It has always been the policy of the Society to charge a minimal annual subscription rate (covering the basic cost of society entitlements) and then to charge for our meeting events separately (which covers their costs). This is so that members who cannot get to our meetings do not have to pay unnecessarily high subscriptions rates and get little benefit from them. We recognise that many of our members either live long distances away or have work commitments that mean they can't get to our meetings.

Given this, our basic rate of society membership is £18 per year. The subscription is not just for an individual; it covers other interested members of the same family at a given address. This is renewable yearly, at the start of the membership year, which is March 1st. Anyone joining the Society will pay a pro-rata amount depending on when they join (See the table below).

We also offer a reduced rate of £10 for full-time students. This is a personal membership and does not cover anyone else at their address. We may ask for proof of student status. A pro-rata charge also applies.

The following table shows the amount payable for membership at different times of the year.

Payment can be made by Standing Order. This guarantees your qualification for the early renewal discount.

The charge for membership covers only society expenses, and entitles members to a number of benefits.

See the final section of this page for details of how to join the society.

Benefits

The main membership entitlements are:

• Reduced price entry to our meetings, where you can listen to guest speakers and meet & chat with other people interested in astronomy.
• Monthly society newsletter (except in December) distributed by e-mail
• FAS and SPA newsletters
• Observing sessions, to view planets, stars & galaxies, etc, using the society's telescopes
• Use, after completion of training, of the society's observatory, which houses a permanently mounted, driven, 14" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, based at the Standalone Farm Centre, Letchworth.
• Use of the society's astronomy library.
• Access to society activities at reduced rates or for free. Some activities are exclusively for members.
• Hire of some of the society's telescopes, including 8" & 6" Dobsonian reflectors, a 4" Newtonian reflector and 70mm refractors.
• Subsidised visits to places of astronomical interest.

The society is affiliated to:

• The British Astronomical Association (BAA)
• The Federation of Astronomical Societies (FAS)
• The Society for Popular Astronomy (SPA)

The membership fee entitles the member to the following:

Currently the society newsletter runs to about 12 pages.
The Newsletter and other notices are are distributed by e-mail, so an e-mail account is required.

Currently we have just under 120 subscriptions, and we are still growing. However as we offer family membership, we actually have over 200 people registered as members. Of these approximately 70% have their own telescope, about 15% have binoculars, and 15% use their naked eyes for their astronomical observations.

Meetings

These are held on the last Wednesday of each month, starting at 7:30pm, at the Elizabeth Howard Memorial Hall Letchworth, and feature presentations by external speakers. To cover the cost of hiring the room and speakers' expenses, we charge an entry fee of £2 each for members, and £3 for non members. Accompanied children are charged less.

In 2010 we started holding four additional meetings, which feature short presentations by members of the society. They are held every 3 months, starting in January.

Our December meeting is held earlier in the month, when we hold our AGM and run a quiz and raffle.

We charge for meeting attendance as follows:

* £1 when the speakers are members of the society
This covers the room hire, speakers' costs and refreshments.

For more information on our meetings and other activities, see the Meetings page and the Programme page.

Observatory

The society has an observatory to the north of Letchworth. Built entirely by our members, it is located at the Standalone Farm Centre, which is run by Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation. For more information, see the Observing page.

We run an observing programme of star parties through the year for members, who are free to attend and use the equipment. Before attending a session, a check should be made on the Society's mobile phone - 07751 315447 - that the weather is suitable to allow the event to go ahead.

The main telescope at the obsevatory.

Other society activities

In addition to having our meetings and star parties, we hold special viewing sessions during the year for meteor showers and other astronomical phenomenon. In the Spring we have an annual society meal, and in the Autumn we hold a combination Star Party and Bar-B-Que, which we call the Star-B-Que. Both of these events are for members only.

We also participate in other local society/community events, we put on public events ourselves, and we orgainse society visits to places of astronomical interest.

For more information about the society's activities, have a look at the page About us.

The 2009 Star-B-Que

Joining the society

Joining the society is easy.

• Our preferred method of payment is via online banking.
  Log in on your bank's website and make a payment (or set up a Standing Order) following the instructions on the membership form and send page 1 of the membership form to our Membership Secretary (or we will not know who you are or how to contact you).
  or
• Print out page 1 and post it with a cheque to our Membership Secretary
  or
• Print out page 1 and bring it with a cash payment to our next event
  or
• If you want to pay by Standing Order, fill in and return page 2 as well as page 1.
  Do ensure that you fill in the payment dates correctly.
  Currently this should say "Pay £18 now and then £15 on 22 February 2013".
  or for Student membership:
  Currently this should say "Pay £10 now and then £8 on 22 February 2013".

You can also download the society's Constitution.

If you have any questions about membership of the society, please write to membership-at-ldas.org.uk
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For news about our events, and to book places, write to: events-at-ldas.org.uk
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