The Castlefield Hotel
Liverpool Road
Manchester
M3 4JR
We have booked two conference rooms in total, the Bridgewater and the Wharf. It is proposed that the Wharf room (which is the slightly smaller of the two) hosts Atom afficianados and games coders, whilst the Bridgewater is for general use. Note that the rooms are virtually right next to each other so flitting between the two should be a doddle. We have access from 5pm Friday until Sunday evening.
I'm deputising for Simon (sydney) in the coordination of this meetup only, as a one-off.
36 places available in total (32 'kitters' and 4 'no kitters'). Each 'kitter' will be allocated half-a-table, though we have factored a few 'full' tables into the numbers which will be allocated to those who typically bring large hardware rigs to repair/upgrade other user's equipment.
As usual, the cost will be £15.00 per member, regardless of whether you bring kit, attend for one day or all three etc.
I will not be maintaining a list of 'tentatives' as this hasn't been particularly effective over the course of the last few meetups (as all of the 'confirmed' places tend to be snapped up very quickly).
To book a place please PM me for Paypal payment info (or message me on Facebook) and please be sure to make a "Friends & Family" transfer, which doesn't incur fees.
If you're unable to make payment at the moment for whatever reason - but can definitely commit - just send me a pm and we'll sort.
It would be helpful if you could also post in the thread to say when you think you will arrive/leave - and whether you will be bringing any kit (if you're just bringing a laptop we still count that as 'kit' as you will still need to be allocated space!
).In terms of unloading, the hotel have advised that the most convenient method will be to use the fire exit in the Wharf room, which backs onto the roadside. Once unloaded, the hotel has a car park chargable at £7 day/£10 per 24 hours - though it is not possible to pre-book a parking space. Alternatively there is a car-park on New Elm Road just around the corner which is £5.50 per day.
At the time of writing, the cheapest prices for bedrooms at the hotel appear to be if booked with the hotel directly: ~£150 for Friday & Saturday nights (advance payment/non-refundable), ~£164 (flexible booking/no breakfast) or ~£180 (flexible booking with breakfast). Booking agencies such as booking.com are showing up as a little more expensive but you don't have to pay up-front.
The on-site kitchen can provide a buffet lunch each afternoon if we pre-book it - so it's likely we will be specifying this depending on cost and level of interest. Assuming this User Gp meeting fills up there will be a surplus of funds which could be used to part-subsidise the cost of the buffet lunches (thoughts on this?).
On Saturday evening the plan is to go for a meal in the city centre - any suggestions for restaurants are most welcome!
Finally, here is the standard info about ABug meets:
Acorn & BBC Micro User Group (ABug) meetups are open to enthusiasts of the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Atom and Archimedes/RISC OS machines. Attendees will typically stay for two if not all three days. The meets are always very informal and can involve:
- members bringing their own hardware to set up and show off**
- time spent working on hardware and programming/games projects
- exchange of ideas/knowledge
- upgrade and repair of poorly Acorn machines
- collaborative work on community projects, such as software preservation, preparation/planning for displays at other events etc.
- sale of items by members (not guaranteed, but there are often opportunities to buy bits)
- general socialising, food/drink and the odd hi-score competition!
** = Important! Ensure that any hardware you bring that features the RIFA/Paper-type capacitors with a tendency to go POP (e.g. Beebs) have had the caps changed! We can't risk setting any smoke alarms off as that may incur charges!
Confirmed (BRINGING KIT) (32 places)
Confirmed (NO KITTERS) (4 places)
- Arcadian (Dave)
- DaveFootitt (Dave)
- danielj (Daniel)
- daveejhitchins (Dave)
- samwise (Peter)
- lazarusr (Robert)
- roland (Roland) { To share table with Kees
- oss003 (Kees) { To share table with Roland
- z0m8ied0g (Stephen)
- Prime (Phill)
- mattyj (Matthew)
- sydney (Simon)
- flaxcottage (John)
- mph1708 (Mike)
- BeebMaster (Ian)
- 1024MAK (Mark)
- helpful (Bryan)
- crj (Clive) { To share table with Tim
- Boydie (Tim) { To share table with Clive
- JGH (Jonathan)
- sPhilMainwaring (Phil)
- jbnbeeb (Jason)
- mekon (Andrew) { To share table with Colin
- confusedCoyote (Colin) { To share table with Andrew
- davidb (David)
- IanS (Ian)
- hiddenevil (James)
- Gebes (Alasdair)
- Darren Storer
Guests
- retroclinic (Mark)
- kaje007 (Krisjan)
Bridgewater:[/list]
- Steve Furber Popping in Saturday morning
- Kevin Edwards "Can possibly pop in for a few hours on Saturday"
).