2024-03-06 Transcript

Roll Call: Betty, Aaron, Edgar, Gareth, Bob, Malcolm, Ali, Steve, Chris R, Andrew W

Events

Hack the Space Day - 9th March, starting at 10am

Woodworking with Ian very successful

EMF Camp Planning Session - 12th March, starting 8pm. Blue Room and Zoom.

Actions from last meeting

Nothing from last month.

Laser Inductions

Emily and the Laser Team have done ~80 re-inductions. Amazing work - thank you Emily.

Metalworking Downstairs

Douglas has been contacting builders, waiting for responses regarding electrics. Does anyone know anyone that can give us a quote?

Jobs that still need doing: Stud wall and electrician.

Regarding training at WNC - College are proposing Easter. Betty has pushed for February but they do not have the staff. We want to run both milling/turning and welding at the same time. Proposing March 30th and 31st. Info to come in metalworking channel.

Bob mentions that last time they were fairly happy to cut sheet metal on their (metal) laser cutter. Might be worth trying to twist their arm and get some cutting done 🙂

Call for Volunteers

We need some more help in teams. Even the laser team, while quite large, needs more help with inductions etc. An email has been sent out asking for this. The space is being used quite heavily so even a bit of cleaning is a huge help. Spread the word etc.

Team Updates

Craft Room - all fine. Embroidery machine is working fine.

Laser - see above.

Woodworking - Bob and Andrew will have a look around and test tools at Hack the Space day.

Overall - some tools seem to disappear, probably need to buy some new stuff like screw drivers and pliers etc. Andrew will ask Ian about tools missing from woodworking as he's recently done the woodworking sessions.

Trustee Elections

We are going to have an open house at 27th of March - in person only, here in the Blue Room. This is an opportunity to ask questions about being a trustee etc.There will be four positions, Mike and Douglas may re-run, but Steve and Andrew cannot.

Financial Update

    | TSB Balance | Profit/Loss             
Oct | £24,853.91  | Income (Profit) £261  
Nov | £25,173.44  | Income (Profit) £7    
Dec | £25,535.52  | Income (Profit) £260  
Jan | £25,127.18  | Income (Profit) £202  
Feb | £25,850.21  | Income (Profit) £285  

    | Membership    | Membership Donations
Oct | £2605         | £2967
Nov | £2560         | £2687
Dec | £2495         | £2607
Jan | £2735         | £2900
Feb | £2605         | £2629

It's nice to see we are positive each month so far during this financial year.

Any Other Business

Gareth asks about Hack the Space thread on Discord - something about a fire? Possibly someone smoking, not our unit, but there was some smoke and the fire brigade were called. It was mentioned that the fire alarms are not loud enough (can't head while using the laser cutter). Hopefully the fire brigade will be in touch with Bizspace about this. The fire alarm does not call the fire brigade. Please call them once you are out of the space.

Gareth asks about Teams. Lots of informal organising in the space which has not been articulated anywhere - e.g. social activity, films and ukulele, gaming, etc. It's nice to say this. Mentions that people not in teams also help out with the space. If anyone wants to organise stuff then do! The stuff that Sam and Steve have been doing with combat robots is really good too - it's an event in some sense, a nice community thing to have in the space.

Ali mentions that this stuff doesn't necessarily need structure to such things, but it's really great to have this activity back in the space.

Gareth mentions maybe include a bit of time to talk about what's been going on in the space - we can add this to the minutes. A "Happenings" section in the Agenda of meeting.

Aaron mentions there was a small queer meetup for food in the space yesterday which is nice to see.

Betty mentions things are a bit different to 4-5 years ago - events happen more organically.

Gareth mentions Duncan recently posted that he was coming into the space and is available to hang out - this is nice and helps improve the community feel of the space.

Betty mentions that during the tour we need be a bit clearer about some of the rules. With another potential fire in the building, we need to express very clear about an absolute zero-tolerance policy to sleeping in the space. This will result in a ban. No naps either. While the building has fire alarms, it might not be possible to hear it over machinery.

Thanks everyone - Meeting closed.