SCS Astro shutting shop

[JamesF]

No idea what this means for the business -- perhaps they don't think a shop is worth having any more and they're moving entirely online (wouldn't exactly be surprising), but I noticed a "For Sale by Auction" sign outside when I drove past today.  It does look as though it's only the shop premises that are for sale though, not the adjoining house (assuming that belongs to Kieron too).

James

[RobertI]

I don't know if this is related but I stopped getting monthly newsletters from him over a year ago, may be nothing though.

[oobydooby]

Kieron McGrath of SCS Astro has informed his subscribers that he is retiring and shutting the business.

He will be selling off their stock and display models.  The only stipulation is that BUYER COLLECTS. he does not have the original packaging for the items so is unable to ship them via courier.

  I expect to receive a link to what is for sale soon and will add link and more detail when I get it, there may be some nice gear going for a song.  Shame I cannot get there from here in Scotland.

Tony

Edited September 2, 2016 by oobydooby
changed wording

[FenlandPaul]

I saw that note come in yesterday.  It's a shame - I shall miss Kieran's amusing (if sporadic!) blogs.

Paul

[admin]

@oobydooby Rather than have multiple threads we have merged yours with JamesF's. 

[Guest chaz2b]

I am making this reply to inform those who knew Keiron that my good friend passed away on the 17th of April 2018, he is survived by his wife Anne.

Keiron, as mentioned above , retired in October 2016 but found out shortly after that he had contracted a very rare form of cancer to which he succumed.

 

Charles Jarman

[knobby]

That's really sad news, pass our condolences on to his wife please.

[JAO]

Very sad indeed to hear this news, Kieron was such a fixture at events such as Astrofest going back years. Always knowledgable, quietly understated and always very helpful. Please pass on heartfelt condolences to his family and RIP Kieron, a gentleman who will be missed.

[Davey-T]

That's really sad, I was always entertained by his emails.

Dave

[trynda1701]

That is really sad news. Condolences to his family and friends.

[JamesF]

Sad news   I must drive past the old shop at least half a dozen times a week and it's always a reminder of SCS (where my first "proper" telescope came from).

James

[pdx]

I moved to Wellington a couple of years ago and noticed the shop... is that really the SCS Astro I'd ordered stuff from way, way back? Yup! What a coincidence.

Last week I though it was time to upgrade my telescope (in order get a better view of Jupiter - for the last 15 years I've told myself... next opposition, I'll get a better scope - I finally decided to take action), so went to pay a visit to the shop on my bike, only to find it had closed down.

Very sad news.

 

[25585]

I remember Kieron from the South Somerset Astronomical Society days back in the late 80s to early 90s. Kieron, a guy called John Brimble and another, Greg McNelly ran the SSAS then. 

[JamesF]

8 hours ago, pdx said:

I moved to Wellington a couple of years ago and noticed the shop... is that really the SCS Astro I'd ordered stuff from way, way back? Yup! What a coincidence.

Last week I though it was time to upgrade my telescope (in order get a better view of Jupiter - for the last 15 years I've told myself... next opposition, I'll get a better scope - I finally decided to take action), so went to pay a visit to the shop on my bike, only to find it had closed down.

Very sad news.

It's been shut for quite a while now. And sold off, in fact.  I believe I posted about it at the time.  I suspect someone has moved in and is actually living there, though I'm not sure it would be considered fit for habitation in the general scheme of things.

James

[JamesF]

Hah!  Posted at the start of this thread, as it happens

Not entirely with it this evening.  Just got in from two and a half hours roasting on the poolside (in Wellington again), torturing swimmers.

James

[Guest chaz2b]

Thank you for your kind replies, i will pass on your condolences to Anne.

The shop was indeed sold, but was purchased by the house owner next door, to what end it will be used god only knows. I lived opposite the shop since my third birthday till 1994 and seen many different owners, it has always mainly been a food retail outlet, then Keiron turns up, and my hobby begins!

He was a very knowledgeable man, went into his subjects in great depth, very concise passing on his knowledge, but you understood what he imparted to you.

I will miss him, means I've got to read books now.

Edited May 12, 2018 by chaz2b

[Guest chaz2b]

I'm afraid there is more dreadful news, Anne Mcgrath passed away at her home on Saturday, now with her beloved husband Keiron.

Amongst the stars there are two more.

 

RIP.

Edited May 14, 2018 by chaz2b

[Hertford Stargazer]

How sad, I didn't know Keiron personally but was a customer and always enjoyed his blogging 

[trynda1701]

That is so sad to hear. Condolences to the family.

[CiderSteve]

I had lost touch with Kieron and Anne after I retired and moved away from Somerset, so it was with great sadness that I learned of their passing.

They had a nice little orchard at their smallholding which cropped quite heavily and made a very good cider. Under the trees there would be a few pigs rooting for tasty morsels. Oxford sandy and blacks I think they were. They ended up as sausages of superb quality!

Kieron was also very keen on making country wines. I would barter a jug of cider for a bottle of Kieron's red.

They also hosted a rather unusual annual event - tomato tasting. Their polytunnel was full of a huge number of different varieties of tomatoes of assorted shapes sizes and colours.

One Christmas I gave them a tin of my homemade mince pies of which I was fairly proud. Kieron's verdict, "They were a bit crumbly!"

Happy days

Kieron and Anne, sadly missed

 

[Ouroboros]

I'm sorry to read of Keiron and his wife's passing. I  only met Keiron on one occassion when I decided to take a detour off the M5 to visit the shop during one of my many journeys back and fourth between Cornwall and home.  I spent a pleasant hour or so chatting with him and looking at the various scopes he had on display in the shop and about Astronomy in general. I will miss the newsletters too.  

[The Wondering Yoda]

My one, and to my utter regret, only, contact with that wonderful, and charming man, was over the phone, as I was attempting to buy a eyepiece, and finderscope, adapters for a telescope than came to me via ways that, ahem, I am not quite honestly sure of, except that it came in a well fitted, abet marine ply, wooden box. After much archaeology on the interwebs, turns out was sold by Dixons a very long time ago, possibly late '70s - early '80s, and the box was indeed orginal to the 'scope ...

Dispite my burblings over the 'phone, he knew exactly what I needed, as a) the finderscope is missing, and the orginal adapter plate is as good as useless, and b) no one makes eyepiece lenses the size of the orginal ones any more ...

Worse, when the promised delivery date was due, the package never turned up; the problem is I live at an address which is close by another similar, except I am 3AP, and theirs is 3AR ... so after much to-ing and fro-ing at the time (date on the invoice reads 05 June 2014), I finally got hold of said items. I rang him to say my thanks, and sadly that was the last I spoke to him ...

I had hoped to buy a few more pieces off of him soon, but it wasn't until I typed him in to google that I found this conversation; and hence me signing up, and this, my very first post here.

From my ancient memory, he sounded like a very kind-hearted, and generious man, despite the vagaries of Royal Mail; had my fiscal situation not changed in '15, I may well have spent quite a few pennies in his on-line store in getting my 'scope back towards its second, proper, 'first light' ... in fact, he reminded me of Heinz Wolf, whom I had the pleasure of knowing ... 

So, despite my 'brief encounter', nevertheless, he left a very lasting impression with me, and to hear both him and his wife passing, so close to each other as well, is just utterly  tragic ...

As cliché as this sounds, next time I look up at Orion, I will think of him, and his beloved wife, being up there, especially in amongst  M42 / NGC 1976 ...

Fair thee well, Kieron; I hardly knew ye ...

[Would calling a 'backyard' telescope the Kieron/Heinz Telescope be a bit weird ...?] 

[TonyA]

Only 2 years behind the news, but I was searching for some info on a slow motion drive I bought from SCS Astro many years ago, and ended up here. My parents retired to a rest home just up the road from SCS Astro in Wellington, so I went into the shop regularly. I also met Kieron and Anne at astro functions including the UK Eclipse trip on a boat in the English Channel. Myself and my wife even went for tea and cake at his house just outside Wellington. Such a loss to the community - gone to join Patrick Moore and other well loved astronomers.

Much missed.

Tony