[Menai-LUG] Dissolution of Menai LUG?

[Tim Pierz-Fennell]

Hi Les,

On Monday, 17 August 2009 16:50, Les Pritchard set their hand to:
> Hi Tim,
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> Hopefully that gives you an overview of the Chester LUG and our
> experiences.

Thank you for your quick update -- that is very useful.


>          ...  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 agree, but then one has to balance that with population densities.  
Birmingham LUG is fairly close to Wolverhampton, Coventry, and 
Redditch and Bromsgrove LUGs, and there is much overlap of 
membership, but that's covering a population of over 3 million in an 
area less than half the size of North Wales.


>     ... I think that having North East Wales and North West Wales
> meets could help...but I think that may have been discussed before.

I would tend to agree, but am not surprised if it has been discussed 
before (possibly several times).  I'm new to Wales (2 years is not 
very long), but with the University in Bangor, a LUG based here 
should be viable, even if only for socials, and perhaps I'll have a 
go at organising such if no one else does.

But, I have a few questions:
> This is why when I wanted to set up a LUG I went for a very
> specific area.

How specific (eg do you cover any of Wales)?
Where do you see Wrexham fitting in?
And how about the likes of Mold or Shotton?

-- 
HTH
Tim