We'll be increasing our fees for dark site membership from £20 per annum to £25 per annum, for all new dark site subscriptions purchased, or existing subscriptions renewed, on or after 02/01/2022.
Why are the fees increasing?
We're facing increased costs in some keys areas, with some of our costs increasing by significantly more than the rate of inflation. We've absorbed these costs as best we can over the years, with a website sponsorship going some way to helping with this, but unfortunately it's no longer sustainable. Having not increased the dark site membership fee since before the EMS website was launched, way back in 2011, we're now in a position where we must increase them.
How did you work out the increase?
We've based the increase on the Bank of England's inflation calculator and will be increasing the fees strictly inline with inflation. You can use the tool yourself, here, to see how costs in the UK have increased over time. The below snapshot, taken from the calculator, shows that goods and services costing £20 in 2011 would have cost £24.93 in 2020, hence our increase to a round figure of £25.
Associate Member Subscription
We realise that some dark site members choose to subscribe to support EMS financially, rather than to have use of the dark sites, and we're very grateful to these members for their ongoing support. We'll be introducing an Associate Member subscription priced at the existing £20 per year, for any members who support us financially through the subscription, don't use the dark sites, and wish to maintain their current pricing at £20 per annum. These members will be shown in a similar way to dark site members, with a blue cross next to their name instead of a red one, in recognition of their ongoing financial support.
Dark Site Access
The dark nights are starting to roll in, so there's no better time of the year to make full use of your dark site membership. Check back often to see if there's a meet being organised, or feel free to pop up a post to organise a meeting yourself. With two dedicated dark sites, and COVID restriction eased across the county, we're once again able to meet up and enjoy the dark skies together.
If you have any questions about the increase, please feel free to contact any member of Staff.
We'd like to thank all of our dark site members, past and present, for their support.