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Nottingham Astronomical Summer BBQ, 2014

Image Credit: Image courtesy of James Dawson, Nottingham

2016 marks Nottingham Astronomical Society's 70th Birthday

Nottingham Astronomical Society had its inaugural meeting on the 1st May 1946 where 60 people attended; while the first meeting was in 1946 the idea for a local society of like-minded individuals dated back to 1938 though war intervened and all plans were put on hold. The Society has seen many changes in its membership and in astronomical science over the years, but is still going strong and 2016 marks the 70th year for the Society. [The first five years of the Society are very eloquently outlined in a brief reported written by Mr A J Ashmore which appeared in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association in 1951; see below for reference.]

We are holding a 70th Birthday BBQ for members this summer and I have tracked down a few people who were part of the society in the early 1950s and they will be coming along; it will be great to hear about the activities of the Society back then. We do have some copies of our monthly newsletter from the 1940s and 1950s on our website (under "publications" and then "Our Journal"), and I am trying to find the missing copies to fill the gaps.

I will update the blog in due course with images of our 70th Birthday celebrations.

James Dawson
Nottingham Astronomical Society

A. J. Ashmore, "The Nottingham Astronomical Society", J. Brit. Astron. Assoc., 61, 114-116 (1951)