More hands needed to lift astro dream

Do you have a love of the stars? Are you keen on learning more about astronomy?

e local astronomical society is needing passionate and dedicated people to help run a range of interesting events at Tauranga’s observatory.

Due to its unobtrusive design with a at sliding roof, instead of a familiar dome, many don’t realise the observatory is tucked away inside the Otūmoetai Sports and Recreation Club building at Fergusson Park.

Tauranga Astronomical Society president David Greig says they previously had a large pool of available and able-bodied volunteers to help with the many activities run by the society.

“Unfortunately, over the past three years, mainly due to age, health and people moving away, our valuable team has been seriously depleted.

“We have a fantastic core team of very dedicated people but most of us have various physical and health challenges that make our e orts increasingly di cult.

Desperate for help

“We desperately need more volunteers to help us spread the load so that our remaining good keen volunteers don’t burn out – myself included.”

David is now the only person who feels capable to present programmes, including the ‘Astronomy 101’ programme for visiting children. “ e busiest time of the year for us is between June to the end of September when we have numerous bookings from schools, home-school groups, Scouts, Cubs, Keas, Sea Scouts, various social clubs, kindergartens and also the occasional retirement village.

Vitally important

“ ese bookings are vitally important to us as they provide much-needed income to help us cover our operating costs and to help with making improvements to the observatory and equipment.” e audio-visual equipment needs to be set up for each meeting. We can use some more help in the kitchen... ere are many other tasks in between that all need people to do them.” e next TAS meeting, at 7.30pm Tuesday, June 13, at the club building is also the AGM, and will have a live presentation of the society’s history. Annual membership is $40 per adult, $50 per family, $20 for tertiary students. Under-16s are free. To learn more, see: tas.org.nz or the TAS Facebook page.

David has a long-term health condition – ME/CFS –Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – which takes its toll on him quite severely after each meeting and booking session. As such he’s reluctant to con rm too many bookings until he has enough helpers.

“ ere are a number of tasks and roles that we need help with. Everything from putting out chairs through to setting up and operating telescopes.

He says people don’t need formal teacher training, just an enthusiasm for sharing astronomy with others.