Derby and District Astronomical Society
Becoming a Member and General Information on our Meetings We extend a warm welcome to anyone who would like to come along to our meetings and suggest that people come along to a few of them before deciding if they would like to join. Benefits of being a member include anytime use of our observatory and site, borrowing books from our library, a discounted room collection, invitation on Society trips, and the right to vote on Society matters at our AGM. If you would like to become a member please contact our Treasurer who is usually available at our main meetings. Meetings The Society holds three types of meetings each month and you don't have to be a member to attend any of them, although of course we encourage people to join. 2023/24 Membership Fees £28 per year (concessions £19)
Room Collection There is a room collection for meetings held at The Friends Meeting House: Coffee Coffee and biscuits are available during the break at our main meetings. Flamsteed Observatory Both members and non-members alike are welcome to attend the regular monthly observing sessions at our Flamsteed Observatory north of Brailsford. All are welcome to bring along their own telescopes to these sessions. For more details please email our . Members may use the observatory at anytime subject to some instruction in the use of the telescope in the dome and a one off £5 fee for a key. For more information on instruction and obtaining a key please ask for Mike Dumelow at any of our meetings. Members may also use the field in which the observatory sits at anytime to bring along their own telescopes for observing. There is a donations box for observing sessions held at our Flamsteed Observatory. We suggest £1 per head for visitors. Any contributions are gratefully accepted but are purely voluntary! Please note that anyone visiting our observatory and site, be they members or non-members, do so entirely at their own risk. DDAS Library Members may borrow books from our library. These loans are free, and last for one month or more, depending on whether other members may wish to borrow a loaned item. The library is available at our main monthly meetings for browsing, borrowing and returns. A number of these volumes were kindly donated by the estate of the late Keith Plamping, DDAS member. The books cover a wide range of astronomy related subjects and the current list of books can be seen here. For brief summaries of a small selection of these books click here. Why not search the internet for details of any listed book that interests you then browse the book at the DDAS meeting? Real books can be so much more pleasure to read than internet material. Our books are free, portable and provide in-depth knowledge of scientific and educational worth as well as general knowledge. There's nothing like reading a good book! For more information please just ask at one of our meetings. Society Trips The Society occasionally holds group visits to places of astronomical or space interest in the UK, to which members and their families are invited. Past visits include the Observatory & Science Centre at Herstmonceux, The Old Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Planetary and Space Sciences Research labs at the Open University, the dark matter research labs down Boulby Mine in Yorkshire, Jodrell Bank and the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. These are usually day trips either by coach or sharing cars. All proceeds go into maintaining our programme of outside speakers, and pay for room and observatory site rent. |
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