Galway Starparty 2012 U-turn

You can have both. Guest speakers are invited and there are seminars and workshops during the day.

Dave_Lillis wrote: A scout camp, now thats a clever way around several starparty problems

You're a very very lucky man John !! We're green with envy.

It's not all it is cracked up to be. I haven't been out in months. Just too busy. Seems to be the way of life here now. I won't mention the cost of living either :silly:

At least YOUR not cracking up!
The weather here has been THEE worst!
I'd be thinking along the lines of the
cost of living being a weather tax.
Now there's a tax i'd be delighted to pay!!

Folks - IFAS has run many events in the past - e.g. Solarfest and the Astrophotography Workshop. In addition, IFAS supported Science week and provided speakers to deliver a variety of presentations.

As regards money, which has been mentioned, I just want to make it clear that IFAS had the chance of getting €10,000 (or more) from Forfas in the spring of this year.

Club reps were asked to engage in the process to either provide justification for a Starparty in their geographical area or to assist in justifying a National event. There were no takers unfortunately (note - it was too late for COSMOS).

Forfas are good friends of IFAS and I was very confident that we could get the money with a good application.

I don't know if the Forfas scheme will be available in 2012 - if it is, I would hope IFAS would submit an application. But the clubs would need to meet IFAS half-way and engage in the process.

Sorry to see GAF off the agenda - I always looked forward to it.

Frank - organising an National event is *not* a big deal - if you have enough committed people assisting. Its impossible when it is left to one or two people.

What I said Dave was massive undertaking
but your right! nothing is a big deal when there
are lots of eager hands on board and it's all well organised.

Case in point is the last few WSP's nearly put me into an early grave
but the BSP's were easy in comparison because a
strong group of members willing to pitch in and it was all well planned out.

I remember you announcing the 10k up for grabs and thinking it was great - free money!! but I wasn't surprised
nothing came of it.
There's only a few clubs that run/ran yearly events and speaking for myself here,
I had so much on my plate there was no way in hell I was taking on an IFAS event
also..
Could the same be said for the others?

You say the clubs would need to meet IFAS half way to engage in the process.
Not to sound pedantic but are not the clubs IFAS?
All you can do is what you did,
offer it up and If nobody in the member clubs wants to do it then what can you do?

It's frustrating I'm sure on your behalf being on the committee and seeing
this cash not get used.
But again back to what you said,
organising anything like it is a non runner with only one or two.

This could be a role for the Ifas committee and more importantly the Ifas reps from each club. The reps have a cushy job anyway :laugh: At least I did when I was a rep.

I will post some info on how they run the ice in space event when I get back from it next week. I think they keep it fairly simple but try to make it an event you bring the partner and kids to. Not a stuffy conference.
Can I be the official Ifas international rep for the ice in space event? That way I can get some inside info and photos without looking weird (er).


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