[DobDobDob (Ron)]

Hi to everyone following this thread. I just wanted to say that this project has far deeper ramifications than just rebuilding a telescope, which of course is the primary focus. This project has formed friendships on several continents, brought together people from all walks of life, all ages and has forged friendships that will endure throughout our lifetimes. The project has enriched several lives and given great purpose and pleasure. It is rare indeed that a group of people, that have never met have all joined together in what they all consider important, and maintained their enthusiasm for such a long time. For me personally it took me to the RAS where I became a fellow after forming friendships with other fellows, who taught me how to research efficiently. Barry has done and will continue to do an outstanding job, I know that he has derived an enormous amount of pleasure from this project, one of the important aspects was to use original methods where possible, he fully complied with that and has to some extent glimpsed what it was like to build telescopes 130 years ago. I must publicly acknowledge several key people Dr. Ron Maddison USA, Bob Garfinkle USA, Jerry Grover UK, our own beloved Alex and Baz from this forum and also the entire team from Ravenshoe plus my own society of WSAAG. There would be dozens of others who need to be mentioned also for their contributions. Thank you to everyone who has assisted me in anyway regardless of how simple but most of all, a special place in my heart for Barry Armstead (ASIGN Observatory), who gave more than I could have reasonably expected.