My thanks to you all....

[daz]

.... for making it a great weekend again!

At least the weather was not as bad as last year, and certainly not as bad as the forecast suggested!

I have to give special thanks to Grant for his support and stepping in when work got the better of me, and to Mrs Daz who loses sight of me for the couple of weeks beforehand and puts up with me spending time with you lot over the weekend!

Thanks to James for the special delivery, Mrs MikeP for the almond slices, Jamie for the entertaining conversation (Mark, I hope you made it home with your sanity intact!), Linda for the SGL 9 cake (pics to follow) and of course to Lucksall for their hospitality, support and the stonking breakfasts!!

There are loads of others that I should thank but am still slightly sleep deprived, even though I slept really well under canvas!!!

Next year is a big milestone, and Grant and I are already starting the to-do list!!

[John]

A big round of applause from me to Mrs Daz, Linda, James, MikeP, Grant, the Lucksall folks and of course yourself Daz        

I really enjoyed the event, met and chatted to loads of great people and even did some observing for a couple of hours - what more could we ask 

[Anweniel]

And thanks to you to for organising the event.

Can you put on SGL 10's to do list 'organise clear skies' ?

[albedo0.39]

It was great... and you were such good neighbours !

[Mav359]

Thanks again Daz

I had a great weeks holiday and despite the lack of clear skies it was good to meet some new people and see some familiar faces.

Roll on SGL X (we have to call it X not 10, sounds better)

[Rapallokid]

Many thanks to all that were involved in the organising and to everyone I met over the few days.

Looking forward to the BIG 10.

Eddie

[lunator]

Daz

Thanks for all the effort you put in.

It was great to catch up with people and meet new friends.

My back is still complaining about trying to separate the event tent poles

Cheers

Ian

[Photosbykev]

To all of the organisers, we know how much effort is involved in making the SGL events runs so smoothly and we also know it would be a very different star party without that effort So a huge thank you from me, it was a real pleasure to meet the old and new faces once again. Roll on SGL X, I can't wait to see the reaction in the Lucksall cafe when everyone turns up in Ewok onesies.

oops I might of given the theme away, sorry

[Daniel-K]

hope i can make it next year, im still yet to get to a star party

[Psychobilly]

Thanks Daz,  Gant  et al  for organising SGL9...  and to all the "attendees" for making it such a  fun an enjoyable event

I had an Ewok of  a time  and look forward to SGL-X with relish - I had some left in my beard after the Hog Roast....

Peter...

[swamp thing]

Thanks Daz and team for all the hard work you put in to making another great event. Much appreciated.

Thanks to everyone else that ate, drank and generally fooled about having a good time

I'll bring more palinca next year

Cheers to everyone that helped with my tacky gazebo. Don't know how but it stayed up until the end.

[tich]

Thanks again Daz & to everyone who organised this years event it was great catching up with some familiar faces & meeting new ones although many names elude me.

I'm glad that gazebo stayed up in the end Steve as it proved its worth as a B&B Ok so we can't predict the weather but I don't care as I really enjoyed it this year, at least I achieved polar alignment & collimated the scope  

Thanks to all of those who helped me fold & unfold the flatpack crazy French caravan & I'm already looking forward to SGL X.

"It's gonna clear in half an hour" is a phrase that will be going around in my head for days!!!  

[kerrylewis]

Thanks to Daz and all the organisers, and to all the people that I met for the first time especially those in 'caravan corner': Asronomymonkey, tich, John, Hadyn,, Luke, Gavphoto , animal666 and others .

Not forgetting those in 'Gazebo Alley': Swamp Thing, Psyschobilly, cotterless and others

Your hospitality and conversation made my first ever star party really enjoyable.

Notes to self for next year:

1. Get a smaller camper van

2. .......with a bigger door!

3. Don't drink anything from plastic bottles - whatever the label says.

4. Add 'including for food' to the 'please wake me' sign.

Thanks again everyone

Kerry

[cotterless45]

Brilliant, thanks to all who made this event a success, errr don't forget........

Nick.

[Psychobilly]

Just dropped the Pic down for you Nick -

Nice to have met you and talked Pollocks

(Billy double checks the first letter on that one!!!)

Pollack on a Pick.jpg by psmithuk, on Flickr

Peter...

[AlexB67]

I'll defo be there for the next one and make sure that weekend is free. This weekend was a bad one time wise for me with other commitments, but even with that had I sort of kept more attention in advance I could planned for that; I never paid enough attention to this part of the forum being tucked away and don't generally read it.  I will now keep a closer eye on these things. I wasn't even aware that SGL 9 was last weekend till about 2 week ago, even though I was vaguely aware that SGL meets happen, silly me  at myself for that.

Sounds like you all had a great time.

[Freff]

A very VERY big thank you to Daz, Grant and all the others that made yet another great event.

Thanks to MickP for the almond slices, and to Peter and Kev for helping me to get my tent down and stowed away in such miserable weather today.

Once again meeting up with old friends and making new ones is always a joy and makes the SGL events what they are...great.

[Luke]

A big thanks to everyone who made SGL9 happen. So many people, it must have been a lot of effort!! Our first SGL was number 4, and Sarah and I have been to 5,6,7,8 & 9 as well, and the whole lot have been a highlight of the year, every year. So many nice people.

It was lovely to meet some of our friends from previous SGL star parties, and to meet some of the folks on their first SGL star party, who seemed very nice from their posts, and were just as nice when we met them

Thank you to everyone who tried to help us with the problem with our brake light when we were leaving today. I was so chuffed to be ready by 10am (a record for me!) and to have packed the scope away before the rain came, only to be held up by a pesky lack of brake lights!! That will teach me to feel pleased with myself! We eventually got the brake lights going, and I hope it didn't hold up any of the very kind SGL'ers who lent a hand.

We arrived on the Saturday before the main event. We got three nights in when we got some kind of views, and we now have a new term for when the skies are playing ball: "I can see a shiny" 

Sunday night after the main event has been great astro viewing in the past, but this year it was a bit pants, and I did not make it to Tich's Chippie van (!), feeling a bit under the weather that night. I'm told there were not too many shinies that night, so playing footy manager in the warmth was the best thing for me Even if Crystal Palace did sack me after taking them to the Champions League! :-o

Thanks again, everyone. We're not sure we will be able to make it to the very special SGL X, as our son will be at school next year. It's been a blast, and thanks again to the folks who have made it happen. Thank goodness I managed to avoid looking through Helen's 70mm solar filter, that could have been quite lethal, as it's really for the best not to get solar aperture fever

If anyone out there has not been to an SGL star party before, give it a try! It's hard not to enjoy

[Psychobilly]

It had to happen eventually...

Peter....

[tich]

It had to happen eventually...

Peter....

I think an unlike button is needed!!

Thank you to everyone who tried to help us with the problem with our brake light when we were leaving today. I was so chuffed to be ready by 10am (a record for me!) and to have packed the scope away before the rain came, only to be held up by a pesky lack of brake lights!! That will teach me to feel pleased with myself! We eventually got the brake lights going, and I hope it didn't hold up any of the very kind SGL'ers who lent a hand.

 and we now have a new term for when the skies are playing ball: "I can see a shiny" 

I'm glad you got the brake lights sorted what was the problem? I felt kinda guilty leaving though.

You gotta love those shineys Luke

[NickK]

Everytime I see Mordiford I read it as Mordor.

Yup.. many thanks again.. I think next year Sandrine will demand some compromise so we need just the one cloudy day so that we have an excuse to pile down to some non-astro day activity..

Looking forward to next year!

[JonH]

A huge thanks from me as well to Daz and the rest of the team for another very enjoyable star party. Who would have thought that spending four days sleeping in a grubby tent in a damp field in Herefordshire could be so much fun.

Also special mentions for :

Mrs MikeP for the almond slices.

Mark and John for showing me my first supernova. It was a real treat to spend time with this pair of human goto's as they effortlessly flitted around the sky before the clouds rolled in. Just magic.

Peter (Psychobilly) for modelling this year's latest designer ewok all-in-ones in broad daylight. I blame his sidekick, a dodgy-looking character with a very small camera and big lens.

Keiran and MickD for telling me where to stick a can of lager when cooking a chicken. 

And finally Steve (Swampthing) for giving me somewhere to kip for my last night. Sadly I never had the opportunity to look through his big dob but at least I got to sleep with it!

Looking forward to catching up with you all again next year.

[AstroTux]

Another huge thanks to Daz for his organizational skills, and to his 'support crew' ( Mrs Daz, Grant, et al. ). Although the weather didn't play ball. we had a great time catching up with old friends ( you know who you are ) and meeting new ones. Will have to bring a larger selection of different malts for next year and see who can make the trip along the 'top shelf'.

I would also like to add a thank you to the staff at Lucksall. They keep the site in great condition and their friendly attitude makes it stand out against others I have used ( and could mention, but won't ). Some have said that there are better sites for dark skies, but Lucksall is such a good site even when the skies aren't clear, and is so accessible that it's ideal for this event.

If anyone wears a T-shirt at SGL X with the logo "It's gonna clear in half an hour", can we have permission to shoot them please :grin: ?? I have to say that I quite enjoyed the 'Highland Spring Water', but my vision was somewhat impaired the next morning. Where else could you have a conversation that brings together 18" dobs, bricklaying and 'Lady Cake'???

See you all next year, with luck. Looking forward to SGL X even though we're not fans of the Wookie onesie :shocked: .

Alan

[animal666]

Hi, Yep I second that, thanks to the organisers and Fellow Optimistic Astronomers.

Enjoyed my first star party, even minus the clear skies.

I Can still hear "It'll be clear in Half an Hour" on repeat from astronmonkey Ian.

Till next time.

Daz.

[banner001]

i too would like to say thanks for an enjoyable weekend (ill ignore the weather), really good group of people, thanks for making me welcome, ill be along to many more