Spacereport September 1999

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Solar Eclipse viewed from RAF Hercules, August 11 1999 Contents Page 1 Society News By Paul Clark Page 2 Obituary for Chris Boyce By Duncan Lunan Chris Boyce 1944 to1999 Page 3 (i) Eclipse In The Channel By Duncan Lunan (ii) 11th August 1999 Total Solar Eclipse From Devon By Paul Clark (iii) Partial Solar Eclipse at Airdrie Public Observatory By George McCue New ASTRA (Airdrie Branch) Logo: Society News  Hello all ASTRAnuts, it's only very slightly late (an old ASTRA tradition), but here is August's Spacereport and a round up of the society news as promised : Mailings As I pointed out in my last letter, within Asgard dated 10 May 1999, it was promised mailings would be more frequent and less bulky in content. Well this month's spacereport is the second publication put together by Duncan, Andy and myself and so far, so good. Membership Membership reminders were posted out in ASGARD which was a worthwhile excercise as it increased our subscription numbers by around 20%. However all those that have not yet payed will no longer receive mailings. This will, no doubt, save a considerable sum of money in future. AGM This year's AGM was held in the Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant, Granville Street, Glasgow. Once again it was well attended and was a huge success. Website Please note, the web page has changed it's address to : http://www.astra.org.uk also space settlers at: http://soar.to/SpaceSettlers National Lottery Grant - Click here for details Chris Boyce I am sure that I am not alone when thinking of how badly Chris will be missed within ASTRA. Duncan has expressed within his enclosed article nearly all that can be said here. Once again all our condolences to Chris's family. Glasgow Meetings There are no meeting programmed in Glasgow for the meantime. Airdrie Meetings All meetings are held at Airdrie Arts Centre on Friday Evenings, 7:30pm - 9:30pm. Meeting will adjourn in favour of observing from a dark sky site (Weather Permitting) whenever possible. Those members with cars are asked to help in transport. Eclipse at Airdrie Observatory An open day was held on Wednesday August 11 1999 at Airdrie Observatory. Over 40 members of the public turned up to witness the event. George McCue gives an account in this months Spacereport of the Airdrie eclipse as well as two other articles, one by Duncan Lunan who witnessed the event while crossing the English Channel and the other article is my own account of the happenings in Dartmouth, Devon on that same day. Social Events The Airdrie branch recently held a bowling night at Coatdyke ten pin bowling alley. This was an enormous success and other social activities are being planned for the near future. For further details, speak to George McCue (Social Convenor Elect). Rocket Weekend The annual rocket weekend took place at Kelburn Country Park, Largs on 28 to 29 August 1999. Once again, the event was well attended by ASTRA members. The overall team event was as follows :- 1'st Paisley Rocketeers 2'nd German/Austrian Team (including Robert Law who defected). 3'rd ASTRA 4'th Star Research The Open event however was won by that famous international Rocketeer "Raymond (Von) McCall of ASTRA Congratulation due here I think. Summary That about sum's up this month's spacereport from me. We are hoping that the next publication will be available for posting around November/December 1999. As this will be the last one this side of the celebrated (but fake) millenium, I think we should all put some extra effort into publishing a one-off magazine to mark 2000AD. I will leave this up to everyone, but should you wish to contribute an article, then please contact me at the above ASAP. See each and everyone of you in December at the Christmas meal. Until then... May the force be with you., Paul Clark

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