Meet #19 – Saturday 8th February 2025
Sponsored by
Greetings and a very happy new year to you all!
Welcome to the first SWAG update of the year.
We trust Santa brought you everything you asked for and that you were also able to spend time relaxing, eating and dabbling in a spot of tinkering on your Amigas over the festive period.
As we’re now into 2025 we’re looking towards our first event of the year which is due to take place on Saturday 8th February at Dodington Parish Hall, Chipping Sodbury.
Our February event will be a regular meet with no guest speakers planned. This gives you more time to get stuck into playing games, repairing, programming and more on your trusty machines.
Tickets go on sale on Sunday 12th January at 8:00pm, and will be available to purchase on this very site.
Please note that all adults MUST have a ticket to attend the event. Your ticket price helps cover the room hire plus drinks and snacks. Tickets must be purchased before the date of the event and are not on sale on the door. Under 18’s accompanied by a ticket holding adult are free. We just need to know how many you’re bringing.
Our Event Sponsor
It’s with great pleasure that we can announce the sponsor for our February event is none other than Fusion Retro Books!
Since launching back in 2012, Fusion have published over 50 books and magazines ranging from Crash and Next to Zzap! C64 and Zzap! Amiga.
This is not the first time Fusion Retro Books have sponsored one of our SWAG events, and we are truly grateful for their generosity once again.
Please check out their web site over at https://fusionretrobooks.com
Reduced Ticket Price
For several years our event ticket price has included snacks, drinks and a lunchtime buffet. While the buffets have generally proven to be popular, the cost of paying for the catering and hiring out the additional room to host the food once it’s all laid out added significant costs to each event. With room hire and catering costs increasing each SWAG meet was running at a loss. While the group has enough money in reserve to cover this in the short term it’s not a sustainable model for running SWAG in the long run.
To this end, the Committee made the decision to no longer provide a lunchtime buffet at SWAG meetings and to reduce the ticket price from £15 per adult to £12. Drinks and snacks will continue to be included as part of the entry fee, however.
Towards the end of last year a Co-op opened on the estate the Parish Hall is sited on. A mere two minutes walk from the venue, it has a plentiful supply of food and drinks. Situated behind the Co-Op is a takeaway which opens around mid afternoon should you want hot food. Of course, you’re also free to bring your own packed lunch!
We trust the decision to drop the buffet won’t spoil your enjoyment.
The Venue and Parking
The event runs from 10:00am – 9:00pm and is held at Dodington Parish Hall, Finch Road, Chipping Sodbury, Bristol, BS37 6JZ.
We have masses of on-site parking and will be the only people using the grounds during the event.
Table / Visitor Tickets
We want you to bring your Amiga hardware along to set up, show off or troubleshoot on the day. Our Chipping Sodbury events are packed full of Amiga kit with users spending their time upgrading, repairing, tweaking, coding, creating music, graphics or playing games and demos.
If you are planning to bring your Amiga then please select a table on the order page (not yet live). Be aware that the table tickets do sell quickly!
“Visitor” tickets are for those people who are planning to attend but aren’t bringing any equipment to set up.
Should you wish to bring an Amiga set up but the table tickets have all gone, please order a “Visitor” ticket anyway as we may be able to accommodate your kit on the day should someone who’s booked a table fail to attend.
Free Amiga Re-Capping Service
Zeb and Scott will be offering a free Amiga re-capping service which will be running throughout the day. We recommend you purchase caps prior to the event and bring them along with you, though Scott may have a small quantity you can purchase on the day.
Stockists of capacitors we recommend are RetroPassion (search for “capacitor kit” once on the site) and Amiga Spirit (once on the site detail what machine you need a cap kit for via the contact form)
Please note that Zeb and Scott will ONLY work on your Amiga motherboards if they have been completely removed from their cases. You will need to do this before you hand your motherboard over to them for repair.
As the re-capping service is free, there will be a tip jar at the event where you can drop in cash and notes as a little thank you for Zeb and Scott’s efforts.
Buy and Sell Area
If you have Amiga or general retro kit you want to sell then please bring it along to the event and put it in the Buy and Sell area.
We’ll have a pile of sales forms available. All you need to do is take one, detail what it is you’re selling, the price you’re asking for and your name. Put this form on your item and if anyone attending the event wants to buy what you’re selling they can track you down, so don’t forget to wear your name badge! You can pick up some absolute bargains this way.
All we ask is that, if at the end of the day you have unsold kit, please take it home with you. We don’t have the space to take home unwanted items. Thank you!
The Games Tournament
SWAG’s very own gamer Gil is hard at work planning February’s games tournament. This time the game of the meet is none other than Tiny Bobble – a 2020 conversion of the Taito arcade classic Bubble Bobble. The challenge for the February tournament is that you only get one life to see how high a score you can attain!
Get practicing as we’ll have prizes up for grabs for those ranked in the top three!
Keeping the Venue Tidy
Please do your best at keeping the venue tidy. We have to not only ensure the venue floor and kitchen are clean before we leave, but we also have to take all our rubbish and recycling home with us.
To make this task easier, please use the recycling bins laid out in the kitchen and ensure your cardboard, cans, plastic etc. are placed in the correct containers.
We ask this every meet and at the end of each we’re having to rummage through the rubbish bags pulling out items that should have been put in the recycling containers. Please do not put recyclable materials in with the rubbish. Our bins at home are not large enough to accommodate the waste if it’s all just bundled together. Many thanks!
If you can also ensure the kitchen is kept tidy during the day, this would be a massive help.
Thank you!
We Look Forward to Seeing You!
Many thanks for taking the time to read all this. We look forward to welcoming you on the 8th February! Don’t forget to ask for your name badge when you come in through the doors so fellow attendees will know who they’re speaking to!
In the meantime, should you have any questions please respond to this email and we’ll do our best to answer them.
The SWAG committee (Dave, Steve, Derek, Gil, Zeb, Scott, Dan and Rob)
