Braeburn Park Nature Reserve Open Day

On Sunday 10th July 2016, CMHASD members Honor Wheeler, Rita Whiting, Diane Clarke and Andy Barber attended the Open Day at Braeburn Park on behalf of the Society.

It was a busy day for members as there was lots of interest about what we do as a society and members had set their solar scopes allowing many visitors the chance to observe the sun when the clouds allowed, which pleased many.

Below are a few photos of the day taken by member Diane Clarke & Honor Wheeler and a link to an article written by Bexley Wildlife about the day too, enjoy :-)

http://www.bexleywildlife.org/

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Saturday 16th July & Sunday 17th July 2016.

It turned out to be one hot weekend!!!

Plus top it off, the Sun had a superb selection of sunspots on both days so plenty of solar observing was done with the public :-)

This years festival was the first time that the Society had attended by purchasing its own stall space, instead of being set-up in the exhibition marquee which was not provided this year. This actually turned out to be to our advantage as we were able to spread ourselves out more and put our equipment, display and telescopes exactly where we wanted :-)

Saturday was the hottest day, with plenty of clear blue sky to observe the Sun which we did for most of the day. Sunday started out cloudy but sultry, and it was nice to have a breeze through our marquee which had openings to both sides to allow the public to walk through.

                                                                                  The Sunday Crew......

Members helping were all kept busy showing the Sun to the public through 4 Hydrogen-alpha telescopes and 1 Newtonian with a white light filter fitted. Activities were provided for the public to interact with in the marquee and many took part in the Planet Game with some of the youngest participants beating the older ones.

A BIG THANK YOU must go to members Honor Wheeler, James Burchell, Andy Barber, Rita Whiting, Diane Clarke, Rob Wilson, Simon Dawes, Debra Holton and Mike Rushton for their assistance at this years Dartford Festival and to others for their support.

Also a big Thank you to Colin Wheeler (Honor's Dad) for providing the marquee free of charge and also for allowing us the use of his van for transporting it and the display and equipment.

Below are a few photos of the weekend, taken by Honor Wheeler, Diane Clarke, Jim Burchell and Rob Wilson. Thank you for sharing them with us :-)

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Dartford Annual Steam & Classic Vehicle Festival - Saturday 9th May 2015

What a great day! Once again, CHMASD were at the Dartford Annual Steam & Classic Vehicle Festival in commemoration of the life and work of Richard Trevithick, steam pioneer, inventor, engineer and one time resident of Dartford. It was a fun & very busy day for CMHASD members - with lots of people visiting our stand including the Mayor of Dartford Avtar Sanhu MBE.

Members Honor, Rita, Diane, Debra, Martin, Jim & Andy were kept particularly busy that day - as the Sun came out several times and provided the opportunity for members to do some Solar Observing with many members of the public to their delight & surprise. The public were shown how to observe the sun safely using the telescopes that were on display fitted with the required Sun filters. Many members of the public were unaware that you could use use a telescope to observe the Sun safely!!!!!!!!

Never view/look at the sun directly! - please see our Sun safety viewing guidelines.

The Sun was not the only object in the sky the public got to view that day - members Andy & Jim managed to find the planet Venus late afternoon and so quite a few members of the public were able to view Venus too through Jim's telescope - to their astonishmentt!

Below are a selection of photos of that brilliant day - Thank you to Jim, Martin & Diane for taking the photos.

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On Saturday 21st February 2015, Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford hosted a fun filled activity day & evening for all ages at The Orchards Shopping Centre in Dartford.

Below is the ebulletin release by Trustee & Publicity Officer Honor Wheeler who was instrumental in ensuring that the event took place & run as smoothly as possible along with the help of fellow trustee Rita Whiting and members Debra Holton & Observatory guardian Andy Barber.

Honor did a fantastic job especially as it was her first time organising such an event for the Society.

Thank you Honor and Rita, Debra & Andy - for all your hard work and effort. A super, fun filled day was had by all who attended and helped on the day.

CMHASD would also like to say a big Thank you to Face/Off who helped organise & host the day and to Astro Media Shop for donating the prizes for the two quizzes.

''Well, how do I begin the eBulletin this week? For a start I would like to say an extremely 'BIG THANK YOU' to everyone who helped to make Stargazing at the Orchards such a huge success!

The day didn't start off so well with the weather providing us with a snow shower as the early birds started to off-load. As you may be aware Ashford, Mid-Kent and South East Kent astronomical societies agreed to attend and duly arrived to start setting up as well.

The addition of the Dartford Photographic Society, Barry Kellett RAL, Image Space, Betty and Domi from Face/Off and Astro Media Shop saw us ready for the long day ahead.

After an early 7:30am start we began the main proceedings at 10am and closed the day at 4pm, then held the evening observing on the roof car park from 7-9pm.

The talks organised to go on for the whole day, held in the Meeting Place', included talks from Rita Whiting, Simon Dawes, Martin Crow, Andy Barber, Neil Webster, Honor Wheeler and make a Comet demonstrations from Debra Holton and quiz master for the 2 quizzes John Archer. The general quiz was compiled by Debra Holton and the children's quiz was compiled by Sonia Rubie, Sonia also provided over 35 space themed crossword, word searches and maze puzzles for children and adults to have a go at completing. Thank you both of you for your hard work. Thanks must also go to Astro Media Shop www.astromediashop.co.uk for providing the prizes for the quizzes.

As Dartford's Market runs on a Saturday we hoped a reasonable number of people would visit the Orchards during the day and we were not disappointed. During most of the day the societies were kept busy talking about all kinds of astronomy based topics from Constellation finding to buying Telescopes etc. Others helped individuals who had brought their own telescopes along looking for help in setting them up and getting them working properly. Crayford's Janet Dray provided biscuits for children to decorate with their favoured constellation or sign of the zodiac and the 'Do you know your Solar System' game kept many entertained. Janet also provided a centre piece for the table made with marzipan representing the planets, Thank you Janet for a fine and unique display!

Unfortunately the Solar observing was abandoned as the weather was not clear enough but after those staying for the evening session had had something to eat, we were lucky enough to have clear skies for the 2 hour session. Not only was the the Moon lying close to Mars and Venus but the International Space Station passed very close to the Moon just as we began our observing. Jupiter was also up which proved to be a big hit with the public. Over 40 members of the public and 1 Mayor turned up for the session and were not disappointed with 10 Crayford telescopes taking in the clear skies. Thanks to everyone who braved the really cold weather and brought and shared their Telescopes.

Ashford AS has commended Crayford on our photographic display boards and while I had a hand in putting it together I couldn't have done it if many of you hadn't taken the time to take the photographs in the first place! Thanks and Keep them coming PLEASE ;)

Phil Young from South East Kent sends his regards and thanks to everyone for a great day.

Ian Hargraves from Mid-Kent has also sent his compliments about the day.''
Honor Wheeler, CMHASD Trustee & Publicity Officer.

1. Photos of the day

Below is a slideshow of a selection of photos taken by CMHASD members Honor Wheeler, Terry Miles & Amy Tomsett of the day. Thank you - They are a great set of images depicting the day & evening event of the 21st February 2015 - CMHASD Stargazing 2015 show.

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2. CMHASD Stargazing 2015 in the press - News Shopper - 24th February 2015

Click here to view the press article about Stargazing 2015 at The Orchards Shopping Centre.

3. Traders & Societies who were there on the day

4. Events throughout the day

5. Programme of talks, demonstrations & quizzes during the day

Held in the Meeting Room.
( T= 10 minute talk, D= Demonstration & Q= Quiz )

*Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

6. Evening events