Wednesday, 01 December 2010 09:31 | 
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As part of the BBC Stargazing Live 2001 due to be aired on the 3-5 th January 2011 and hosted by Dr. Brian Cox (Wonders of the Solar System) and a host of celebrity presenters, yours truly recently emailed Prof. John C Brown the Astronomer Royal for Scotland. I had the intention of inviting him to take part in some local events which DASOC and the Dalgety Bay Astro Club are involved with. I must say that I was extremely disturbed by the reply. I wasn't too expectant that he would be able to attend however, I would have thought that someone in that position would have been more enthusiastic about what we and hundreds of thousands of amateur astronomers up and down the country will be trying to achieve on those 3 nights.
All credit to the BBC to recognise the importance of Astronomy as a science and for taking the time and effort to give prime time TV to such an event. I truly believe that Scotland does not get its fair share when it comes to publicity for astronomical events and here we are presented with a golden opportunity to ensure we are. I have written to the Scottish Government on many occasions trying to get them interested in supporting local Astronomy events but have long come to realise that very little interest is shown by them. A shame really when one considers the enthusiasm shown by the Astronomical Societies and clubs up and down Scotland.
Astronomy needs all the publicity it can get if we are to introduce new participants especially children. So I will now let you see my original email and then the reply:
Dear John
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Geoff Ruzgar and I am secretary of Dunfermline Astronomical Society and Dalgety Bay Astro Club. On the evening of 7th January 2011 we paln to hold our second event of the week as part of the BBC Star Gazing Live week. We plan on that evening to have 2 observing events at a relatively dark site near to our location. We would be honoured if you could attend that event and partake in evenings activities and help us to promote Astronomy to the local population. I realise that you must be a very busy person but would urge you as Astronomer Royal for Scotland, to give us, the astronomers of the Kingdom of Fife a chance to be put firmly on the map. The larger cities in Scotland are always getting the Lions share of publicity and I would like to see this carried into the provinces. I would urge you Sir, to consider making the journey from the West to the East and meet some of your followers here in Fife. I feel that attendance by yourself would give our event the Gravitas it so richly deserves. We can of course offer to pay you something in the way of expenses. I hope you can take to the time to meet us all. My best regards to you Sir,
Geoff Ruzgar
http://www.dasoc.org.uk
Geoff
Thanks for the invite but I will be in Skye then enjoying the Skye sky Apart from that I am sceptical as to how much intense bursts of sky watching as media hyped events do for astronomy and prefer to promote it surely but steadily to folk who are really interested rather than those stimulated into great expectations by television dramatisation, though it has a purpose too Hope your event goes well
John
Oh dear "intense bursts of sky watching as media hyped events" condems the programmes before they are even broadcast!
"prefer to promote it surely but steadily to folk who are really interested"
Forgive me John, but as a child I remember media hyped events such as the Mercury and Gemini space programs stimulating me enough to start out on a lifetime of personal pleasure and satisfaction found in observing the night sky.
In conclusion I hope that while you are "enjoying the sky in Skye" you may spare a thought for the hundreds of enthusiasts at local level who are taking part in this "media hyped event" to introduce newcomers to the science of Astronomy.
Geoff Ruzgar
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