Steve mentioned in his report on our 15th Anniversary Dinner that Grant Dixon had sent greetings. I’ve posted them below:

Greetings to all my friends and members of the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers on this your 15th Anniversary.

I see you are having an Ontario version of a ceilidh and the heartbreaking part is that I can’t attend. Moving to Nova Scotia was and is a great thing but it came at the cost of leaving some friends behind. If you ever manage to make it out here, I can’t offer you the hustle and bustle of the big city — but we do have three acres and 6.2 magnitude.

Fifteen years ago a small group of us sitting in Doug Welch’s living room came up with the idea of the HAA. At that time, we were a group of friends who wanted to get together on a regular basis to pursue our love of astronomy and related subjects. We also thought we might attract others and expand our horizons. We hoped for a club that would grow and have a life of its own. In our wildest imaginations we never envisioned a club of such grandeur!

Over the years we took great joy in cultivating and nurturing the club. It was with great pleasure that we watched not only the membership but also our reputation grow.

Through fifteen years we attracted many new members, and they got involved in all aspects of the club. Gradually the club ceased to belong to the original group and took on a life of its own. The day that Glenn Muller took office as Chair was a great watershed as he had not been a part of the inaugural meeting. On that day I knew the club would prosper. It was like watching a child reach maturity.

I sit here with great pride thinking back. Being at the conception, being a midwife at the birth, and being there when it could stand on its own two feet was exciting; but most of all I was proud to be a member of the HAA.

Please accept my congratulations on the first successful 15 years and my wish for many, many more years to come. Happy Birthday HAA !

Grant Dixon