[sclug] Starting up real meetings again.

[Mark De Souza-Wilson]

Completely agree with Keith.

I strongly disagree with any change of venue being made for the purpose
of making a political statement.

Whatever your views on Tim Martin or Brexit, I think we need to respect
that people have different thoughts, opinions and priorities - some of
which might be controversial and ones we do not agree with.

Personally Wetherspoons would not be my first choice of venue. 
However, SCLUG has successfully held meetings there throughout the
[almost] 15 years whilst I've been a member.  And there are a number of
good reasons why SCLUG should continue to meet at the same venue, on
the second Wednesday of each month.

- Some members have not attended in years and might not be aware of
changes in venue or meeting timimgs.
- Low prices for food and drink at Back of Beyond make the meetings
accessible to more people.
- Back of Beyond has a huge selection of drinks whether you prefer
ales, lagers or ciders etc.
- Back of Beyond has no music or sound from TVs, so it's generally easy
to hear each other speak.
- Back of Beyond is a very large pub with plenty of seating.  This has
allowed us to move tables and chairs to accommodate the group at times
when we've had a larger number of attendees.

The first question we need to ask is whether there is a need to change
venue.

If we can agree a need to change venue, then I think we need to agree
what we're looking for in a new venue so that we can be objective.


Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Edmunds via Sclug <sclug at sclug.org.uk>
Reply-To: Keith Edmunds <kae at midnighthax.com>
To: sclug at sclug.org.uk
Subject: Re: [sclug] Starting up real meetings again.
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2022 11:25:14 +0000

> I and some others took 
> issue with the owner of Wetherspoons Tim Martin and his support for
> Brexit.

Is it appropriate to bring one's own political views to the LUG? There
may
well be others who strongly support Tim Martin's view, but neither
support
nor opposition to his views on Brexit should influence the choice of
venue.

It doesn't make any difference to me - I'm 100 miles away so won't be
there - but it's a slippery slope to allow a business owner's political
stance to influence how the LUG behaves.