If your astro soc is thinking of doing something like this, then I strongly recommend it.

I spent all weekend on our stand at Herstmonceux. It was a great opportunity to meet the public and let them know about CADSAS and it’s forthcoming meetings. Good local promotion and awareness building.

But just as important was meeting other local astronomy societies, getting to know some of their key people and generally “joining the local astro club community”.

Also, it provided a great opportunity to make a couple of (very) short videos for YouTube.com (above and below)

All it needed was a simple camcorder and a tripod. You should do the same for your club or society.

Don’t get put-off by thoughts of fancy video equipment.

Surely, the quality is not like the BBC. But in spite of the wind and excessive background noise, IT WORKS to help show people what you are doing.

A quick video like this, gives you something you can show to others. And it helps people find your society through the search engines.

Highly recommended!

This is a picture of the site. And lots of people were there on the day, even though this picture suggests otherwise!

I spent some time with my SPA colleagues Barry and Guy, who were doing such a good job on the SPA stand (and probably distracted them with my chatter).

And I briefly met Sir Patrick Moore, who took time to visit the astronomy societies in their tent around the back.

Here’s the “front lawn” view.

I also enjoyed a good talk on imaging the night sky by Nik Szymanek. (Good to meet you, Nik)