Things for meetings in our area

[cromptonnut]

Looking ahead to possible area meetups and suchlike, I was just wondering...

 

1) Who has a portable layout that they would be prepared to bring along to a meeting.

 

2) Who would be prepared to do a demonstration of something.

 

3) Who would be prepared to do one-on-one or small group "training sessions".

 

I assume that, as we have no money, everyone would cover their own travel expenses to wherever days are being held, and there may be a small "entrance fee" of a couple of quid to cover any relevant hall hire and expenses such as refreshments.

 

Obviously "where you are" is key, as is what of the above you would be prepared to offer, together with relevant dimensions etc.

 

Also, if you would be interested in attending any days that would be accessible and convenient to you, and whether you would be prepared to host/organise anything, would be useful.

 

If, for "3" above, you would be prepared to have individuals round to your home by appointment to demonstrate something that "taking somewhere" such as an airbrush or a lathe would be difficult or impractical, that would also be of interest.

 

Just trying to judge what the interest would be (obviously things like the date and the location would be factored in for all of us) before we start contemplating things.  I know one or two offers have been mentioned in passing already in our section.

[nest]

Perhaps an idea would be to start by simply all getting together to discuss what we want out of an area group?

Not sure where or when but it might be a good starting point.

 

Nestor

[cromptonnut]

Ask 10 people and you will get 10 answers!

 

From experience the best way is to start a thread propsing X at Y location on a sunday in Z month and see what happens. Maybe a change of location or date will come up in the discussion but its more likely to happen if potential attendees have a say in shaping the event.

[bbishop]

'Nut,

 

Thoughts from the South East London enclave.

 

1. You set up SECAG, you're running it, what you say goes!

 

2. However you need consensus, so how about a discussion at Burgess Hill next Saturday? Meet at Höchstädt then wander off for a cup of tea? You decide when.

 

3. I've already offered a day at my home, my O gauge with a visiting OO layout, that would attract S London, N W Kent and N Surrey. There will be a distance that people would be willing to travel so not everyone will attend every meeting.

 

4. Given discussions on another thread, what about insurance? There is a risk in visiting someone else's house or even a meeting room - step hazards, duck hazards, etc. Perhaps you could ask Andy York to discuss this with Tony Bound of Magnet insurance? This might result in some restrictions: for example a signed off risk assessment, a maximum number of meetings per year etc.

 

Bill

[cromptonnut]

I may have 'set it up' but don't see myself as a leader as such. We need to be a lot bigger and busier before we have roles, committees and suchllke.

 

Good point re insurance but I would see 'house meetings' as merely visiting friends and you wouldn't think about these things normally would you? Might see what SWAG do.

[roundhouse]

I am happy to bring a layout along to a meet if free from doing other shows  etc.

 

I will be helping on Lyndefeld at Burgess Hill.

 

Ian

[cromptonnut]

Ok so we have a meetup... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/85637-secag-meetup-burgess-hill-show-17-may-2014/

[cromptonnut]

Bill (et al),

 

I've had a brief discussion with Andy Y and here is an unofficial response regarding insurance.

 

If you were having a meeting for yourselves and friends to operate layouts you wouldn't be obliged to take out event insurance and many may find that layouts/stock could be covered by their home contents insurance under any 'away from home' cover. If you're just visiting each other's homes it should be included under household cover.

If you moved beyond that to an event which is 'open' to members of the public or charges an admission some protection may be advisable on the basis of protection from liability if someone suffered as a result of the event.

 

This is as I expected.  If you are simply having friends round to visit your layout, or taking your stock to run on someone else's layout, as these are ad-hoc gatherings amongst friends then "event insurance" should not be required.

 

However, if/when we (or even do we want to?) get to our own exhibition, open to members of the public, we would need insurance - not just for public liability but to cover cancellation, guest layouts etc.  Obviously there would be a financial risk in covering hall hire, programme printing, insurance, exhibitors travelling expenses, lunches for exhibitors etc which could run to hundreds of pounds even on a small scale event with mostly local layouts, which we would somehow have to cover if we don't break even.  As we've seen in other threads, when there is no club as such with its own finances the organisers (which could be any of us) would be individually liable and I am fairly sure that's a risk none of us are keen to expose ourselves too in this litigious age.

 

I have exhibition organising experience, a handy venue in Merstham (just north of Redhill) that I am sure I can get at a reasonable price and between us and local model clubs have no doubt that we could put on a great "SECAG North" show (leaving someone else to come up with a SECAG South" show somewhere else) but clearly there are a number of discussions to be had, including possibly setting up a bank account, organisational structure and all that malarkey.  Many people of course are already active in some capacity in their local clubs and reluctant to take on further commitments.

[Temeraire]

Once the layout is a bit more complete I'd happily bring it to a meet.

[cromptonnut]

One of the big things with any meet is, sadly, that we have no money, I (or a couple of us) are going to have to put our hands in our own pockets and hope that we can at least break even - and obviously the cost of layouts is a big factor.  A small layout that fits in the back of a car coming from 5 miles is going to be far more appealing than a layout travelling 100 miles in a transit that requires 6 operators and overnight accommodation.  However, bringing along a board or two from your "epic layout of a lifetime" (as long as it's portable) - particularly if it's a work in progress - that you can show and bounce ideas off of other members might well be a perfectly acceptable option.  One of the things that SWAG have done is a "modular" layout where occasionally they get together with their 4ft x 2ft board(s), join them all together and have a running session.  That's something that we may well want to look into as well.

 

There's lots to talk about before we can even think about a meeting - but Shadow's "where are members" map is incredibly useful as it gives all of us a chance to see where there are enough local members (that have identified themselves - there must be many, many more) to justify organising some sort of get-together even if it's just visiting each others layouts.

 

The main thing with anything that's arranged is take lots of photos and share them to encourage the rest of us to get our fingers out and do likewise!

[BlueLightning]

Hi,

 

I'm new to the group (have just posted in the introduce yourselves thread) but in regards to the discussions here although I seem to be some distance from everyone I am self-employed and have an office with a 4m by 4.5m and a 4.5m by 10m rooms in Eastbourne that could be cleared for a weekend if a venue in that area would be wanted. For free of as long as people are willing to help tidy up after.

 

 

EDIT: I forgot to mention the most important part about where my office is, is that there is a fully staffed and stocked bar on site.