There are over two dozen local groups in the UK and Ireland, and that number may be growing soon. People who run local groups, or want to set one up, face similar challenges: how to publicise the group, finding a suitable venue, financing the group, developing a programme, choosing speakers, and so on. The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that many local groups are facing new challenges of how to go online, too.

Regular co-ordinator meetings

Getting local group co-ordinators together is a great way to share ideas and challenges, and to discuss how your group has handled things. To facilitate this, the Astrological Association is now holding quarterly meetings online, on Zoom, for local group co-ordinators. These have proved very successful and popular, and are now a regular feature. This is also an opportunity for the AA to let you know how we can help promote your group. These meetings are open to anyone involved in running a local astrology group, or thinking of setting one up – many groups have a committee of people running a group, and all are welcome to join in. Just let our local groups co-ordinator, Christine Chalklin, know at groups@astrologicalassociation.com if you wish to join our co-ordinators’ email list, and which group you are involved in (or would like to set up). Once you’re on our email list, you will receive regular (roughly monthly) newsletters for co-ordinators, and details and the Zoom link for our quarterly co-ordinators’ meeting.

Publicise your events

Please keep us up to date with your contact details and web presence (websites and any Facebook pages you have) so we can make sure these are included in our Map and Listings page.

Remember to join our UK and Ireland Local Astrology Groups Facebook group. This is managed by the Astrological Association, and we encourage groups to publicise their events – this is a great way of getting people from outside your normal local area (who may not regularly check your own website or Facebook page) to see what you are doing – local groups are now getting people from all over the world coming along to local group talks! This is a public group, so when you publicise an online talk or event, we don’t recommend putting Zoom links in the post; it’s usually better to get them to email or message you instead for the link.

In addition, we maintain an up to date list of events on our website. If you post an event on our Facebook group, we’ll add it to our Events Calendar too when we spot it! However, you can also let us know of any upcoming events in advance if you wish, or even an entire year’s programme, by dropping an email to diary@astrologicalassociation.com to have all your events included in our Events Calendar.

If you don’t already have a website, why not set up your own Facebook group or page? This is a great way for local groups to keep in touch with people in their area, and promote your events – as well as publicising them on our AA Facebook group, of course! Let us know, and we will put a link to your website or Facebook group in our Map and Listings page.

AA Conference benefits

If three or more of your members or regulars wants to come to our AA Conference – which is a fantastic event open to anyone interested in astrology, regardless of their level of experience – then we can offer you a discount. Instead of registering for Conference online, drop our office an email at office@astrologicalassociation.com to make a bulk booking, and we’ll give you a discounted rate.

Do you want to set up a new local group?

With many local groups going online, now may be the ideal time to set up a local group. Going online via Zoom is much cheaper than hiring a venue, and the AA may be able to help you host Zoom meetings, too, and offer you advice before you get off the ground. You’re also very welcome to join our email list for co-ordinators, and come along to the local co-ordinators quarterly Zoom meetings so you can get some more ideas. We can also send out a mailshot to AA members in your area, too, to let them know about your new group.

Here are a few points to consider:

• Think about a good date to launch your group – your first meeting will become the chart of your group, so choose an auspicious one!
• Decide on a venue – this may be your home to begin with, until your group grows (once Covid is over, of course), but later you may want to investigate community centres and village halls, and check for things like wheelchair accessibility, and catering facilities – people expect tea and biscuits!
• Promote your group locally – cards in shop windows, libraries, local community social media pages and so on
• Promote your group on our UK and Ireland Local Astrology Groups Facebook group
• Find out who is willing to help you run the group – a committee of about three works well, and the committee do need to keep in regular touch with each other
• Decide on a programme of events – if you have speakers, you’ll need to pay them something, even if it’s just to cover travel costs, so you may want to consider alternating your meetings between speaker events and events where it’s just the members having discussions, with no speaker fees
• Decide what your charges should be – even if you’re meeting in your own home, do set a charge, as you’ll need to build up funds to help the group grow, and have a kitty to pay speakers

Just let our local groups co-ordinator, Christine Chalklin, know at groups@astrologicalassociation.com if you are thinking of setting up a new group to see how we can help!