A History of Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society
We were formed on May 21, 1978 as
The Night Sky Astronomy Club
At the end of 1978 we amalgamated with
The Mexborough Astronomy Club
and became the
Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society
A name that we are all very proud of.
We have had a few different meeting rooms over the years as our membership has grown. Our
first room was in the Methodist Church at Piccadilly Swinton. We had our very first Open Day
there which was a great success and it became an annual event. After 18 months our membership
had crown and we needed a larger room. We moved to St Johns Church in Swinton, which served us
very well for about two years. In 1980 we approached the committee of the Swinton Working Mens
Club (SWMC) to ask for one of their upstairs rooms. Their answer was a positive one and we have
enjoyed a very good relationship to this day. We have had to extend that single room by
removing the wall between the next door room to cater for the increasing membership. We are now
well established in the SWMC and we enjoy our Thursday evening meetings very much indeed. It is
help that we can get our beer quite easily. A typical programme for the year is to invite a
guest speaker once a month, sometimes a little more frequent, who is an expert in their
particular field of astronomy. On the other Thursdays our members present a narrated slide show
or some other form of astronomical feature in there own style of presentation.
First Telescope
The first telescope we purchased was a 3" refractor which cost £80 that we thought was
a very good prize at the time. We had this scope for some years. We then swapped this for an 8"
reflector for which, our then vice-president built a 6 foot dome. One interesting point is
that, due to the lack of funds, golf balls were used as bearings to allow the dome to revolve
freely.
Presidents
After a couple of years it was thought to be a good idea to have a president. The first
person we asked was the now famous Heather Couper. We visited her at The Royal Greenwich
Observatory when she was the director there. She became very busy with her work and we had to
find a replacement for the post.
We have all been very involved with the Astronomy Centre in Todmorden. The director there is
Peter Drew a well-known activist in astronomy and a first class telescope maker. Peter accepted
our invitation to be our president and held the post for many years.
We are pleased, and honoured, to inform everyone that our latest president is the eminent
speaker on Victorian astronomy, and many other subjects too, the famous Dr Allan Chapman of
Wadham College, Oxford.
'Astromind' & the National Astronomy Quiz
Some years ago 'Radio Leeds Astromind' was born. Our society has taken part for many of
those years - give or take a couple - and we are quite proud of the fact that we have been
successful in winning the trophy in 1986, '87, '88,'89,'91 and '95. We were also honoured to
host the quiz in 1997 when respected astronomer Paul Money took the role of question
master.
We would like to extend our congratulations to the winner, Neil Haggarth of Cleveland and
District Astronomical Society.
The UK magazine 'Astronomy Now' organised a nation wide quiz in 1989. We are proud to say that
we took the first prize of a Silver Platter and £500 by beating the other 31
societies.
The Observatory
From our very early days we have wanted our own observatory and a good telescope. In 1989 we
were lucky to gain a small piece of land belonging to Yorkshire Water at a very reasonable
annual rent.
Our then vice president, being a draughtsman, drew the plans required and planning permission
was given to commence building. As all astronomers will agree finding funding for such a
venture is not easy. The first good news we received was from a local builder's merchant
promising that they would supply all the material to get the building 'out of the ground'. They
also opened a trade account for us with all the benefits it brings, and more. It had been
decided that all the labour would be done by the membership - well it does save a lot of
money.
The profiles were set 1 April 1990 the first sod was cut the weekend after. For the next two
years nothing could stop us - well, almost nothing! In the October of 1992 our treasurer
informed us that we were down to our last £100. We badly needed a sponsored event. It
only took a couple of days before two of our intrepid, normally sensible members came-up with
and idea - to swim the width of Lake Windermere!!! Without relating here the wry comments made
by many of us, it was done. There was no waiting until the summer months, the money was needed
now. The event took place on Saturday 23 November - it was freezing. But it takes a lot more
than just a low reading on the thermometer to stop our members when the chips are down! That
one event earned us about £400.
The observatory was opened 8 May 1993 after just two years of very hard work from every
member.
The Future...
Over the past two years we have built a new dome to for our observatory. For more
information see The New Dome Project
We are a society that is always looking to the future. Our aims for the millennium is to have
the telescope and observatory fully computerised. The benefits of this are many, not least
being able to store the image on disc and scrutinised at a later time. It is felt that this may
increase our chances of making a new discovery in astronomy.
