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REGULAR
N.S.F.S. EVENTS.
MONTHLY
MEETINGS.
These
are our mainstay activities. We hold
monthly
meetings every third Tuesday of the
month, from 1900 (7.00pm) at the
Joy Cummings Community Centre,
corner of Scott and Pacific Streets,
Newcastle. Meetings often now have
guest speakers who give talks and/or
presentations on all manner of
space, science and science fiction
topics. A check of our Calendar
should show you what we have
available.
Past meetings have included a
meteorite display (including
touching
what is believed to be a sliver of
rock from Mars), a static firing of
a small rocket motor, talks by well
respected people in the space and
science fields, and even talks given
by very knowledgeable members of
our own Society and Chapter!
EXECUTIVE
MEETINGS.
These
are when your hardworking Executive
Members get
together to plan the various
misdeeds we commit during the year.
With
three of our Executive Members
currently living outside the
Newcastle
area, however, we nowadays tend to
use the Internet quite heavily. On
occasions of actual meetings, all
Members and friends are encouraged
to
attend; we have no secrets from you,
and would certainly welcome
additional input and helpers…
ANNUAL
GENERAL
MEETING (A.G.M.).
We
are required by law to hold this
once a year, and
we consequently hold this meeting on
the ANNIVERSARY of our foundation
in June. If elections are to be
held, they are normally held at the
A.G.M. Social climbers and
power-hungry and ambitious people
are most
welcome…! Because of the potentially
fractious nature of this kind of
meeting, it is the one month of the
year when we do not normally ask
for guest speakers, instead relying
on our Members to provide suitable
distractions from the electoral
proceedings. It has become customary
of
late for our Chapter Co-Ordinator
Martin Walls to hold the annual
Trivia Night at this time. Somehow,
it seems most appropriate.
ANNIVERSARY.
We
were founded as a Chapter in June
1990, and we
usually commemorate this occasion
with a dinner and/or other event, in
addition to our June A.G.M.
BOARD
MEETING.
The
National Board of the Society has
adopted a policy
of holding quarterly Board meetings,
whenever it is mutually possible
to do so, at individual Chapter
locations. It has become customary
to
hold one of these at Newcastle.
Board Meetings here are usually
followed by DINNER WITH THE
DIRECTORS.
DINNER
WITH THE
DIRECTORS.
Held
after the locally-held Board
Meeting, this is
usually a cooked dinner or barbeque
at our venue after the Board
Meeting has ended, and it is often
followed by a movie presentation or
a VIEWING NIGHT. It allows the local
Members to meet and talk with
their Directors, and vice versa.
VIEWING
NIGHTS.
We
have a large sub-group of Members who
are interested in astronomy and
who also have their own telescopes, so
we hold occasional Viewing
Nights for them. We usually hold these
in conjunction with the
NEWCASTLE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(N.A.S.), as it is to our mutual
benefit
to work together. Besides, many of our
own Members are Members of the
N.A.S. too, and co-operation is far
better than rivalry…! Besides, we
might not win. N.S.F.S. VIEWING NIGHTS
almost always also have a
barbeque dinner held beforehand.
YURI’S
NIGHT.
This
is an internationally sponsored event,
held worldwide on 12th April, to
commemorate the first manned flight
into space by the Soviet Union’s
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1.
More recently too, it was the
launch date of the Space Shuttle
Columbia (R.I.P.) in 1981. It is
usually held as a dinner here.
CHRISTMAS
PARTY.
Traditionally,
the December Meeting is a Christmassy
event anyway, but we also
normally hold a separate event for
Christmas itself, and usually early
in December, too, so you have plenty
of time to attend all those other
events...
CINEMA
SESSIONS.
If
there is a space, science or science
fiction movie on at the cinema,
chances are we’ll be there as a group
to see it. While dependent on
circumstances, we usually try to see
such movies on the first Saturday
after they are released, often timing
it with lunch or dinner
somewhere, depending on location and
session times. WARNING: it is not
unknown for us to "accidently" and
noisily comment on any plot holes
and/or science gaffes observed…
SCIENCE
WEEK.
Not
to be outdone with other
internationally registered events,
Science
Week is held around the third week in
August. It usually lasts for far
longer than a week now, and all
science-related activities (and
space-related activities are
DEFINITELY also science-related
activities) held during that month are
entitled to be advertised as
part of Science Week.
SPACE
WEEK.
This
is yet another internationally
registered event held around the 4th
October to commemorate the launch of
the first object into space;
Sputnik 1 in 1957 by the Soviet Union.
Like Science Week, it usually
lasts for far longer than a week now,
and all space-related activities
held during that month are entitled to
be advertised as part of Space
Week.
JANUARY
MEETING.
Because
most people are away or recovering
from the Christmas / New Year
period, and unless something important
or interesting comes up that
can’t be made otherwise available, we
traditionally don’t arrange
anything exciting for our January
Meeting. Just letting you know…
P.S.
For
some strange reason, the N.S.S.A.
doesn’t require us to prove we are an
active Chapter any more. Can’t work
out why…
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