Starting a astronomy club.

[wavydavy]

Can anybody, advise me to the legal side of starting a club. I am thinking about running one from the school I work at, I work as a caretaker, and also am involved in the bookings out of hours, and security ect.....so im fairly involved in this side of it. The school basically hire out parts of the school for a fee and you get to use the facilitys, and the rooms ect. Ive also got observing areas which would work well.

Does anyone know anything about insurances, legal sides, ect......im not 100% but I think I dont need it, and its covered with the school (we have functions, partys, sports, ect all the time).

Just wanna check before I think about trying anything else.

[101nut]

Check what insurance the School provides for functions, it may be everything but more likely it may just public liability insurance to cover themselves. If you're organising etc and doing it off your own back I'd suggest making sure *you* are covered by at least a public liability insurance. You should have basic risk assessments for the events/activities and be clear on out-of-hours emergency procedures but that isn't a great problem. Your biggest bit of work is the risk assessment for operating outside in the dark! You may find a few dim red LEDs used as path pick-out lights will help if you're observing a distance away from your meeting room. In addition, you may need to talk nicely to yourself and get yourself to kill the site lights!

AndyG

[rwilkey]

Hi, I think insurance should be covered by the school, but if not, you can get insurance by becoming a member of the FAS, website here: http://fedastro.org.uk/fas/

There is a cost to belonging to the FAS, but the insurance cover is essential otherwise. Apart from this, I can't think of anything else you need legally.

[NGC 1502]

Good advice already given. Apart from the legal stuff, you will need to decide frequency of meetings, and what will happen at each meeting. Most meetings are likely to be cloudy, so the members will need entertaining with a talk or discussion etc, suitable for the age of the listeners.

Maybe you've already done this, but a very early move would be to speak to the headteacher, and put some ads around to gauge interest.

Unless you are very talented, you will need help, otherwise you will be secretary, chairman, treasurer, speaker, etc, all rolled into one.

Good luck ! Ed.

[Davey-T]

Couldn't you get everyone to sign a disclaimer ?

Where in Kent are you roughly ? I'm NW.

Dave

[brantuk]

Starting the club just needs a bunch of folks interested in astronomy to start turning up to observing sessions. You'll need a dark site which you may or may not have to pay for (depends on who owns the land and what concessions they're prepared to give).

If you want to be an official astro club then joining the Federation of Astronomy Societies is one idea - but it involves a bit of admin overhead - you have to have a committee, chairman, treaurer etc and hold AGM's. FAS membership includes various benefits like insurance cover and access to their list of speakers.

If you don't go the FAS route then it's a good idea to get public liability insurance for members and visitors and any open events you hold. I can recommend Endsleigh as a potential good source for insurance. You can also get insurance for club equipment. Be sure that whatever money goes through the club you run it as a non-profit making organisation.

If you're using a school premises then check if they have insurance for the type of club you're running - or if they will accept running the club as another "after school" activity similar to whatever clubs they already run - they might even give you budget for gear.

That's pretty much the three main ways I can think of (school, private club, or FAS related club). We started a local observing group three years ago at EMS (see link in my signature) which has grown to 40-50 regular dark site members, 500+ website forum members, organised star parties and public events, talks and presentations, and two dark sites on hire. So if I can be any further helps feel free to pm me.

[wavydavy]

A big thanks to all that have replyed to me with topic........many thanks!

[Richie092]

Keep us all posted as I'm sure there are a few on here that would like to sign on to the new club :-)

[LeeB]

Lots of companies offer insurance for astronomy clubs , I looked into it last year and the risk is very low. From memory the quotes were all under £100 a year. for a small group.

[bingevader]

Speak to the Head and the Governing Body.

If it's run as an after school club you should be fine with the usual form filling that goes on in school so that the school has liability.

Disclaimers don't work, don't go down that line.

If people will be bringing kit, you may need to check who's liable for that.

If it's not going to be a school club, then you will definitely need insurance for the public as well as the kit!

Cheers

[damnut]

All good advice above, a couple of things to think about :-

1. Members own adequate private insurance for their equipment. (probably included in their house insurance but kit can run into the '000s)

2. Children and accompanying adults. If on school premises background checks???

3. EMS as Brantuk states runs exceptionally well with regular darksite meets, events and trips withsome focus around stargazing live for the general public.

[malc-c]

Have a read through this thread http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/97223-advice-on-starting-up-an-astronomy-club/ there is a lot of info which should be helpful