Date   : Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:37:35 -0000
From   : dllm@... (Dave Moore)
Subject: Future Meetups (was Byte back)

> > >> There are some in Oxfordshire, so I've heard...
> > > 
> > > At least two! :)
> > 
> > Oxfordshire. Pah.
> > 
> > I'm on the south coast in Portsmouth... I need a
> > meeting/show/event/thing
> > somewhere like Reading or Basingstoke....
> 
> Seconded.  South, like Southampton or Portsmouth or surrounding area of say
30 miles 
> would be good.

Oh, come on - surely somewhere like Oxford would be a fair compromise? I mean,
how far away from Southampton would that be? Hour and a half? That's nothing
when you bear in mind that people travelled to Byte Back from all around
England, Scotland, Wales ... not to mention Germany and South Africa!

I've got no idea why so many Southerners appear to be afraid of venturing 'oop
North but if you run an event on the South Coast, it's just going to increase
the journey time for any poor sods hoping to travel from further North
(Midlands, East Anglia, Wales etc).

ANYWAY ...

After Wakefield in April, there are Classic Computing/Gaming events planned in
Leicestershire, Yorkshire, Surrey, Leicestershire (again) and Oxfordshire
between May 2009 and January 2010.

I've already been in touch with all of the respective organisers, and am going
to try my utmost to ensure that there is a healthy Acorn presence at as many
of them as possible.

Obviously I can't guarantee we'll be able to secure the same amount of space
that we were allocated at Byte Back, but you never know! ;)

For example, with regards to the Yorkshire meetup I've already enquired about
the cost of hiring a second [smaller] room exclusively for Acorn use. No idea
how this might work but perhaps we could look at covering the cost of the
additional room between ourselves?!

And of course, if anybody wants to set up an Acorn-specific gathering then go
ahead - but bear in mind the reason I promoted Byte Back so heavily is because
previous attempts to organise Beeb meetups (both on the Mailing List and the
STH forum) always seemed to fall through.

So in my opinion it's prudent to "piggyback" onto existing events, as:

- if only a handful of BBC enthusiasts make it, there are plenty of other
attractions to take in, people to talk to etc

- the amount of work required in terms of planning is vastly reduced

- people from outside the usual circles get to find out a little more about
our passion. Joel's Domesday was incredibly popular for example, and it was
pleasing to see so many other gamers having a bash on the likes of Zap,
Mountain Panic, Repton: TLR etc

Anyway, I'll post more details about the upcoming events as and when I have
more info, the first of which will be the RCM Event in Leicestershire on 31st
May <http://www.retrocomputermuseum.co.uk>.

--Dave.