<div>Hi Tim,</div>
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<div>The Chester LUG is still going strong, I just haven't added anything much for a while on the website. When I lived in North Wales I followed the many discussions over the years for NWLUG meets but as has been mentioned before they often ended up going in circles of "Let's host it here", "that's too far away for me" and then "how about this date?", "no I can't make it then, how about this date?". That isn't a critisism of anyone or of the LUG as the major problem was that it covers such a large area and getting to one place isn't easy.</div>
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<div>This is why when I wanted to set up a LUG I went for a very specific area. We also went for regular meets on the last Thursday of each month. By doing that, people don't feel so bad about missing the odd meet as they always know they can come to the next one. We do end up with the odd quiet meet with a few turning up, but we also have a lot of very good turnouts. As well as the socials we're working on tech meets that are a bit more formal (well sort of!), where people present software / topics / ideas. We've had one and will be having another one soon. We've also got an Install Fest & talk on the cards in November for members of the public to come along and find out about Linux.</div>
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<div>Hopefully that gives you an overview of the Chester LUG and our experiences. Obviously you're all welcome to come along to our meets - we're a friendly bunch! I would say that keeping the geographical area as small as possible would be a good thing. I think that having North East Wales and North West Wales meets could help...but I think that may have been discussed before.</div>
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<div>Les<br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">2009/8/17 Tim Pierz-Fennell <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:menlug@pierzfennell.ukfsn.org">menlug@pierzfennell.ukfsn.org</a>></span><br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">Mark Jones has cross-posted some of his recent mailings about the<br>"First Meeting of North Wales LUG" on Saturday, 29th August to the<br>
Menai LUG mailing list (and also Wrexham LUG's), but that not all<br>replies have been so posted.<br><br>The agenda itself has not been crossposted, although there is a link<br>to it in his last posting to Menai LUG:<br>
On Friday, 14 August 2009 21:32, Mark Jones set their hand to:<br>> ... there is now an agenda at<br>> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/augustnwlugmeetagenda" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/augustnwlugmeetagenda</a> Feel free to edit/amend as<br>
> you see fit, ...<br><br>I think that the following 3 items may have a significant impact on<br>the status of the Menai LUG.<br> 3) Discussion: What to do to resurrect the LUG and<br> get the LUG more active.<br>
5) Vote: LUG Key Members<br> 10) Date and Location of Next Meeting/Workshop,<br> plus vote for chair person<br><br><a href="http://lug.org.uk/lugs/wales" target="_blank">http://lug.org.uk/lugs/wales</a> shows the "Established Status" of both<br>
Menai and Wrexham as "Starting", whilst North Wales is "Active".<br><br>So, I wonder if there is any consensus as to whether we:<br> - Dissolve the Menai LUG and join in with North Wales?<br> - Keep the Menai LUG mailing list, but otherwise join NW?<br>
- Make a real effort to keep a separate, active Menai LUG?<br> - If a join with NW, are meetings in Wrexham just too far?<br><br><br>I also note that <a href="http://lug.org.uk/lugs/north-west" target="_blank">http://lug.org.uk/lugs/north-west</a> gives Chester LUG<br>
as Active, but a quick look at <a href="http://chesterlug.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://chesterlug.org.uk/</a> shows no<br>activity since February 2009.<br><br>I'm not on either the Wrexham or Chester LUG mailing lists (as I<br>
regard both as too distant), so I don't know what is really happening<br>there, but would it be better if Wrexham were to join in with Chester<br>(if that's not a total heresy), rather than with a greater North<br>
Wales?<br><br>Or perhaps, like the Cyclists' Touring Club's "Chester and North<br>Wales" District Association, could there be one big "Chester and<br>North Wales" LUG with 3 or more separate sections?<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>--<br>HTH<br>Tim<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Menai mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Menai@mailman.lug.org.uk">Menai@mailman.lug.org.uk</a><br><a href="https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/menai" target="_blank">https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/menai</a><br>
</font></blockquote></div><br>