Heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed towards making the 23rd Annual General Meeting of the Flamsteed Astronomy Society a success. The event was held on the 12th of September, and this was the first time we had conducted an AGM in ‘hybrid’ format where we had members in the Lecture Theatre and also logged in via Zoom.
In terms of overall attendance, we had a total of 71. This was a tremendous record given the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II and all the memorial events, protocols and guidelines from DCMS which had to be adhered to during the mourning period.
A tremendous thanks to Sarah Foster and Tessa Mo and the ROG team for moving the Book of Condolences for Her Majesty, into the foyer area to make it easy for members to sign. This was a great help on the night as the previous plan was to escort small groups to the other end of the museum where the book was originally placed. The members appreciated this small gesture and thanks to Andy Sawers for sending me the initial request to make this available.
Asra did her customary meet and greet to all visitors and also guided members to the Book of Condolences. Thanks for this, Asra, and also for greeting new members and telling them about our events and plans.
Dr. Brown and Dr. Ed Bloomer put together a double act out in the foyer to do book signing for the ROG Illuminates Series. This worked out great and there were lots of members who purchased multiple books and were able to get them autographed by the authors. Thanks to Adrian Challinor for organising the logistics of the book signing event on the day and we are also grateful to the team at the bookshop for facilitating the sale of books.
Tej Dyal used to be a very quiet and reserved person, but who was that who hosted the talk?
Certainly not the same person.
Well done on the hosting, Tej, and aptly supported by Barry Cassels for the Q&A segment.
The Lecture team for the AGM, Tej Dyal, Helen Edwards, Simon Hurst, Gurinder Lall and Asra Jilani all pulled together to arrange the talk with Dr. Greg Brown. The title of the talk was perhaps the most intriguing as far as titles go, “The Talk You Probably Shouldn’t Watch: A Guide to The End of The Universe.” Dr. Brown’s talk was entertaining, captivating and informative. If you missed it, we have the recording but … you probably shouldn’t watch that either! Many thanks to Greg for the time and effort that he has put into his talk and for sharing his passion with us.
Our IT team led by Simon Hurst pulled out another great job in doing the Hybrid format. We were accompanied in the ROG Control Room by Richard Shields and Reyhan Hussain. Great job with the mics, sound and lighting and all-round great show. We must also mention the launch of the new FAS Website which was built by Mike Meynell. Simon did a grand job with the launch video, and I am sure if anyone dozed off during the presentation, the change in music certainly caught everyone’s attention.
Roger Geeson did a great job again with the refreshments. I know that people keep asking about the absence of wine: all we can say at this point is that we are still working this through with the Museum and we will keep you all updated.
As we say goodbye to the last season, we also said goodbye to Andy Sawers who stepped down from the Committee. Andy stepped down from the position of Chair last year and many of us remembered the same period last year when we had a surprise send off for Andy and presented him with some gifts. The link to that event is given below. Thanks again Andy for all your support and hard work over the years and we wish you the very best as you settle in Scotland.
You can read all about our sent off for Andy Here
The election process was moderated by Martin Male this year and we thank Martin for stepping up to the mark and getting our new committee and officers sorted out. We are looking forward to seeing you again during our Romney Observing events.
Congratulations to our new committee. We are all moving on with plans and events for the coming year so there are lots of anticipation. I am happy to be part of this team and I am looking forward to all that we will pull together over the next season.
Finally, thanks to all of our members who have placed their confidence in us and took time out to attend our AGM and talk. We look forward to working with you over the next season.
Bobby Manoo
Chair