Kelling Heath Star Party – Autumn 2020

[saturnian]

Hi,does anybody know if the Kelling Heath Star Party – Autumn 2020 is officially cancelled?

Thanks

[teoria_del_big_bang]

On 30/07/2020 at 11:27, saturnian said:

Hi,does anybody know if the Kelling Heath Star Party – Autumn 2020 is officially cancelled?

Thanks

I would like to go to this if still on. According to website there is no indication it is cancelled and can still book lodges, pitches etc.

Steve

[Anne S]

We're booked to go in our motorhome. At the moment caravan parks etc are open with reduced shared facilities. The pitches have to be well spaced apart to prevent fires so that's not an issue. The only problems I can see is having lots of tents will put massive pressure on the facilities and there may be issues with the sheer number of groups sharing tents. I can't see Kelling cancelling it willingly as they must have lost loads of income this year. It probably depends on whether COVID cases increase too much.

Even if they cancel the formal event, we may well still go as the weather is usually grotty in West Wales that time of year. As long as the campsite is open of course!

Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

[baggywrinkle]

What are the dates?

[baggywrinkle]

Just checked...fully booked.

[baggywrinkle]

I phoned..got a booking 15th - 19th in Blue Butterfly area. Me and my Basecamp

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by baggywrinkle

[PaulB]

With type 1 Diabetes and a friend who is getting on. We've taken the decision to cancel this year's visit. I can't risk catching Covid and the same goes to Paul. I am hoping Kelling will save our pitch for the 2021 event. When hopefully things will be better .

 

Things change just like the weather. Yesterday I had good news that  we are now going to this years Kelling. It lifted my spirits, and it will be good to get back to some normality and see friends.

 

Edited September 3, 2020 by PaulB
Good news

[Tim]

On 28/08/2020 at 16:50, PaulB said:

With type 1 Diabetes and a friend who is getting on. We've taken the decision to cancel this year's visit. I can't risk catching Covid and the same goes to Paul. I am hoping Kelling will save our pitch for the 2021 event. When hopefully things will be better .

Sadly, I think this is going to be the case for quite a number of regulars we have got to know over the last decade or so of autumn star parties  Let's face it, a lot of us are wonky old crocks with more wrong than right with us!

We have our pitch booked, since last year obviously, and have added an extra couple of weeks before hand, as it seems unlikely there will be any other holidays this year, and we quite literally haven't been anywhere except to work since the start of March.

Assuming it all goes ahead, one thing I will really miss will be sharing views with others and a large Dob, either mine or theirs. This interchange of experience really makes the nights go well, and have greatly added to the star camp experience. Pretty sure i'm not the only one to feel this way.

At any rate, let's hope we can all get there at least, but it isn't the end of the world if not, would rather be relatively healthy and locked down than catching and spreading Covid-19.

Keep safe guys!

Tim

[Phil Fargaze]

I`ve just come back from a short family break at Kelling Heath and it was as busy as what you would expect for the end of August bank holiday weekend. ( The weather wasn`t good but at least we were in a lodge!) The touring fields were full and the lodges and caravans were well populated as well. There is an entry barrier so that they can take party details. The weather improved for Sunday night and there was a singer in the bandstand and some visiting food vendors were parked up, so the square was full of families enjoying a normal night out. However current Covid restrictions obviously had an impact. We didn't use the pools but they were operating a time slot usage. We went to the Forge and Terrace Friday night expecting it to be busy but we were shown to a table straight away.  (Although we were told it was very busy on the Monday to Wednesday because of the eat out to help out offer). There was a restricted menu and the play area with pool tables and machines was shut. The September 1940s weekend has been cancelled but after seeing how well the park seems to be operating I would expect the October Star party to be OK to continue unless of course current government guidelines change.

[paulastro]

Kelling has been fully open since early July.  Lets hope nothing happens to change this.  I know it's sad, but it's the highlight of my year!  (I don't get about much!).

[PaulB]

It's about time we showed this Virus who's the BOSS. And providing we follow the guidelines set out by the Gov and Kelling. We will be okay.

I will have an astronomy face mask to ware and I will have plenty of hand sanitizers.

We just need to get back to normalcy and the 2020 EQSP is just what I need.

[geoflewis]

I've just paid the balance of my booking for the week 17-24 Oct. It took me a long time to get through, so I asked them how busy they were and whether the Star Party was running, to which the answers were, very busy and yes, but none of the ancillary events would be happening, e.g. no lectures and traders will only be allowed once they've submitted proof that they have a Covid compliance policy, which meets Kelling's requirements - I got the impression that no traders had submitted any proof so far, but maybe that will happen closer to the event.

My wife and I are booked into one of the Nightjars to coincide with the event, but I doubt that I'll be taking any gear as I don't have anywhere to set up. I also suspect that most attendees won't want to share eyepieces with others due to CV exposure risk, so am expecting it to be a very low key, less social event this time around. I hope I'm wrong of course.....🤞

[PaulB]

If there ain't any traders. I can hang on to my wallet 😀

Seriously I hope there are traders there on the Saturday. and I too hope it's still as social, as social can be with social distancing. If we all wear face masks then there shouldn't be a problem with being sociable.

[icpn]

As a trader (Webb Soc) we have not been asked to supply anything yet and I am not sure yet that anything about this has been communicated by the organisers to the traders. My understanding is there maybe further discussions on this next week. I think we would also want to know what they might expect from us.

 

Owen

[jonstarrysky]

any news of Kelling Oct 2020, re the new 6 person rule ? 

[dd999]

I'm gutted this is fully booked!

 

[Graham Darke]

Did you phone them or try to book on the website? 

[dd999]

44 minutes ago, Graham Darke said:

Did you phone them or try to book on the website? 

Haven't phoned - but yes tried booking on their website. Shows fully booked for the Fri, Sat and Sunday nights

[icpn]

The autumn one always is. There is more chance at the Spring one.. Sometimes picthes come up on AstroBuySell

[dd999]

36 minutes ago, icpn said:

The autumn one always is. There is more chance at the Spring one.. Sometimes picthes come up on AstroBuySell

Thanks - I'll keep an eye out

[Graham Darke]

Phone them and speak to someone. The website always says it’s full. 

[icpn]

Booking for the Autumn star party is always a challenge as if you are not actually at one then booking for the next one becomes hard. Various solutions to this issue were looked at but none were entirely satisfactory.  It does mean that unless pitches become free then  for someone new to get on is difficult. However as noted there maybe pitches that are free but many of these will be in less desirable locations, like under trees where there is no view of the sky so trying to late book pitches means you really need to know the campsite layout so you can see if the  pitch would work for astronomy. It is likely that there will be a restricted social side to this years star party so it is unlikely that there  will be sharing of telescope views etc. The lectures, raffle and telescope tour have been ancelled already.

[carastro]

I've just shot an E mail off to Kelling Heath to ask how the gatherings of more than 6 people and the 10pm curfew (that is being considered/come in yet, starting to lose the plot), is going to affect the event, I said I would help them by posting the reply on here to save lots of enquiries, so will let you know what they say, though they may be inundated with enquiries.

Carole 

Edited September 11, 2020 by carastro

[jonstarrysky]

8 hours ago, carastro said:

I've just shot an E mail off to Kelling Heath to ask how the gatherings of more than 6 people and the 10pm curfew (that is being considered/come in yet, starting to lose the plot), is going to affect the event, I said I would help them by posting the reply on here to save lots of enquiries, so will let you know what they say, though they may be inundated with enquiries.

Carole 

Good idea. Hopefully we’ll get some answers. The Star Party is definitely more than 6 people ! Unless if you look at it as separate bookings at a campsite. I’d be surprised if it goes ahead TBH but really hope it does

[icpn]

I had a discussion with one of the organizers yesterday after they had talked with Kelling and currently unless the goverment changes the guidelines it is on. The 6 person meeting will apply to pitches not the campsite (although how that would be policed I don't know) The current reading if the goverment tries to bring in a curfew is that your pitch is your temporary home so you could observe there.  They are still hoping to have a vendor row with some restrictions, and probably a limited number of vendors anyway. As always it will be up to people to do the right and sensible thing in terms of contacts.