## Chairman’s report to 2025 AGM on 23 October 2025
Over the past year, we have continued with our regular Presentations which have generally been well attended. Other Presentations have been made for various private groups
Other activities and events during the year include:
In January we assisted Teesmouth National Nature Reserve with a stargazing evening at Hartlepool.
Also, in January we received a donation of £3000 from the Barratt Foundation.
The Planetarium doors, and frames have been repaired and the door hinges replaced to make them more secure and easier to use.
The formal Licence to CaDAS was agreed and signed and is in force
School Education Sessions at the Planetarium were proposed by Sophie Carrol, the proprietor of Cosmic Wonders. Agreements dealing with this are ready to be signed (delay because of Sophie’ illness) and the intent is to have the first sessions before the end of this school term. For the immediate future these sessions will be in the Planetarium and it is expected that they will involve “flat screen” and full dome video material with support from Volunteers.
The possible future use of the Station House has been the subject of prelminary investigations, including inspection of the available ground floor rooms in the Station House, but any use of these will require agreement with Stockton Borough Council (SBC )and so far this has not been discussed with them.
The Trustees have considered the draft text of a Members and Volunteers Handbook
The installation of low level lighting around the edge of the auditorium step was proposed and is in hand though not yet completed. Also it is proposed to upgrade the wall mounted downlighting.
The possible linking of the Planetarium and Observatory to the internet has been lloked at, but we wait for further contact with SBC to try to progress this. Also SBC have been pursued following the unannounced termination of the planetarium telephone landline.
Some evidence suggesting that vermin (mice) have been at or inside the Planetarium, with possible access through open ducts e.g. from the former railway carriage site.
New outdoor lumieres with LED bulkhead lights have been installed.
One of the televisions failed beyond repair, and a replacement has been obtained.
In early Summer, while clearing the gutters it was noted that the Planetarium roof is showing signs of damage, including deterioration in the specialised reinforced polymer outer skin and softness in some supporting structures. This problem was reported to SBC. The initial SBC response was that it is TASC’s problem. However, we have fund that SBC hold a 20 year warranty (still in time) and referred them to this for potential action. A response is awaited.
SBC have reworked many of the pathways in the Woodland Park to improve the surfaced and provide wheelchair access to the level of the old railway. This caused difficulties in that the contractors removed the telescope mount outside the planetarium and in excavating the path to the East of the Planetarium severed the drain for the Planetarium sink. This was resolved with the drain being replaced, but the telescope mount has not yet been replaced though initial discussions with SBC about a better location have taken place, possibly to a site near the CCTV tower.
Following the change to the paths, we have noted cars using this footpath (!) and that, particularly electric, motorbikes and scooters are using them. SBC were notified and they advise that the problem should be mitigated by new pathside fencing. We may need to make more use of traffic cones to discourage such improper use.
My report last year recorded SBC’s plan to instal electric parking points near the Planetarium. As noted we responded pointing out disadvantages including likely interference or prevention of the use of the area to the south of the Planetarium for astronomical observation. We have very recently heard from SBC that installation will begin on 10 November. This may result in our volunteers exercising suitable diplomacy to keep the area near the Planetarium safe before, during and after presentations.
As in past years the Trustees thanks go to the members and volunteers who directly support operation of the Planetarium and Observatory throughout the year.
J W Roberts, Chairman TASC
October 2025
**1156793**
**Teesside Astronomical Science Centre (TASC)**
## **Receipts and payments accounts**
Period start date Period end date **For the period from To** Jun-24 Jun-25
**CC16a**
## **Section A Receipts and payments**
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|Show Receipts|**5,147**||||||||**5,241**|
|||||||||||
|Cadas room fee|**600**|||||||||
|Member's Subs|**159**||||||||**135**|
|Donations|**3,098**||||||||**72**|
|intresst|**33**|||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|
**9,037**||||||||**5,448**|
|||||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales, (see**
**table).**||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**_Sub total_**||||||||||
|**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**||||||||||
||**9,037**||||||||**5,448**|
||**326**
**522**
**491**
**1,202**
**714**
**55**|||||||||
|||||||||||
|Insurance for Trustees and Volunteers|**326**||||||||**296**|
|Travel Expenses for Volunteers|**522**||||||||**760**|
|BuildingInsurance & Utilities|**491**||||||||**491**|
|Equipment (Projectors PC Software)|**1,202**||||||||**3,543**|
|Misc. Building Maintenance|**714**||||||||**251**|
|Covid compatible seats|||||||||**2,752**|
|Bank Charges|**55**||||||||**60**|
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**_Sub total_ **||||||||||
||**3,310**||||||||**5,401**|
|||||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**_Sub total_**||||||||||
|**_Total payments_ **
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**||||||||||
||**3,310**||||||||**5,401**|
||**5,727**
**18,805**|||||||||
||**5,727**||||||||**47**|
|||||||||||
||**18,805**||||||||**18,758**|
||**24,532**||||||||**18,805**|