Ilkeston & District AS 30th Birthday Convention: Saturday May 7th 2011

[Monmouth3817]

Hello Everyone,

Just to let you all know that our Society’s 30th Birthday

Astronomy Convention will be held on Saturday May 7th 2011. The venue is the Heanor Welfare Centre, Wilmot Street, Heanor, Derbyshire.

We are currently organising four specially invited Guest Speakers to give talks on a variety of astronomical subjects, which should appeal to a wide range of audience. Refreshments will be available during the day, and we’ll also be holding a raffle. There will be an admission charge, and we’ll be publishing details of this in the next few weeks.

We also hope to attract several astronomical traders along for the day; so if there are any astro traders reading this and we haven’t already been in touch with you, please contact us and we’ll see if we can fit you in.

The Heanor Welfare Centre is close to the town centre (about three minutes walk away), with good off-road parking. The town has good road links from the A610 and M1 motorway (Junction 26), and Langley Mill railway station is about two or three miles away.

We are aiming for a relaxing/chilled-out, entertaining day. We don’t expect large numbers of people coming along like you get at the FAS or SPA Conventions, but since these types of events are very rare in our part of the world, we thought this was the right time to organise our third Convention in eight years. It’ll also allow us to celebrate our 30th birthday with a special event.

Over the next few months we’ll be updating this thread with more details. Our website (http://www.idas-astro.com) will also be updated, and this will include finder maps and other useful information.

We know the event is still five months away, but we thought we’d give everyone advance notice of it.

More news when we get it.

Regards

Monmouth3817

[IDAS-Astro]

Hi everyone,

Here’s our first update regarding our Society’s 30th Birthday Convention.

Date: Saturday May 7th 2011

Venue: Heanor Welfare Centre, Wilmot Street, Heanor, Derbyshire, DE75 7EF

Ample off-street parking on-site. If that gets full, then there’s also a public car park (pay & display) next to the Welfare Centre.

Wheelchair friendly building

Close to town centre (just 2 minutes walk away).

Doors Open: 9am (starts 9:55am promptly). Event ends approx 5pm.

Admission: £6 on door

Speakers so far confirmed (titles of talks to be announced soon)

Dr Ann Bonell

Dr Rhodri Evans (Cardiff University)

Prof Barrie Jones (Open University)

Trade Stands (so far confirmed)

Aurora Books

Peak2Valley Instruments

Good quality Tea/Coffee will be available during the day (tea 50p / coffee 75p).

There will also be a Society display showcasing 30 years of activities, along with a raffle.

Useful finder maps will be published on our Society’s website in the next few weeks. Further updates will be made to this thread as and when required.

Thanks for reading

Regards

IDAS-Astro

[IDAS-Astro]

Hello everyone,

Here’s our second update regarding our Society’s 30th Birthday Convention.

Date: Saturday May 7th 2011

Venue: Heanor Welfare Centre, Wilmot Street, Heanor, Derbyshire, DE75 7EF

Doors Open: 9am (starts 9:55am promptly). Event ends approx 5pm.

Admission: £6 on door (or by post – see bottom for details)

Confirmed Speakers

Dr Ann Bonell (Leicester Astronomical Society): “Percival Lowell and the Canals of Mars”

Prof Mike Merrifield (University of Nottingham): “21st Century Telescopes”

Dr Rhodri Evans (Cardiff University): “George Ellery Hale – Greatest Astronomer of the 20th Century”

Prof Barrie Jones (Open University): “Pluto: Sentinel of the Outer Solar System”

Trade Stands (so far confirmed)

Aurora Books

Peak2Valley Instruments

Other information:

Ample off-street parking on-site. If that gets full, then there’s also a public car park (pay & display) next to the Welfare Centre.

Wheelchair friendly building

Close to town centre (just 2 minutes walk away). Plenty of places to eat during dinnertime – various sandwich bars, Domino Pizzas, Crest of the Wave Fish & Chips, pubs and cafes, etc.

Good quality Tea/Coffee will be available during the day (tea 50p / coffee 75p).

There will also be a Society display showcasing 30 years of activities, along with a raffle.

Useful finder maps are in the process of being organised. These will be available from our Society’s website very soon (IDAS - Ilkeston & District Astronomical Society).

Tickets may be purchased in advance by post at £6 each – sorry we are not able to offer reduced rates for this Convention. Please send your cheque (made payable to “Ilkeston and District Astronomical Society), along with a SAE to the following address:-

Ilkeston & District Astronomical Society

C/o Mr Harry Bingham

38 Broadway

Heanor

Derbyshire

DE75 7GW

Couple of points to make mention:

Deadline for receiving cheques: April 26th 2011

No SAE, no tickets – (sorry). In this situation, cheques will not be cashed, and payment will need to be made in cash at the door on the day. If you have a question regarding sending cheques you can email Harry Bingham (our Treasurer) on Harry.Bingham38 at btinternet.com

Further updates will be made to this thread as and when required.

Thanks for reading again.

Regards

IDAS-Astro

[MrsR]

Looking forward to this.

[nc1983]

Hi all.

Should be a great event. Really looking forward to it. The line-up looks interesting too.

Hope to see you there.

[IDAS-Astro]

Hello All,

Finder maps for our Convention are now available from our website (IDAS - Ilkeston & District Astronomical Society). Soon, we'll also be adding another map showing places where you can pick up lunch.

Cheers for now

IDAS-Astro

[IDAS-Astro]

Hello All,

Just to let you know that we've now got another astro trader who has confirmed their attendance at our Convention - Green Witch Astronomy & Nature

Full list of Trade Stands (so far confirmed)

Aurora Books

Green Witch Astronomy & Nature

Peak2Valley Instruments

Regards

IDAS-Astro

[nc1983]

Its looking good for that day. Ive kept it free in my diary. I like the sound of the talk about 21st Century Telescopes, Should be an interesting subject. Are many others planning to go?

[IDAS-Astro]

Dear All,

IMPORTANT CORRECTION !!

Please note that May's issue of the Sky at Night Magazine has messed up the details regarding our Convention. They have the right day (Saturday May 7th), but they've put a completely incorrect start time - so please ignore it.

Here are the correct times:-

Doors Open: 9am / Event Begins: 9:55am

Event Ends: approx 5:15pm

Not long now to our event. I hope some of you can come along on the day to support a small East Midlands astronomy society, celebrate it's 30th birthday.

Regards

IDAS-Astro

[IDAS-Astro]

oh, forgot to mention. Please don't turn up at 7:30pm as you'll have a wasted journey. Everyone will have packed up and gone home by then !

Regards

IDAS-Astro

[IDAS-Astro]

Hi All,

Here's our Poster....

Cheers for now IDAS-Astro

[IDAS-Astro]

Dear All,

The Ilkeston & District AS Convention is now only a few days away, on Saturday May 7th. Everyone in the Society is really looking forward to this special day, and we hope some of you can come along as well.

There is some "flux" in the list of speakers that we have planned, so we'll give an update either later today or tomorrow morning with the full running order. Finder maps can be found on our website (IDAS - Ilkeston & District Astronomical Society). However, if anyone wants more detailed finder maps please email me at

idaswmt1 at aol dot com

Regards

IDAS-Astro

[IDAS-Astro]

Hi all,

Here's the running order for our Society’s Convention. Unfortunately, two of our speakers have had to pull out due to ill heath, but we are sure the revised line-up will still be popular with people.

Ilkeston & District AS 30th Birthday Convention - Saturday May 7th 2011

Venue: Heanor Welfare Centre, Wilmot Street, Heanor, Derbyshire, DE75 7EF

Doors Open: 9am (starts 9:55am promptly). Event ends approx 5pm.

Admission: £6 on door

Time

09:00 to 09:55 Doors open to the public

09:55 to 10:00 Welcome & Introduction by John Brown (Chairman)

10:00 to 11:00 Dr Anne Bonnell (Leicester Astronomical Society) : Percival Lowell and the Canals of Mars

11:00 to 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 to 12:30 Prof. Michael Merrifield (University of Nottingham): 21st Century Telescopes

12:30 to 14:00 Lunch Break

(13:30 to 13:50) Informal Presentation: James Pels: The Peak Star Party – October 2011

14:00 to 15:00 Paul Money: Rambling through the Spring and Summer Sky

15:00 to 15:30 Coffee Break

15:30 to 16:30 Mark Thomas (IDAS Secretary): Time Travel for Amateur Astronomers: Mastering Time-lapse Photography Techniques

16:30 to 17:00 Raffle Prizes & Final Address (A list of raffle prizes available on day - £1 a strip)

Confirmed Trade Stands as at May 3rd 2011.

Aurora Books, Green Witch Astronomy & Nature, Peak2Valley Instruments

Useful finder maps are available at our Society’s website (www.idas-astro.com).

Best Regards

IDAS-Astro