Chairman’s report to 2022 AGM on 17 October 2022
The year under review (September 2021 to August 2022) covered the period after the last major lockdown period and the re-opening of the Planetarium (and society generally) “after” the Covid pandemic.
As previously noted, the Trustees considered how to re-open the Planetarium to the general public and that the ventilation in the Planetarium (essentially as inherited from start-up many years previously) did not provide sufficient air flow through the building for a seated audience for an hour plus. Even following the improvement achieved by re-routing air flow using the existing dome pump, the decision was taken to restrict audience numbers to about 50% of capacity.
The Planetarium was re-opened with restricted audiences in March 2022 and presentations continued until the summer close in June.
The need to update the Planetarium seating was noted previously and seating that had previously been used in an auditorium in Manchester was sourced and purchased. These seats need to be re-based for use in the Planetarium and a major effort, led by Jurgen Schmoll, John and George Gargett and Antony Isgate resulted in the installation of the “new” seating being completed in the 2022 summer break. The updated seating looks (in my view) very smart - even showing numbering in sequence - and it provides noticeably better back and neck support for audience members. The seats are slightly larger that the previous seats and (because the seats do not lift) the rows spacing is greater. These constraints mean that the maximum seating in the Planetarium is now about 40.
Also, before and during the summer shut, the controls for the planetarium audio-visual equipment, digital and analogue, were moved to a desk in the office and the equipment rack re-located in the office. To make room a bulky filing cabinet was moved out of the office and currently sits against the North wall of the Planetarium. The Planetarium general lighting has been updated, replacing the failing low voltage rail mounted lights with up to date mains powered strip and LED lighting. There is a noticeable improvement in the lighting available in the auditorium - which should make meeting much easier. Adding dimming for these lights remains to be done.
Discussions with Stockton Council on renewing the Lease have continued and by the end of July, Stockton’s Estates department felt in a position to refer the lease on to their legal department to finalise the agreement. As of writing this report we have heard nothing further from them. An interim agreement was made with Stockton to continue the old lease pending the signature of the new one and in practice we are operating on the basis of the agreed terms of the new lease.
The Trustees have kept possible future development of the Planetarium in mind, but active development on this has been deferred until the new lease is signed with Stockton Council.
J W Roberts, Chairman TASC September 2022
| Teesside Astronomical Science Centre (TASC) | Teesside Astronomical Science Centre (TASC) | 1156793 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts and payments accounts | CC16a | ||
| For the period from Period start date Jun-21 |
To | Period end date Jun-22 |
| Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|||
| Internet Receipts | 1,103 | 1,103 | 434 | |||||
| Special Interest | - | 232 | ||||||
| Cadas room fee | - | - | - | |||||
| Member's Subs | - | - | - | |||||
| Donations | 15 | |||||||
| Small Business Grant | 2,667 | 2,667 | ||||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
3,770 |
3,770 | 681 | |||||
| - - 3,770 |
3,770 | |||||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| Sub total | - | |||||||
| Total receipts | ||||||||
| 3,770 | 3,770 | 681 |
A3 Payments
| Insurance for Trustees and Volunteers | 292 | 292 | 259 | ||||||
| Travel Expenses for Volunteers | 347 | 347 | 54 | ||||||
| BuildingInsurance & Utilities | 492 | 492 | 491 | ||||||
| Equipment (Projectors PC Software) | 3,573 | 3,573 | 2,342 | ||||||
| 3,497 | |||||||||
| **Sub total ** | 4,704 | 4,704 | 6,643 | ||||||
| A4 Asset and investment | |||||||||
| purchases, (see table) | |||||||||
| Sub total | |||||||||
| Total payments | 4,704 | 4,704 | 6,643 | ||||||
| Net of receipts/(payments) | - 934 | - 934 | - 5,962 | ||||||
| A5 Transfers between funds | |||||||||
| A6 Cash funds last year end | 22,525 | 22,525 | 28,487 | ||||||
| Cash funds this year end | 21,591 | 21,591 | 22,525 |