He joined the Scottish branch of the BIS (British Interplanetary Society) in 1962. He was on the committee which drew up the Constitution of ASTRA (Association in Scotland to Research into Astronautics) as an independent society in 1963, and redrafted it as the "Memorandum and Articles of a Company Limited by Guarantee" in 1974. He has been a Council member since December 1963 with only two short breaks, and has been Treasurer, President, Vice-President, Treasurer, President, Secretary, President, Treasurer and Secretary again during that time. He was re-elected Vice President in May 2010. He has been exhibition organiser and on the publications committee since 1970, editing ASTRA's publications in 1982 and between 1992 and 1996. Among many ASTRA conferences he organised one on archaeoastronomy at the Third Eye Centre in 1978 and "Heresies in Archaeoastronomy" at the Edinburgh International Science Festival in 1996.