SGL 2024 Star Party - We need your help!

[powerlord]

On 27/08/2023 at 10:08, icpn said:

actually Haw Wood normally do two star parties a year, one int he Spring and one in the autumn, although with Kelling messing thing s around I am not sure they will have a Spring one next year.  Not all their grass picthes have electric and I am not sure they could do 100 people. The current ones are usually very small, maybe of the order of 30 people.

Haw wood ones stopped, so they are looking for a new organiser afaik:

http://www.brecklandastro.org.uk/star-parties/?doing_wp_cron=1694414752.7969698905944824218750

[RobertI]

14 minutes ago, powerlord said:

Haw wood ones stopped, so they are looking for a new organiser afaik:

http://www.brecklandastro.org.uk/star-parties/?doing_wp_cron=1694414752.7969698905944824218750

Oh that’s odd, they were still running one in November when I spoke to them a few weeks ago. 

Edited September 11, 2023 by RobertI

[powerlord]

1 minute ago, RobertI said:

Oh that’s odd, they were still running one in October when I spoke to them a couple of weeks ago. 

ha! looks like that info is wrong then. sorry about that. And also, cool! - I'll maybe see if I can get on that one.

[AstroKeith]

On 27/08/2023 at 10:08, icpn said:

actually Haw Wood normally do two star parties a year, one int he Spring and one in the autumn, although with Kelling messing thing s around I am not sure they will have a Spring one next year.  Not all their grass picthes have electric and I am not sure they could do 100 people. The current ones are usually very small, maybe of the order of 30 people.

Haw Wood have about 60 pitches, of which about 10 are without power. One nice thing is currently visual and AP are separated into different areas. Works well. Skies are darker than Kelling.

I'd expect them to be able to do a week after Easter holidays have finished.

[Cjg]

On 28/08/2023 at 18:11, cajen2 said:

Wales is great for dark sky spots but of course not famous for its clear skies....😆. Events like Astrocamp are usually a great success there: even if it rains all weekend, it's a good social event.

Just returned from a very enjoyable AstroCamp. Very pleased that I went a day early and had 5hrs of clear, dark skies. The rest of the saturday and Sunday was rather wet!

[cajen2]

13 hours ago, Cjg said:

Just returned from a very enjoyable AstroCamp. Very pleased that I went a day early and had 5hrs of clear, dark skies. The rest of the saturday and Sunday was rather wet!

Yes, I was there. Unfortunately, I didn't get there till Saturday, so nothing but cloud and rain for three nights. I enjoyed it, though - always well organised.

[icpn]

Also Norwich are no longer involved in running the spring star party at Kelling. That has been handed off to Kelling itself as there was no interest in runing it from Norwich AS.

[wookie1965]

On 11/09/2023 at 07:44, powerlord said:

Haw woods is an excellent site. I was there last week again. It's ideal I think. They are a dark site,  very few trees so good views from all pitches and the owners are awesome.

And of course, being where it is, there's better chances od clear skies than pretty much anywhere else in UK.

Stu

That's 4hrs 37 minutes for me and 254 miles. 

[carastro]

Wales is too far for me.  Perhaps we could vary the site location so some could come some years but not others. 

[tomato]

More work but alternating sites kind of South East and North West would help with the travelling distances.

[seven_legs]

why don't we do a poll of all the sites people have mentioned. 

the needs of the many out way the needs of the few😇

[doublevodka]

Fforest Fields gets my vote as a nice campsite, great facilities on site plus a small lake for daytime activities for canoeing/paddle boarding should you be that way inclined, quite a big site from what I remember, although it was a few years ago.

[cajen2]

9 minutes ago, doublevodka said:

Fforest Fields gets my vote as a nice campsite, great facilities on site plus a small lake for daytime activities for canoeing/paddle boarding should you be that way inclined, quite a big site from what I remember, although it was a few years ago.

It has a large sports field with hard standings and leccy. I know the management there are keen to sort out more astronomy weekends.

[mareman48]

On 25/08/2023 at 19:29, carastro said:

Just found this one on the internet.  Looks quite large with electric hook up and is accessible from the London area, and Dorset is pretty dark.  Looks like 65 pitches, do we need as many as 100? 

Looks like some Glamping Lodges too.  

Says Bortle 4 on Dark Sky map. and it is central for those of us in the South. 

Sorry this is large, just copied and pasted. 

24 x Electric Grass Pitches

7 x Grass Hardstanding Pitches

25 x Serviced Hardstanding Pitches9 x Serviced Grass Pitches

9 x Serviced Grass Pitches

https://www.campsites.co.uk/search/campsites-in-hampshire/fordingbridge/hill-cottage-farm-camping-and-caravan-park

Dorset get my vote 😃

[Hendog666]

Glenridding camp site but not sure if it’s surrounded by too many hills! Has a field for tents & a separate patch for rentable statics/camper plots. Also has toilet & shower facilities 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Hendog666

[reddoss]

Have there been any further developments in finding a new site for the SGL star parties?

Cheers,

           Justyn

[Nigella Bryant]

On 07/11/2023 at 19:20, seven_legs said:

why don't we do a poll of all the sites people have mentioned. 

the needs of the many out way the needs of the few😇

Or the one, lol 😆 

[Grant]

We’ve been in touch with a few options in the background and dismissed a few because of campsite size or facilities.

We are going to try and visit the fforest fields site at some point…

[reddoss]

6 hours ago, Grant said:

We’ve been in touch with a few options in the background and dismissed a few because of campsite size or facilities.

We are going to try and visit the fforest fields site at some point…

Thanks  Grant for your reply.

                                             Hope we can meet up and have a few beers once more at an SGL star  party  in the near  future.

 

Cheers,

           Justyn

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

22 hours ago, Grant said:

We’ve been in touch with a few options in the background and dismissed a few because of campsite size or facilities.

We are going to try and visit the fforest fields site at some point…

I've driven past on the way to Cwmdu. The site certainly looks nice (and flat!) enough. I have just gone through a trial booking and they had 95 electric hook ups available. I'm tempted to give it a go in March. Ten quid a night including leccy for one person and tent is great.

[Dave1]

On 25/08/2023 at 19:29, carastro said:

Just found this one on the internet.  Looks quite large with electric hook up and is accessible from the London area, and Dorset is pretty dark.  Looks like 65 pitches, do we need as many as 100? 

Looks like some Glamping Lodges too.  

Says Bortle 4 on Dark Sky map. and it is central for those of us in the South. 

Sorry this is large, just copied and pasted. 

24 x Electric Grass Pitches

7 x Grass Hardstanding Pitches

25 x Serviced Hardstanding Pitches9 x Serviced Grass Pitches

9 x Serviced Grass Pitches

https://www.campsites.co.uk/search/campsites-in-hampshire/fordingbridge/hill-cottage-farm-camping-and-caravan-park

I'm just gradually catching up on this thread. Something worth mentioning is that Fordingbridge also has its own astronomy club, so if Fordingbridge was choosen it might be worth contacting Fordingbridge Astromny Club, they may even know a better location/campsite.

[JOC]

I wonder if somewhere like this could be useful https://www.stowmaries.org.uk/  They'd have oodles of hard standing, under cover areas, could no doubt knock out some power supplies, it's a fairly light free area and at night there would be no flights and there is the added attraction of being somewhere interesting to look around during the day with tea shops and catering on site, also being a visitor attraction I'm sure you could get them to leave what would be adequate err...'facilities' open overnight.  I reckon you would do worse than call them to discuss the possibility.   They do partner with other groups and are interested in educational things.  Other mini airfields may also be worth a try as they do mostly not seem to be close to civilisation and therefore lights.  You might also try enquiries to stately homes and castles.  Just an out a limb thought train.