will try to clear those dates.

[stephenwilliamwatts]

Any idea when the booking section of the psp2012 site will be working?

[jamespels]

Imminent, honest!

I just need to get the website to work now and have a support call open wih the hosts.

Pricing is essentially the same as PSP2011, with a slightly better deal for people on EHU pitches. To confirm:

Pitches with electric EHU (all 8A for 2012 - we will have more EHU pitches as a result): £55 for the weekend. All include one electric card per night, so three in total (this is a bonus compared with the one per booking in PSP2011).

Pitches without EHU: £40 for the weekend. No change from PSP2011.

All pitches include up to two people; additional people are charged at £7.50 per weekend. This is an increase on the £6 at PSP2011 but we hadn't counted Paypal and other booking fees and ran these tickets at a loss. Children 4 and under go free.

Day visitors: £5 per person per day. This is the same as PSP2011.

Almost all tickets for PSP2011 were sold on a "per weekend" basis. We imagine it will be the same for 2012 but can obviously still accommodate people wanting to visit for just one or two days.

We have had a few requests for group bookings. If you have not yet let us know if you want a group booking for your society, please do so as soon as possible. We will hold off allocating pitches for the first few weeks (say, until the end of Feb) so we can keep groups together where possible.

If you have a particular pitch preference, please state this in the booking system when it is available. We cannot guarantee pitch requests but will honour them where possible.

We are looking at better ways of handling catering this year so I will hold off on these rates for now; do expect full weekend catering, however, and we will make sure hot and cold refreshments are available day visitors at all times!

Thanks,

James.

[TinaP]

Where do I book?

Tina