About the Society

The Stratford upon Avon Astronomical Society is a highly active club with a membership of over 60. We aim to provide a meeting place for amateur astronomers and to promote astronomy in the Warwickshire area. We meet twice a month at the splendid Home Guard Club in Tiddington, just outside of Stratford. It has a fully licensed bar which remains open throughout meetings.

On the second Wednesday of each month, we have a practical workshop, covering topics such as orbital mechanics, building magnetometers and adapting web cams for astrophotography. On the fourth Tuesday of each month we have a talk by a visiting guest speaker, usually a professional astronomer.

How to find us

Our meetings are normally held at the Home Guard Club in Tiddington, just outside Stratford upon Avon. Please note that a car parking charge of £1 applies at the Home Guard Club - our members are exempt from this charge and are issued with a windscreen sticker which should be displayed at all times.

If you are using a SatNav unit to find us, post code CV37 7AS will get you very close. Alternatively, take the Tiddington Road (B4086) out of Stratford. You should pass the NFU Mutual building to the right, before reaching Tiddington.

In Tiddington, the B4086 becomes Main Street. Driving along this, you will pass a row of shops to your left. A little further on, you will see the Alveston Church Hall to your right, next to which is the entrance to the Home Guard Club.

If you are familiar with the area and want to make the journey from the east of Stratford (in particular from Warwick or Leamington Spa), it is quicker to approach Tiddington from the other end of the B4086, passing Charlecote and Alveston. From this direction, the entrance to the Home Guard Club is to the left, just inside of Tiddington.

The Home Guard Club is not particularly noticeable from the road, but the entrance is signposted and so reasonably easy to find. However, if you do not find these instructions clear or require more information, don't hesitate to contact us.

If you wish to use a navigational computer program or a mapping website such as Streetmap or Multimap, use the postcode CV37 7AS. Remember however, that this gives only an approximation to the exact location.

The Observatory

Our observing site at Tiddington is flat and the sky is dark apart from the Northwest looking towards Stratford. We have an excellent Southern horizon. The site of the observatory, some 8 miles from Stratford in Bidford upon Avon, is also dark and has excellent southern and western horizons.

The observatory was formally opened on 12th July 1997 by our President, Professor Peter Willmore. It is named "The Sid Payne Observatory" in memory of a member who showed great enthusiasm for the construction of the observatory but who unfortunately passed away during the early stages of construction. We are grateful to Sid's family for a generous donation towards the costs of the observatory.

The observatory houses "The George Ricketts Telescope" named after its original designer and creator. The telescope is very substantial and will hold a much bigger mirror than the existing 10-inch (possibly up to 20-inch).

We also have a 5-inch computerised SCT which we use for observing at the Home Guard Club following meetings and at star parties. The Society offers 4 telescopes for loan to members, a 6 inch Dobsonian, two 4.3-inch reflectors and a 4-inch reftractor in addition to a range of photographic, digital imaging and spectroscopic equipment.

Membership

Visitors are welcome to attend meetings for free. We encourage you to come along to one or two meetings to determine if you wish to join us. Whilst there is no pressure to join, anyone who wishes to continue to attend regularly should become a member.

Membership costs £27 per year (£21 for senior citizens). This also includes membership of the Home Guard Club. Fees are collected in October. Anyone joining at another time of the year will be charged for the fraction of the year that remains. Membership is free to anyone in full time education. Members can use our telescopes, have a say in the way the organisation is run and borrow from our library.