[Blackpool] My Opinion

[Mike Hull]

Hi Tony
 
I will respond now, to help move thoughts forward before Saturday.

At present we are only open one session per week - on a Saturday. That may well change in the future, and can be considered at that time.

We are hoping to gain additional new members, which will give additional income.

I agree there may well be additional charges for the use of equipment, but that needs additional thought because I intend to let a number of pieces of equipment be available for Members use, so where do you start and finish - further thought needed in the future (Band Saw, Electric Fret Saw, Grinder, Sharpening Station, Drill Press, loads of hand tools, etc). What we are looking for at the moment is a basic deal to get us moving.

No one is suggesting stopping anything you want to do in club time. That is the beauty of having a new space. Some people may only want to do programming, others may want to do pottery at the other end of the room, or rocketry, or brewing. In most makerspaces people just do their own thing, but that doesn't stop like minds communicating, learning and sharing time together. To me the social aspects of the club are just as important as the physical doing. We can always arrange special activities to teach new techniques or show new products to the group.

Obviously my proposal of initial Committee members is subject to their acceptance of nomination and vote by the members at the meeting.

Apologies for the Draft Constitution not being attached, I will try again.

Regards

Mike Hull

> To: blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
> From: tonyhughes1212 at blueyonder.co.uk
> Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2015 21:12:29 +0100
> Subject: Re: [Blackpool] My Opinion
> 
> Hi All
> 
> Thanks Mike for starting this conversation, we have talked in the past 
> before the move to Tyldesley Road about how to fund the 'Club' after the 
> closure of Rippon Road.
> 
> While we are only meeting 1 day a week £2 a session seems OK to me (what 
> would a session be), but I'm not sure with the small group of us this 
> would meet all the expenses we may have in the longer term.
> 
> I would have thought a monthly/annual membership fee with a reduced 
> session fee to cover brew costs and electric will be the way forward in 
> the longer term (we could have a nominal junior members fee as they will 
> be accompanied by an adult). We may also want to charge a small fee for 
> the use of bigger more expensive items of equipment (which can be booked 
> by the session) as well to cover consumables and maintenance costs for 
> these.
> 
> As for the name Makerspace it sounds OK and makes sense to me, but it 
> would be good if we could also maintain our heritage and have a regular 
> dedicated session for those who want to learn more about Linux and Open 
> Source Software. Much of the Maker side will be driven by Open source 
> software with the RPi, Arduino and other open hardware (yes I know the 
> RPi is not open hardware), so we need to be able to show people how the 
> software works if they are new to it.
> 
> As for the committee If the three named (Les, Mike and Arthur) feel they 
> have the time I'm OK with that, but would be willing to be part of the 
> committee myself as I'm not working and have a little more time than 
> some in the group.
> 
> Mike I don't seem to have had any attachment (draft constitution) so 
> can't comment on this.
> 
> 
> I look forward to some other ideas.
> 
> Tony
> 
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