The final artwork for Raspberry Pi PCBSo, I’m a bit behind with updating the blog but there’s a couple of things I want to share. First up is the link to listen again to the Radio 4 show Click On which featured London Hackspace, Manchester Fab Lab and Raspberry Pi. It’s interesting to see ideas and models compared across cities and needs this way in a full programme that has time to ask a few questions.
Psst! See that thermometer over there on the right of the page? That’s the Leeds Hackspace fundraising tracking thermometer. It always shows a little under the current figure (it updates in increments) but we’re going to use it to share how we’re doing with the £3000 target we set ourselves at the end of September.
This together with the monthly financial update which goes up as a post here and is sent out to everyone on our mailing list will keep everything public and easily accessible. :)
Tomorrow night’s meeting will be at Old Broadcasting House. To make it easier for those coming for the first time I’ve added a page on the LHS website with the address and links to directions and a map – http://leedshackspace.org.uk/our-current-venue/.
We’ll be meeting from 18:30 and doing some lightning talks from 19:00 – 20:00. These are a no pressure chance to show the group what you have been working on lately. Rob (Mowcius) will be showing us how he’s getting on with his new laser cutter, there’ll be talk of how Culture Hack North went this weekend and there’s a couple of others lined up to give a quick update on their projects. We’ll have the 5kg(!) tub of sweets that JP (Squiggle) and I won at CHN to share as well…
These nights are a great way to see what is going on behind the more formal emails of the mailing list and updates on the LHS website. If you’ve never come along to one of our events this would be a good one to drop into and say hi. Same goes if you’re just a curious bystander who’s nosy. ;)
After the talks we’ll be wandering over to the Christmas Market in Millennium Square to grab a beer. The market is back for its tenth year and is a mix of food and gift stands in the heart of Leeds along with its ever popular bierkeller. So beer, mead, mulled things, hot dogs and candied things from about 20:00 onwards. :)
We’re starting to get more visitors here on the site and one recently asked “What LHS is doing; what projects it has worked on and would it really benefit me to become a member.”
In case there are others who have just discovered Leeds Hackspace or are uncertain what the group does, here is my attempt to recap the LHS story to date:
LHS has been running for two years and is a group aiming to provide Leeds with a permanent not-for-profit hackspace. If you’re unsure about what to expect form hackspaces in general, http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Hackerspaces is a great introduction to them.
To briefly summarise LHS’s current position we aim to run socials and workshops while we raise funds for a new space, these are detailed on the calendar viewable on the Upcoming Events tab at the top of the page. While we’re without our own space these events include regular social nights in the city centre on an evening, occasional workshops on themes our members are interested in and occasional weekend trips to geeky places. Anyone is welcome to join us, there’s sometimes a small charge for the workshops to cover venue or kit used on the day. In the past we’ve done visits to steam railways, locking picking for beginners, arduino for dummies etc. We’ll happily consider new ideas from interested folks as well as members so let us know if there’s something you’d like to see us host.
The group has worked on a variety of projects in the past – LHS members are interested in everything from robots to carpentry to welding – and there’s always a mix of long term projects (like hacking a railway station clock or working on plans for Red Bull Flugtag) to smaller experiments like configuring the camera in LHS1 to flash lights and sound an alarm every time ‘curry’ was mentioned in the LHS chat channel. (We like curry and we’d hate anyone to miss one just because they weren’t signed in…)
There’s no expectations within the group, bring a project to work on by all means but you’re just as welcome to come and see what we’re already working on.
For eighteen months between 2009-2011 we had a hackspace in Holbeck, LHS1. It was small and on two levels which wasn’t ideal but the real drawback for us was the distance from the city centre. It was accessible by bus routes and car but the distance was an issue for most members and ultimately led to us handing our notice in this summer. While in LHS1 we increased our membership and visitors regularly dropped by. The space was open several nights each week and every Saturday. We struggled to host events or become part of the wider Leeds geek scene as a group though because of the space’s size and location.
We’ve learnt our lessons and LHS2 will be a much more ‘connected’ space.
Donating or subscribing helps us work towards getting our new space, we’re currently looking at a city centre location which would give us 1500ish sq ft to play with. Wherever we end up securing it will be filled with community shared tools and toys, will become a regular venue for Leeds geek events and will help the tinkerers, geeks and tech-curious of the city share skills. We’re aiming for it to be open every weekend and most evenings. It will be a hub of projects and people that anyone is welcome to drop into and explore.
Those who are a part of LHS believe that this is worth investing in, we hope you do too.
Donations
Huge thanks are due to our fellow hackers-in-arms at Nottinghack for their wonderfully generous donation. Many thanks for this, we can’t wait to repay you in manly hugs and beer at the launch night of LHS2.
We also owe a hat tip to Phenoptix and Sam Foster who generously put money in our hat this month too.
Subscriptions
We now have seven subscription paying members each month. Seven doesn’t sound very many but we did lose subscriptions over the summer and have been working to encourage others to get behind the idea of LHS2. Everyone should now be paying into the HSBC account but please check your standing order to confirm it is going to these details:
If you’re one of the folks who used to pay a subscription but stopped for whatever reason I’d urge you to reconsider or make the occasional one off donation!
Current Financial Position
We suspect there are some more donations in the old Co-Op bank account (which we stopped using in September) but we’re waiting for a statement to confirm this, the figures below are only based on the HSBC account which we have full visibility of.
With the donations mentioned above, the £500 from Level B mentioned last month and our regular subscribers we should be at +£300 within the next week.
We set ourselves the target in September to raise £3000 – £1000 to clear outstanding amounts and £2000 to pay for the first two months rent, deposit and refit of a new space.
£1300/£3000 raised in two months is great progress.
But as always we need to keep going if Leeds is going to get the killer hackspace it clearly needs. If you could donate yourself, can think of someone to forward this link to or just fancy giving us an early Christmas present then please, please do. LHS2 is a reality, it will happen and you can help it happen faster!
The Leeds Hackspace calendar is now embedded on the Upcoming Events page and shows everything we’re planning.
As well as the upcoming mini road trip to the York Cold War Bunker, there’s details of the Otley Science Fair, Culture Hack North and other regular Leeds geek events like WYLUG and Geek Up.
While we’re between spaces we’ll be aiming to run the Tuesday night meetings on a cycle of regular nights and event nights.
Regular nights will be for hackspace business and general chat. Event nights will be workshops and sessions designed to keep the membership active and hopefully encourage new people along to see what we are up to. (Depending on the subject of the workshops there may be a small charge for attending these events, please check the calendar to confirm the cost.)
We’re actively looking for new members so if you’d like to come along to an event, just turn up!
Worst Case Scenario by tj.blackwell
It’s time for a geeky day out!
On 27th November we’ll be going over to York to go take a look around a Cold War Bunker.
Used between 1961-1991 by Royal Observer Corps’s No. 20 Group, ROC No. 20 was built to monitor and record the effects of nuclear explosions and fallout in Yorkshire in the event of war breaking out.
ROC No. 20 is now owned by English Heritage and they’ve restored it to how it would have looked when in use – including a fully equipped operations room complete with early computers, maps and all the comms kit.
The Plan
The plan for the 27th is to meet up outside for the 11:00 tour (they last about an hour and cost £6) and then head back into York for a pint (or three). We’d love to see Leeds hackspacers, York hackers and any other interested geeks come along.
Finding the bunker
The bunker is just to the north of York city centre off Acomb Road:
It’s an easy walk or cycle from the train station or Leeds-York bus stops and parking around Acomb Road on a Sunday should be okay too.
Please don’t turn up at Monument Close – that’s where the English Heritage office is, not the bunker!
Exciting news comes from our Financial Director, JP.
JP’s company, Level B, said recently that they would like to donate some funds to Leeds Hackspace to help us get moving. JP left the room to let them talk numbers and we’re delighted to now confirm the figure they’ve agreed to add to our pot – £500.
This is great news and we’re thrilled to have Level B as a ‘Friend of Leeds Hackspace’!
When we left our space down in Holbeck (LHS1) we set ourselves the target of raising £3000 to get ourselves into our new city centre venue (LHS2). This figure is based on our current commitments, the deposit, two months of rent, a couple of months of bills, re-wiring the new place to meet our needs and kitting it out. The £3000 also includes a couple of hundred pounds for contingency funds. We’ve learnt a lot since we moved into LHS1 in 2009.
Since then we’ve sorted out the new bank account details with HSBC, raised some funds from ebay sales and a ‘tuckshop’ but the £500 donation gives us a significant boost to a total of £992 raised.
We’re now 33% of our way into our new city centre space. We have some great ideas on how to raise the remaining funds and upcoming events are in the pipeline – watch this space!
We have a new Flickr group. One of the best ways to explain what hackspace is, what hackers and makers do and what we’re up to as a group is to *show* people. Photos of what we do while fundraising for LHS2 are just as welcome as photos of the new space will be! Please join the group and add images when you can. :)
So, the AGM then. The highlights.
New directors:
Finanical – Jonathan P
Promotion/Communications – Alex
Companies House/HMRC Liaison – Daniel
Without Portfolio – Mick
This means that the group now has specific people in place to handle designated paperwork, queries and issues. All four directors can be reached on the mailing list or in IRC if you have a query for them. They will be regularly reporting back on how everything’s going.
Finances
To see the specifics you’ll need to take a look at the mailing list, but we’re doing okay clearing off what we owe and we’ve got decent, solid plans on getting ourselves into our new space. Donate to show your support or sign up as a member if you can.
New Space
We recapped why we’ve left LHS 1 in Holbeck (a bit too far out of the city centre and a little too small) and now we’re definitely going for it, we want LHS 2. LHS 2 is a city centre space, much bigger and much better suited to workshop events and kitting out to our needs as a group. We’ve been to two viewings of LHS 2 now, taken lots of photos and measurements and now it’s time for the hard stuff – we need to raise the funds to get into the space. So that’s our main focus for the next couple of months.
Big plans are coming, come along to one of our regular Tuesday night, city centre meetings to get involved!
