May 15

Committee Meeting Minutes 06 May 2024

Committee Meeting – 6 May 2024 8pm – Minutes

Attendees:KP, AC, NT, PH, EG, DT
Apologies:DH
Taken By :AC
Written ByAC

KP welcomed Peter Hall (PH) to the committee as our new Treasurer.

Previous Items

Observing Sessions (NT)

Committee agreed NT could agree new contract with the Council.  Cost was £40 although KP said up to £60 would be reasonable.  PLI limit is £10m.  Contract allowed for any day use.  NT to consider if we aim to limit to Sat/Sun and Wed to help members plan.

Actions:

  • Upon renewal, request change of wording to include a “limit of £10m” and “exclude members and officers from personal liability.” (NT/DT) 

Health and Safety (All)

Any issues to report (All)

None to report. 

Committee was reminded that there is a standard risk assessment which has been continuously reviewed against any H&S issues reported in committee meetings. John Rees was previously reviewing the risk assessment to draft a checklist for observing, similar to the one used for the observatory.

Actions:

KP suggested NT review the risk assessment and observatory checklist in the light of the contract requirements and come up with any suggestions. (NT)

Acceptance Criteria for Loan Equipment (EG)

Eric has stressed the need for a standard process for accepting and approving loan equipment for hire, to ensure its general condition, operational readiness, and safety. A basic user guide and operating instructions are needed, along with a list of accessories included, and a photo of the equipment, before it can be published on the website and offered for loan. Members borrowing equipment should confirm they have read the T&Cs. High value items will not appear on the website and will require a deposit. Committee members to agree any rental fee and loan restrictions on a case-by-case basis.

Weather may be a limiting factor to getting equipment out and photographed.  This has been ongoing and KP urged people to send the material to EG. 

Actions:

  • Committee members holding unregistered items of loan kit are to check its present condition and report any remedial action required before it can be offered for loan (ALL) Ongoing
  • EG asked specifically that AC send pictures of the Skywatcher (AC)
  • List all the current loan equipment, its condition, suitability for loan and any remedial action required before it can be offered for loan (EG). Ongoing

Committee Roles (AC)

Peter Hall’s appointment as Treasurer was confirmed by the committee and announced to the members at the March Meeting.

PH formally took over on 1st April.

Actions:

  • AC will progressively hand over the reins during the second quarter. (AC) Done

Insurance (DT)

Update:

Any further updates on Insurance including the FedAstro Policy. (DT)

Following extensive email correspondence between committee meetings, the committee agreed, in the absence of any insurance policy from FedAstro, that DT would arrange cover with Zurich.  At the last minute FedAstro came up with a policy, but the committee agreed to stick with Zurich, despite the costs being higher, as they felt it provided the exact cover we were looking for.  The committee recognised the amount of time and effort involved in reviewing and agreeing these policies and thanked DT for his work.

Actions:

  • Confirmation of our own public liability policy in place and that we declined the FedAstro policy. Done

Website Update (DT)

DT and Katherine Rusbridge are developing a new website for the society. Danny has requested committee to review progress so far and to provide feedback on structure and content.

Actions:

Has been done and link put in the newsletter.

  • Could we use MemberMojo to make the process for borrowing books and loan equipment private to members? Done. 

KP Investigated and it does not do as we had hoped.

Employers Liability Insurance (DT)

Summary:

Farnham AS is now covered by Employers Liability Insurance. Danny is also on the SAGAS committee charged with drafting policies and risk assessments to comply with insurer requirements. Danny to detail any help required. Committee to discuss this and First Aid training requirements if needed.

Committee noted DT remarks.

New Items

Website (DT)

Website security and learning points from upgrading Farnham, SAGAS and others.

DT recommend that he put in place two factor authentication on the website for changes.  DT reported that he was aware of hacking against some astronomical sites and a small number against ours.  Two factor authentication was shown to substantially reduce the risks. 

Actions:

  • Committee asked DT to advise Katherine Rusbridge and check she was happy before proceeding. (DT)

Committee member images for John Price

John Price wanted images of the committee on the website as he felt this would help him identify committee members.  Committee agreed that none of our images should be on the public website.  Instead, it was agreed images should be sent to AC who will provide a laminated card to help John Price. 

Actions:

  • Images to be sent to AC.  AC to produce a suitable laminated card.  (All/AC)

Observatory (DT)

Update on observatory contract and risk assessments.

Contract agreed with Grainger and with the committee by email.  DT reported that Grainger had been very reasonable with the changes that we had requested. 

Actions:

  • DT was authorised to sign it.  (DT)

Recurring Items

Membership (KP/DH)

Summary:

            Kevin/David to provide an update on the membership renewals.

Membership renewals are now complete and there are 81 members.  A slight drop from 2023 but not by much.

Other

Actions:

  • Danny to check whether the society is on Google Maps. Done

Observing (NT – optional)

Nothing to report.

Outreach (AC – optional)

Nothing to report.

SAGAS Report (DT – optional)

Update from SAGAS on Insurance policy documents.

SAGAS will be holding a summer convention in Chichester with 5 talks including one in the planetarium.

Advertising our meetings

EG asked about advertising our meetings in Astronomy Now. DT advised that there was a long lead time for such advertising. DT will send information for KP to send the programme.

AOB

Lighting at ACC (DH)

Would it be possible to have only the uplighters on during our meetings with video presentation? The downlighters cause glare on my glasses and are not in keeping with a Dark Sky policy(!) so I’ll be bringing a baseball cap in future in case this isn’t technically possible.

I’ll also bring an LED torch that we could try just to illuminate the presenter (when one is present) to make the talk more personal but I don’t currently have a way to mount it so that it points forwards from a height. Any ideas? The tub is 20 mm in diameter and the relevant light is the one in the end, not the large one at the side.

[DT] I haven’t seen the new down lighters so difficult to comment, but I don’t like the idea of spotlighting the speaker with a torch, I don’t think it will be comfortable for the presenter. But a more diffuse source might work but this would need to be tested outside a talk and the lighter summer months may not be the best time.

General items (DH)

Following questions were raised by DH but not discussed at the meeting.  Post meeting comments by committee members are shown.

Did you not discuss recommending members to bring their friends & relations?

[DT] In my experience members bring guests when they are the speaker or there is something special on the programme (e.g. Chris Lintott a few years back). Mostly it seems that it’s a person rather than a family wide interest. Observing (when it happens) is different. Recommending that members bring guests to raise funds doesn’t feel right and won’t be sustainable while we have already made the decision to increase fees, which is predictable.

Do we need to ask John and Kevin to rein back and give others more of a chance?

[DT] Agreed, and I believe this has been more of a problem on Zoom meetings due to microphones. At SAGAS I have been trialling a dual microphone system, one on the speaker, one with the audience and it is working well for a £30 investment. I will bring it next week if I make the meeting.