#141  
Old 13-08-2022, 05:09 PM
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Prize pool with great thanks to all our Sponsors.
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  #142  
Old 13-08-2022, 05:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by firstlight View Post
Lets be honest... If there is a choice between Anne-Louise and myself for ANYTHING... Anne-Louise would be chosen.

Except maybe mucking out the cesspool.
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  #143  
Old 13-08-2022, 11:09 PM
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Hi Queensland Astrofest Registrants and friends,

We are conducting a survey of Queensland Astrofest registrants to gauge how the Astrofest went this year, and how or if there can be improvements. Closing date for the survey is the 5th of September, so please take the time to help us make the experience even better. Please feel free to pass this link to others you might know who are, or have been, regular attendees but may not have been this year.

Follow this link: https://forms.gle/WYYr4F9933mptv6p8

UPDATE...UPDATE...UPDATE

I have already received some feedback, from some sent the survey directly, that there may be some ambiguities or contrary options to some questions in this survey. We need to record any concerns you might have. If you have completed the survey, please address your concerns to both registrar@qldastrofest.org.au and chair@qldastrofest.org.au.

If you have yet to submit the survey, please use the free text space in the last question to outline any concerns. I am unsure what the character limitation may be involved, so addressing your concerns to the above email addresses remains if it is not sufficient.

Thank-you for your patience.

Sincerely

Tony Surma-Hawes
Registrar
QLD Astrofest
www.qldastrofest.org.au
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  #144  
Old 17-08-2022, 09:37 PM
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Ok... Just completed the Gerald Award graphics.

Many regular attendees of the Queensland Astrofest will remember with fondness another regular, Gerald Sargent. Gerald used to set up his equipment in the Rubie/Vollyball/Rotunda triangle. Several of Gerald's key attributes were his ingenuity, eye for quality equipment, and fastidious accuracy. But sometimes his ingenuity would see the birth of some... lets just say... dodgy artifacts?

Other key traits of his were the myriad of cables seeming to stream endlessly from his equipment into his hutch nearby, and from the open hutch, red light streaming onto the Imager's Field. He was held with great affection by all who met him.

Sometime around 2012 he told me that soon he wouldn't be able to attend many more Astrofests as it was getting difficult to pack and unpack his equipment. Not long after, his prophecy manifested and he no longer attended.

After the 2019 Queensland Astrofest I was determined to track him down, if only to confirm his name on the Roll of Honour if he had passed. To my joy and great luck, I visited his house in the last week he was there before moving into assisted retirement care. His daughter Helen was ecstatic to meet one of his friends from his astronomical interests, and ushered me in to have tea with him.

Honestly he looked as had when I last saw him at Astrofest as he did not look a day over 250. But age catches up with us all, even this Methuselah, and he was much frailer. I could tell that he thought I was familiar, but he truly did not remember me, but that is the way of it... I was just another of the hundreds he met at the Queensland Astrofest over the years, but there could only be one Gerald.

Gerald was just shy of his 92nd birthday on the 22nd April 2020, when he died among his wife and family, peacefully and gently. I was honored to accept by an invitation from his daughter Helen to attend his memorial service. I learned a lot about him that day as his family spoke about his travels through his work in geo-sciences and resources exploration. How once he and his pilot once held the record for the highest landing in a helicopter during one of his exploration jobs, and that he was a keen radio technician. I was also able to share his astronomy aspect to his friends and family.

There are many stories that we can share about him, and I hope that many who knew him will share some in this thread. One of my first encounters with Gerald was just before the end of an Astrofest and I realised that I didn't have a copy of Microsoft Office to complete some award certificates for that evening. Gerald overheard me and called me over and gave me a "Gold" copy of the suite, saying to me in his dignified English voice "Take this, they ask too much money for their software!" One of my last memories is of him was walking back from the vendor sales with a pile of booty in his hands.

We had decided to commemorate Gerald by creating an award in his honour for Astrofest 2020. Something that invokes his presence, but also something tongue-in-cheek. The Geralds Award (or simply The Gerald) pays homage to his light and cable management... or antithesis... and his ingenuity. Of course COVID put paid to 2020 and 2021, but we had already decided that Anthony Grimshaw with his Astro Management Box was the antithesis of Gerald's cable management and a worthy recipient of the inaugural Gerald Award.

For the 2022 "Gerald" I felt, and his daughter Helen agreed, that Scott Payne's Steam Punk Astro-Box embodied Gerald's ingenuity and old-world charm. In fact Helen said that Scott must have been channeling her father, which I'm sure all would agree.

Congratulations Anthony and Scott.
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  #145  
Old 18-08-2022, 03:53 AM
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h0ughy (David)
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That's fantastic news Tony. Worthy recipients.

My memories of Gerald also include his lights and unfortunately once when he readjusted my polar alignment by tripping over my mounts leg. I do remember one night when he was fiddling live on the field with the soldering iron and he fell over one of his own cables backwards. We all were extremely concerned for him and rushed to his aid . But in a calm and gentle voice he assured us he was ok and continued on. His lights were of supernova standard candle, and you knew when he left the field . He was a fantastic bloke who genuinely had a heart of gold and a hutch with everything including the kitchen sink. He did repair one of my dew heaters one evening after my 1000 oaks dew heaters became a 750 be oaks. Quite Simply he was missed on the field when he could no longer attend astrofest.
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  #146  
Old 18-08-2022, 08:38 AM
AdamJL
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That's a really nice story, and two very worthy winners as well
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