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With the publication of a DVD set of the BAA Memoirs during 2017, a short historical review of these publications seems timely. Most of the Memoirs presented the longer reports of the Observing Sections of the Association, and until just after World War II they were issued fairly frequently, with several numbers appearing every session. From the 1950s they became one-off publications, produced on increasingly rare occasions, with Section reports mostly appearing in the Journal. This article explains how these changes came about, and attempts to give an idea of the diverse nature of this series of lesser-known BAA publications.

This paper presents evidence for a probable aurora australis report and persistent recurrent solar activity in the year 1580.

Frank Wilsenham Hyde was a popular character in the BAA from 1957 to 1966, receiving the Association’s Merlin Medal in 1963 and serving briefly as the Editor of the Journal from 1963 November to 1965 December. His extraordinary Radio Astronomy Observatory was the most advanced amateur facility in the UK during the 1960s, and the media even described it as ‘a miniature Jodrell Bank’. However, increasing financial problems led to his dramatic exit from the Association and the dismantling of his observatory in 1967.