Your committee
For the 2023-2024 session, Newbury Astronomical Society has a committee of 16 who are responsible for ensuring the running of the society effectively and smoothly, in line with the stated objectives in the Constitution. Of these, 12 are voting committee members with the rest non-voting co-opted or outgoing members. 5 of the committee members are officially Trustees of the charity and therefore carry the legal obligations to ensure the proper governance of the organisation in line with UK law.
A number of committee members have specific, designated roles - their details are below. In all cases, please don't hesitate to reach out to committee members if you have a question, problem, or suggestion. It's your committee and we're here to help!
Paul Gibson - Chair
Drive the strategic direction of NAS, in line with the Constitution
Organises and chairs Committee meetings
Organises and runs AGMs and EGMs
Identifies help for any Leads struggling to deliver their responsibilities
Troubleshoots any issues that might arise in the operation of the NAS
Ensures meetings of members and the committee all start and end on time, including time for tidy-up
Giving vote of thanks to speakers and seeking questions
Tony Hersh - Vice Chair
Stands in for Chair in the event of the Chair non-availability
Assists Chair to deliver their responsibilities
Assists any Leads to deliver their responsibilities
Tracks to help ensure Leads achieve their deliverables
Responsible for booking Stockcross Village Hall for NAS, ensuring availability of microphones and facilities for tea, and negotiating the booking cost
Victoria Willcocks - Secretary
Ensures the Agenda for Committee meetings, AGMs and EGMs are generated and distributed to the appropriate members with the required notice
Takes and circulates the minutes of the above meetings for approval
Liaises with external bodies and individuals, as requested by the Chair
Ensures NAS maintains its responsibilities for Safeguarding and protection of member’s data
Alan Wyles - Membership Secretary
Administers new membership applications and annual membership renewals
Maintains the membership application forms
Reports to the Committee at each Committee meeting on new members who have joined since the last meeting, and any leavers
Collates and provides a new Member’s Pack and webpage, for all new and prospective members
Requests annual subscription fees from members
Peter Bendall - Treasurer
Conducts all regular treasurer roles including maintaining bank account, preparing financial statements and flagging issues as required to committee
Requests annual subscription fees from members & maintains a list of paid up members
Ensures money is collected from non members, on the door, at each meeting
Ensures charity commission and government record of NAS trustees are up to date and correct
Ensures the NAS maximises its income via Gift Aid from Members
Paying speakers where necessary
Ensures the NAS carries adequate PLI to cover all proposed activities
Chris Hooker - Main Meeting Lead
Identifies and books speakers to give full-length talks (45 minutes to 1 hour) at the Main meetings
Informs the Communications Lead of the speakers’ names and talk titles when confirmed so these can be placed on the website and used for external advertising
Contacts each main speaker in advance of the meeting to arrange equipment details, confirm meeting location and invite the speaker to the pre-meeting meal
In conjunction with the Communications Lead, encourages members to contribute short talks (up to 20 minutes) after the tea break
Identifies one speaker to present for a maximum of 30 minutes on a Beginner’s topic and one speaker to present a WhatsUp talk for a maximum of 15 minutes, both to be held before the tea break
Ensures one or two members have talks ready to deliver after tea and that these talks last max 20 minutes each, but these talks are not held if it’s clear as observing after tea takes priority
Organises members to bring telescopes on potentially clear nights
Identifies 2 meetings per year which are practical telescope/imaging workshops with fewer (but not zero) talks organised
Ensures topics for speakers for next 6 meetings are passed to the Communications Lead
Ensures Wi-Fi code available to all members
Creates and oversees rota/volunteers for teas and ensuring this works on the night
George Sallit - Outreach Lead
Develop Outreach strategy
Coordinate all Outreach activities:
Planning and running NAS response at events and visits
Proactively approach external organisations to offer and schedule outreach activities
Identify members to assist giving talks and helping at Outreach events
Track and report an estimate of how many members of the public Outreach events have reached each calendar year
Ensure all H&S, Risk Assessment and Safeguarding requirements are met at each event
Gareth Jarrett - Communications Lead
Ensures the NAS website is fully functional, with easily maintained and updated pages for:
Dates of Meetings and Committee meetings
AGM/EGM Minutes documents
All outreach events
WhatsUp posts and updates for time-critical notices
Links to other organisations/site that help promote our agenda
FLASH updates on observations, notifications and events
Generate/collate a newsletter and email to all members on 1st every month advertising forthcoming talks, NAS events and outreach events and asking for participation in these events
At periodic intervals check members satisfaction with NAS events and seek their feedback/suggestions and report summary to Committee
Create and administer a robust social media and newspaper advertising strategy
Communication with members regarding ad hoc events. e.g. Christmas
Other Committee Members:
Mark Gray
Chris Lloyd
Christopher Douglas
Ann Davies
David Boyd
Julie Armstrong
Kath Nurse