Les Green, who died on 28 November 2018, was an institution in the society. He became the treasurer of the Junior Astronomical Society (our name until 1992) in 1967, and continued for 43 years until 2010. In all that time I don’t think he missed a single meeting, and at each council meeting provided us with an typed-out statement of our financial position. You would never describe him as the life and soul of an event, about whom there were numerous lively anecdotes, and indeed his slow and methodical delivery of what he had to say was almost a trade mark, but he was one of the most important members of the society. We also remember some of his mispronounciations. He could never get Jodrell Bank right – it was always ‘Jordell Bank’ – and the annual Astrofest exhibition always came out as ‘Astrofeast’. But none of us ever dared to dispute his command of the figures.
Les was not a great observer or speaker, yet his dedication to the society played a large part in its success, so much so that in 2007 the asteroid previously known as 1978 LG was named 5571 Lesliegreen in his honour. So Les continues to orbit the Sun every 5.25 years.
Robin Scagell