The millimetre and submillimetre spectral region (300 to 3000 Ilm or
1000 to 100 GHz) was until recently one of the few spectral regimes not
fully opened up for astronomical studies. Thanks both to improvements in
detectors and receivers and to the construction of large telescopes at
high altitude sites this situation is improving very rapidly. Three
major telescopes have been built recently and are coming into operation
during 1987 and 1988, namely the 15m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
(JCMT) and the lOAm Caltech Submillimetre Observatory (CSO) telescope,
both located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the 15 m Swedish -ESO telescope
(SEST) in Chile. Because a very wide range of astronomical problems can
be tackled with these major new facilities there is a great deal of
interest from the many potential new users anxious to become familiar
with this rapidly developing field. During 1986 it became clear to
British and Dutch astronomers involved in planning the commissioning and
operation of the JCMT, that a summer school in this field would greatly
benefit the potential and actual JCMT user community. With financial
support from the SERC and supplemented by a grant from the ZWO, the
Summer School on 'Millimetre and Submillimetre Astronomy' was held at
Stirling University from June 21 to 27, 1987.