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[(top)] [About Maidenhead Astronomical Society] [Meetings] [Where we meet] [Activities] [Public Liability Insurance] [Visitors / joining] [Subscriptions / charges] [How to contact us] [Groups.io] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Constitution] [Resources] [Telescopes] [Books] [Email] [Non-members email list]
About Maidenhead Astronomical Society
Inspired by the first artificial satellite ('Sputnik') and the first episode of the 'The Sky at Night' TV programme, 4 friends got together in 1957 to form the Maidenhead Astronomical Society. Ever since then we have met ten times a year (from September to June) to promote Astronomy in all it's aspects to both members and the local community. We hope some of our enthusiasm will 'rub off' on you !
Meetings
First Friday of each month = see our meetings page for further details. We hope you enjoy the topics.
Where we meet
We meet every first Friday of the month (Sept-June inc) at 7.30pm at the Church Hall (aka 'The Soltau Center') of St James-the-Less, Stubbings, Maidenhead SL6 6QW. This is located on the Henley Road on the West side of Maidenhead town.
The photo, right, was taken from opposite the entrance. When coming from Maidenhead (which is to the right), it's a right-hand turn off the road just as the road 'kinks' to the left (the 'kink' is better seen on the map, below), just after the war memorial (far right of photo). On dark nights, a lamppost on the entrance (left of the telegraph pole in the photo) provides a guide
For OS map users the grid reference is SU 850817 [Google Earth coordinates are N51d 31' 37", W0d 46' 34"].
Click the photo for a larger size
Click here for a map of the area (opens in a new tab)
There is ample off road parking. The Hall is open at 7.30pm and meetings begin at 7.45pm There is a break for refreshments at about 9 pm, followed by a "second half" from 9.30 to 10pm.
Activities
Members have range of interests from beginner level upward. Photography and imaging is popular (see examples on the Photo Competitions page). The committee aims to offer the membership a place to meet and enthuse about astronomy, as well as encouraging group observing sessions.
Telescope evenings are arranged (details at meetings) and public observing events are organised.
In recent years, the Society has put in considerable effort to bring our hobby to members of the public, with public Events (such as our tie-in with Stargazing Live !) as well as visiting other groups (schools, Scouts etc) in and around Maidenhead. If you would like our members to visit one evening to deliver talks about Astronomy and/or a telescope viewing session, please use the Enquiry Form to contact our Outreach Organiser
Public Liability Insurance
MAS is a member of the Federation of Astronomical Societies (FAS) and holds Public Liability Insurance via their joint Members policy, details (for 2022-23) of which can be found here (pdf).
Visitors / joining
Visitors are welcome to attend a couple of meetings and find out more about the Society before deciding to join. Visitors are asked to contribute £2 per meeting to the Membership Secretary at the door (this will be refunded should you decide to join). To join, see the Joining MAS page (or just print out and complete the membership form and bring it along to any Meeting with your subscription)
Subscriptions / charges
Tea and coffee is sold 'at cost' (and comes with a chocolate biscuit !). Annual membership subscriptions are recommended by the Treasurer (to meet our costs) and are set at the AGM. Concessionary rates are set for families etc. For the latest charges, see information on the Joining MAS page.
There is usually no charge for the Public Events organised by the Society
How to contact us
For General and Event enquiries eg. "can someone at MAS help out with the cubs/scouts/brownies/school 'astronomy' class" etc (usually, "yes") please complete the General and Event enquiries email form
For Joining enquiries, please visit the Joining MAS page where you will find both the Joining enquiry email form and a printable Membership application form
For anything relating to this web site (broken links etc), please use the Webmaster email contact form
Members who are logged-in and Registered to the Members Only section can send email direct to the committee members without needing to fill in any 'captcha'. Note, however, this is only possible when you are using the email address you provided when joining MAS (the email system uses a 'white list' approach on mail sent to committee member addresses - mail from a non-member address will be deleted by the 'junk mail' filters, sorry).
Members who have forgotten their passwords should use the Webmaster contact page mentioned above
Groups.io
MAS members can join the discussions of all things astronomical via our groups.io page.
To avoid the need for the Moderators to continually monitor discussions, MAS on Groups.io is a non-public group limited to members (and past members) only, sorry.
Whilst ever effort is made to keep this website current, Facebook provides a faster and more mobile friendly 'up to the minute' source of information. It is also rather more 'interactive' :-)
Fancy Facebook button :-
If your advertising blocker prevents Java Script running, you won't see the 'fancy Facebook button' above. Instead, you can exit to our Facebook page by clicking on this old fashioned URL link :-)
MAS uses Twitter for 'late announcements', especially 'last minute' changes to members 'Observing Sessions' dates and times. You can 'follow us' by clicking the button below (it uses Java script, so those with 'advertising blockers' will have to 'enable' this page to see it)
Follow @MaidenheadAstroIf the fancy Twitter button doesn't appear above, you can exit to Twitter using this old fashioned URL link :-)
Constitution
The MAS Constitution can be found here
Resources
Telescopes
The Society has a number of donated Telescopes that are available for members to use.
Members wishing to borrow equipment should see the the Assets Coordinator
Books
The Society has a growing collection of books in its library. These are on display at most meetings and may be borrowed by members. Please speak to our Librarian.
A spreadsheet (xls) of the MAS Library books can be found here.
NOTE - The British Astronomical Association (BAA) is an Amazon 'affiliate' and will get a small 'reference' fee if you buy (anything) from Amazon via the BAA site. Unfortunately, at time of writing (July 2014) the necessary 'link' (an Amazon 'logo') appears to have disappeared from the BAA home page (you may have better luck in finding it since the webmaster uses Firefox with so many layers of 'advertising suppression' that he may never see the 'affiliate' logo again :-) ) !
Members are asked to provide an email address that will be added to our 'members group' email list (as well as being used to 'register' them on the members section of this web site). Group mailings provide information on meetings, astronomical events (e.g. a bright comet), aurora, observing evenings and topical observations
Non-members email list
We maintain a 'Friends of MAS' email list for non-members. The MAS Friends list consists of guests and visitors to our public events who have given their details and we only contact them with information on a future public event (public Observing Sessions, Star GazingLive! and Telescope Workshops). If you wish to added to the Friends email list, please use the Enquiry Form to contact our Events Organiser
To have your contact details removed from the list, just 'reply' to any email (or speak to any committee member)
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