500 members!

[Guest Wayne]

Good work everyone' fabulous sky's good friends- but above all....sheila's cake's :-)

[stovesy]

Clearly the open, informative and friendly manner of all members is why this organisation is so successful.

 

And a big 'Ta' to all those involved with running things.

 

See you at the next one

[angusw2]

A big pat on the back for the founders / old timers ;-) and everyone who has contributed to EMS success. Well done all and long may we continue :-)

Angus

[Guest Tinkerbell]

Wow! A magic fab 500 members! And counting.....

I know it's been said before, but it's worth saying again - congratulations to everybody who has made ems such an amazing, special, friendly & informative forum, due to the contributions of so many amazing, special, friendly, informative, clever, funny & like-minded folks! And I've only run out of superlatives cos it's nearly 1 am & my grey cells are going a bit blank!

I personally get so much out of being a part of ems; in fact I feel proud & privileged to be a member.

it may appear that I don't "do" much & so what do I get out of it?

As some of you know, I do unfortunately have disabilities , which even prevent me from joining in chats on the forum - writing this is a major feat, cos like everything I do, it becomes quickly painful, but that's just life, everyone has problems!!

however, that doesn't stop my interest in astronomy; I've loved stargazing since I was a child. And of course it's great that martyn has the same interest - except, of course, that he is also well-endowed with a vast amount of knowledge about both the stars, galaxies etc above, as well as about the use of various telescopes! and he's not bad at mashing tea either! he's a clever fella!

But although my knowledge of the skies is not very good, it certainly doesn't spoil my enjoyment of stargazing, because it's just sooo awesome!

And of course if I want to know something, I can usually ask martyn!...

I also came to the realization over a year ago, that because of the problems with my spine, sciatica, arthritis in my hips & hands etc & fibromyalgia etc....!

- that I was actually physically unable to bend over in order to look through a telescope, & maintain that position whilst at the same time doing all the technical things like twiddling knobs, in the search for a particular galaxy or globular cluster etc!

sadly i discovered that this was seriously too severely painful for me to be able to do on my own.

Fortunately, ems to the rescue!!

It's been such a pleasure to meet up with people, whether at a dark site locally, or at a star party (ems - the sequel - coming soon!) - & of course it has always impressed me as to how friendly & willing everyone has been in allowing me to look through their telescopes, & let me benefit from their hard work in finding an object, & often giving me additional information too! Absolutely fabulous!

I do not believe that you could have a nicer group of people, who actually care so much about their members.

A big thank you from me to all of you who have let me look through your telescopes & shared your cosmic objects with me; & hopefully will do so again in the future!

And finally........(about time, did somebody say? - cheeky!)

A very big thank you to all the staff for all theira hard work behind the scenes every day, which keeps the engine of ems running so smoothly, for the benefit of each & every one of it's members.

Great job guys! A big pat on the back for all of you!!!

you are a fab bunch of care bears looking after us all!!!

naturally I couldn't conclude without saying thanks also to sheila, for all her help & of course, her beautiful buns!

thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings;

I have actually felt embarrassed in the past to talk on the forum about how my disabilities have restricted my ability to use a telescope, but everyone I've met through ems have been nothing but kind, caring & helpful,& as I've said before, always more than happy to let me look through their telescopes.

At wymeswold last weekend, I met john (from notts astro society), who lent me his 12 x 50 binos, which had a chest support attached to them, plus an image stabiliser! Fantastic

Normally when I use binos, my head wobbles like a jelly & my neck is really painful cos of my cervical spondylitis; also my hands get painful, go into spasm & start being very shaky - all due to arthritis! - so the stars I usually see through my binos, just make loopy patterns!!

But john's binos were fabulous - thanks again john!

And they are only about £1500.....

Anyway, back to the celebration of the five hundred!

absolutely fabulous!

does anyone want to make a prediction for the month & year of the one thousandth member??!!

[Doc]

Such a nice read Krys.

 

You will have to get Martyn to type for you while you dictate, now thats an idea 

[BAZ]

You do know she doesn't breath while typing it all !

 

She's a good un' !

[Brantuk]

Smashing read Krys - very nice tribute to EMS - and I'm sure you're not alone in those lovely thoughts.

[Doc]

I'm surprised she's here then 

[Sheila]

I put it down to Sheila's Milkshake bringing all the boys to the yard.

i think that would have them all running for cover

[Sheila]

I've not met Sheila but now I think I'm going to smirk when I do thinking of you lot saying this stuff. Sorry if i do smile when we meet Sheila

 

James

well we met in some unusual circumstances 

[Sheila]

cheers for that Krys.....   well said

 

Edited April 6, 2013 by Sheila

[Sheila]

Nah, I`m not paying for that!.

 

darn right you are not

[Guest swaylight]

But only about 20 active ones:(

[BAZ]

You get out what you put in Dean!

[Doc]

Martyn's right only you can decide how active you want to be.

[Brantuk]

"But only about 20 active ones"

 

Quite an interesting point there Dean. Some folks may be active but may be more tempted to stay in their obsy on a good night. Others may attend meetings at another club - even though they follow this forum mostly. For some it's quicker and easier to set up in their own back yard - but show their images on here. And of course we have several remote members (London, Scotland, Liverpool, even Canada, etc).

 

Some folks are restricted by work times as well - some work nights or continental styles shifts and can only get out to a session at specific times or only weekends - I do two jobs one f/t and one p/t with a lot of commuting thrown in e.g. though I do get out as much as I can.

 

I've noticed over time that with a hard core of only half a dozen folks who almost always turn up to everything - you'll get a crowd of around 12-20 at most meets though they'll be different people each time. Whilst our turn out core is about 20 we have around 40 changing regulars at meetings (and it must be no coincidence that's the rough number of dark site members).

 

What's really great is that the contribution to the forum of those 40 odd folks attracts some 500 members from all over the local area and wider UK area. This is a good measure of the quality of astronomy being done by EMS. And this has all built up in only 15 months of running the forum - which I think most will agree is a very healthy growth rate for a group of 10 chaps who met in a pub only just over three years ago.

 

I reckon there's much more activity within the whole of EMS than we all realise

[Guest Tinkerbell]

"but only about 20 active ones"

Very well said kim, & I feel sure that most members would agree.

There are always several different perspectives that should be considered on any particular issue Dean, & I think kim has illustrated this really well in his post to you.

I don't know if you read my post from earlier today, but as it happens it may give you some more insight as to why some members may appear to be less active than others.

I would love to be able to attend more dark site meetings, or even just chat on the forum regularly, but my personal circumstances mean that I am restricted in what I can or cannot do, just like many other members have restrictions, but for a variety of different reasons.

If you haven't read my earlier post Dean, (& that's ok, I know I tend to ramble once I get started, if you hadn't noticed lol!), well in my case my reason for not being such an "active" member is simply that I have physical disabilities, & I know that there are many others with a variety of health problems, which restrict people'$ lives in a variety of ways.

I think ems has been built upon a solid foundation of sincere,reliable, frieridly & welcoming members; there is always somebody there if you need any help, guidance, information or just a chat.

And it's great to know that you are a part of something that has become really cosmic!!

I do hope that you get something positive out of ems Dean, it would be a real shame if you didn't.

By the way, many thanks to all of you who said such lovely things about my post; I really appreciate it!

[Perkil8r]

But only about 20 active ones:(

 

Kim has indeed put it very well, however there is a much shorter reply: Join in then, nobody's stopping you

[Guest Wayne]

True. :-)

[Guest Wayne]

Krys, you ramble mate. Its all good' Cazz and I get so much from ems.

Let's not forget that the people/ members are the stars. Pun intended, :-)

[Guest devil74]

Having joined at the start of the year and now being a Dark Sky member, I would like to thank everyone for all their help...from the first welcome messages to advising me what kit to buy.

You are an absolute top bunch of lads and lasses.

Congrats to EMS and to the 500th member...long may it continue.