How to revive an Astronomical Society?

Hi Rick,

Rick Hewett wrote:
On Sat, 06 Nov 2004, Philip Taylor wrote:

If you go the Brighton Astronomical Society's web page at
http://www.bhas.fsnet.co.uk
you will see the the Society has suspended meetings until further
notice.

Incidentally, this is a problem affecting all types of societies all
over the place. Why this should be the case, I am not sure, but I
suspect that the internet has a fair bit to answer for in this.



That's sad to hear. I noticed only a couple of days ago that Wadhurst AS
(http://www.wadhurst.info/was/was2004/2004oct.htm) seems also to be
having difficulty recruiting committee members... :/

Indeed, although the problems at Wadhurst may have been alleviated, for
the time being at least. We'll have to wait until the November meeting
to be sure.

One problem which has been noted at some AS meetings is the marked
reduction in the frequency of observation evenings. As a relative
newcomer to astronomy, I'd like to see regular practical observing
sessions but they seem to be quite infrequent, even when the weather is
favourable.

Well, we'll have to see what we can all do when (if) we club together to
kick-start the hobby and try to get more people interested!

Regards

JasonG

Rick Hewett wrote in message ...

That's sad to hear. I noticed only a couple of days ago that Wadhurst AS
(http://www.wadhurst.info/was/was2004/2004oct.htm) seems also to be
having difficulty recruiting committee members... :/

On Sun 07 Nov Chris.B wrote:
2) Do you have a confident, extroverted publicity officer?

The two most vital functions are meetings and observing officers. If you
don't have a decent programme of events and activities then there's
nothing for a publicity officer to advertise.

And with no members they will have nothing to do except play with
their own toys and exchange depressing e-mails about the cloud cover
and local light pollution.

3a) Regular bulletins in the local papers? Eclipses, bright planets or
comets in view with contact phone no. website and e-mail address at
the bottom?

These days, having a reasonably fast-loading and informative website
that will work with "any browser", with plenty of local content for the
search-engines to index on is a good idea. That way, if someone types
(say) "Brighton Astronomy" into a search-engine they'll find your
website first. It probably helps if the domain name also includes the
crucial keywords...

Really? Isn't that a rather élitist view of the general availablility
of internet access, even today? It is also possible that personal
searches do no include the terms that throw up a local astro society.
Even then the contact system may not work for some reason. Spam
filter, failed connections, lost e-mails within the scum of a
storm-tossed sea of spam. The idea is to make it easy. Not set
initiation tests for joining. One failed contact and the word goes
round at school and place of work that "they" don't care. See Martin's
post!

It might also be that a someone with a closet interest in the subject
matter notices an article in the local paper that finally triggers an
active response. It might simply not occur to someone to do an
internet search until that point.

Your points do have some validity. But this is an emergency situation.
The patient is lying semi-comatose and still undiscovered. They badly
need rescuscitation. Not polite discussion over the funeral
arrangements. :-)

Regards
Chris.B

"Chris.B" wrote in message
m...
Rick Hewett wrote in message
...

That's sad to hear. I noticed only a couple of days ago that Wadhurst AS
(http://www.wadhurst.info/was/was2004/2004oct.htm) seems also to be
having difficulty recruiting committee members... :/

This problem seems endemic from what I have seen when talking to friends and
colleagues.
Plenty of members but few that have either the inclination or time to do it.
To be fair the latter seems to be the prime culprit of late, with folk that
are suitable for the jobs being the ones that have a fairly onerous work
schedule.

This doesn't affect just astronomy either, my brother has the same problem
in the scouts.

Kev

This doesn't affect just astronomy either, my brother has the same problem
in the scouts.


This is very true, all you have to mention is CRB checks, and people run a mile.

I think "being too busy" is just an excuse - commitment is the real problem.

If you want something done, ask a busy man...

Callum

Apologies to those who emailed me, my email address as shown
above is just a 'spam magnet' address.

Thanks for all the discussion and suggestions. My main point
was about how to get *some* active members and *someone* willing to
organise some activities. Currently there's none - all the
former committee members (including myself) are basically
burnt out after between 15 and 35 years of service to the
Society.

It probably means starting from scratch and what needs
to be worked out is whether the continuing existence of the
Society is actively discouraging newcomers getting something moving
again. It that is the case we should officially close ourselves
down and just sit back. But it may be a few years wait...

Another suggestion I liked the sound of is a special meeting,
openly advertised as a 'fresh start', in the hope of
attracting perhaps 2 or 3 people needed to kick-start it
again,


Philip

Apologies to those who emailed me, my email address as shown
above is just a 'spam magnet' address.

Thanks for all the discussion and suggestions. My main point
was about how to get *some* active members and *someone* willing to
organise some activities. Currently there's none - all the
former committee members (including myself) are basically
burnt out after between 15 and 35 years of service to the
Society.

It probably means starting from scratch and what needs
to be worked out is whether the continuing existence of the
Society is actively discouraging newcomers getting something moving
again. It that is the case we should officially close ourselves
down and just sit back. But it may be a few years wait...

Another suggestion I liked the sound of is a special meeting,
openly advertised as a 'fresh start', in the hope of
attracting perhaps 2 or 3 people needed to kick-start it
again,


Philip

Hi,

I am a member of the RASC and would suggest you visit our National
Office website (http://www.rasc.ca/) and contact the National Council
membership through the site. I am sure there will be someone who can
generate ideas that may help to revive the club in your city.

250,000 is no small population. I personally suggest organising public
viewing and info sessions. This will help publicise the club and raise
new membership. Get together a group of like minded people like
yourself and start the "revival". Someone has to take that crucial
first step. Might as well be you :-)

Ralph A. Croning
Councillor
RASC - Winnipeg Centre

On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 19:51:25 GMT, Philip Taylor
wrote:

If you go the Brighton Astronomical Society's web page at

http://www.bhas.fsnet.co.uk

you will see the the Society has suspended meetings until further
notice. There have now been 2 successive AGMs with no volunteers to
be on the Committee and so the Society is effectively dormant
but not yet officially dead.

So we now have a city with population 250,000 with no Astronomical
Society. Any ideas on how to revive it? Would it be best to close
down completely and wait a few years until a new Society emerges or
should we hope that some new members will join & get things going again?
But that's unlikely as its very discouraging for a newcomer to join a
moribund society.

Anyone with suggestions?

Thanks,

Philip Taylor