[ELECTRON] broadband + Camcorder Guerillas + future of Electron Club

[Simon Yuill]

Hi,

I had a meeting with Francis McKee, CCA Director, last night. Initially
the meeting was to ask if Electron Club would be willing to have the
Camcorder Guerillas join us. They are a film-making group also based in
CCA. They are in need of a new space as they have had their funding
reduced and can no longer afford the space they rent.

They would primarily be using the Electron Club space during the daytime
rather than evenings so this should not interfere with any of the current
groups already in the space. So basically they would be using the space on
the same basis as groups such as Document and the Drouth magazine.

We also discussed the Electron Club broadband. It has turned out that the
cause of the increased traffic on our broadband account was due to the CCA
patching in an open access wifi point to the Electron Club ADSL modem by
mistake. CCA have agreed to refund us the full cost of the excess charges
we have incurred as a result of this and will shift the wifi point to
their own broadband.

Lastly he has offered to have a meeting with Electron Club members to get
a better idea of who is involved and find out if people want use of other
facilities in CCA (such as the cinema etc). He is very keen to continue
supporting the Electron Club.

This is important as I will be leaving the Electron Club. I have helped
with the running of the space for the past 4 years but my current
commitments are making it increasingly harder for me to put in the time.
For the space to continue it is essential that other people take over the
things I have been responsible for. This includes liaising with CCA,
dealing with new members and requests to use the space, managing the
website and mailing lists, and our broadband account. It's not a huge
amount of work but it is necessary. What I would suggest is that these
tasks are shared out between a number of people and that a working group
or committee is set up to handle this and manage the space overall. This
would allow the Electron Club to become constituted, set up a bank
account, apply for funding, etc -  if that is what people want. Given that
a number of other people already make a significant input into organising
and running other aspects of the space, this is really just an expansion
of the way we run already.

This is a good opportunity for people who would like to do more with the
space. People can either continue running the space under its existing
principles or see this as a chance to redefine the space, even change its
name, whatever. The only conditions would be that it continues to be open,
free to use and support self-organised activities, as the CCA supports the
Electron Club based on this ethos.

For people who want to take this on, I am willing to help out with the
transition, show people what needs done, etc.

Francis is going to get back to me with some suggested dates for a meeting
which will be on a weekday evening, and I will pass these onto the list.


best wishes
Si