1

Welcome

E Nijeboer, the ASSA Cape Centre Chair, who fulfilled the role of host and Master of Ceremonies for the AGM, welcomed everyone and opened the meeting.
Apologies received are recorded in these minutes.

2

Minutes

The minutes of the previous AGM meeting held on 6 August 2014 were accepted without amendments (Proposed A Slotegraaf, Seconded M Soltynski).

3

Report on Council

2014/15

Report on Council
The ASSA President, M Hoffman presented his Report on Council.

NOTE: All reports will be placed on the website http://assa.saao.ac.za/ and in MNASSA

4

ASSA

Director Reports and Awards

4.1 Reports received from the ASSA Directors

The reports that were received from ASSA Directors were tabled and presented and accepted by the meeting and will be place on the website:

1. Shallow Sky Section Report from the Director, D Blane.

2. Deep Sky Section Report from the Director, A Slotegraaf.

3. Imaging Section Report from the Director, A Versfeld.

4. Cosmology Section Report from the Director J de Bruyn.

5. Historical Section report from the Director C de Coning.

6. Instrumentation Section Report from the Director, C Stewart.

7. Observing Report received from the Director K Coronaios.

8. Photometry and Spectroscopy from the Director J Jooste.

No reports were received from J Smit for the Dark Sky and Outreach Sections.

4.2 ASSA Directors Awards

4.2.1 Dave Blane as Shallow Sky Director recommended Chris Vermeulen for a Director’s Award for his Solar observations and wrote in his annual report:

“His monthly reports comprehensive and detailed analysis of Solar sunspot activity, including excellent images and graphs of sunspot groups and numbers. He has also analysed the variation of Mean Daily Frequency over a period of time and goes on to predict future activity. Chris has also produced a comprehensive “Amateur’s Guide to Sunspot Observation” which he has made freely available. He is also mentoring other observers who have expressed interest in observing sunspots.”

Chris Vermeulen’s documents will be placed on the ASSA website.

4.2.2 Auke Slotegraaf as Deep Sky Observing Director recommended Hannes & Pieter Pieterse for Observing Certificates and wrote in his report:

“It’s a great pleasure to announce that Hannes & Pieter Pieterse have been issued an Observing Certificate for planning and successfully completing an ASSA Top-100 Marathon, on the night of 2014 June 27/28”.

Certificates will be issued to Chris Vermeulen and Hannes & Pieter Pieterse.

5

Scholarships Report

ASSA Scholarships

5.1 The ASSA Convenor of Scholarships Report was tabled and presented by the Scholarship Convenor, M Soltynski.

Maciej has decided to step down after 14 years as Convenor of the ASSA Scholarships Committee. He gave the meeting an overview of how ASSA Scholarships progressed to the point where 29 students have been funded up to now through part of their University courses.

M Hoffman thanked Maciej for his magnificent contribution to the area of student scholarships and his perseverance in finding funds.

6

Financial Report

6. Financial Reports 2014/15

AJ Nel presented the 2014 /15 Financial Report.

In response to a question from the floor he clarified accounting fees versus the auditing fees: Auditing fees were paid to the Auditor because of the extra effort required from the Auditor for the years 2011 to 2014, recently completed by R Glass, the Auditor. The fee paid was considered to be a once-off payment rather than recurring expense. The accounting fees are for services approved by ASSA council to enable a smooth auditing process going forward.

M Hoffman thanked AJ Nel for his effort and noted the effort that was required to get the auditor questions answered for the period 2011 to 2015.

It was agreed that the financial report will be placed on the website.

7

ASSET

7. ASSA Endowment Trust

C Turk, the Secretary of the ASSA Endowment Trust, read extracts from the report from ASSET.

He noted investment interest of R6 043, a tax provision of R2417 and operating cost of R217 leaving a net disposable income for the year of R3409. From the income a grant was made in January 2015 to ASSA Johannesburg to cover shelving and storage of the photographic plates collection from the Union Republic Observatory of R5739.90. This resulted in a loss for the year of R2331. He noted that the Trust will always be prepared to consider requests for funding within reasonable limits imposed by ASSET’s income.

He also noted that the Trustees have met recently in Cape Town.

8

Election of Auditor

ASSA Auditor

There were no objections to the proposal to request Ronnie Glass to continue as ASSA Auditor. It was noted that it is ASSA’s own choice to be audited – it is not a mandatory requirement.

9

Office Bearers 2015/16

Office Bearers 2015/16

The meeting was advised that there was no need for voting for positions on Council o for Appointees as no more nominations were received than were required to fill available positions.

The Council and Appointees’ positions for the 2015/16 year were presented and accepted as listed below.

The new incumbents were welcomed: James Smith (Web Manager) and Claire Flanagan (Convenor of Scholarships).

M Hoffman also welcomed Pierre de Villiers as the new ASSA President for next two years and said ASSA is looking forward to his tenure.

10

Any other business 

As no other business was raised, E Nijeboer closed the formal part of the meeting.

11

Presidential Address

Prof Matie Hoffman presented his presidential address on Einstein.

12

Next Council meeting

22 September 2015 19:130 via Skype

13

Closure

E Nijeboer extended a gracious thank you to M Hoffman for his Presidential Address. And thanked everyone for their attendance.

Gratitude and thanks were again extended to ASSA Cape Centre for their kind hospitality.

The meeting closed at 22:05