SOUTH WEST AMIGA GROUP

UPDATED: Important Workbench 2022 Announcement!

The bad news…After much consideration, the SWAG committee have decided to postpone the Workbench 2022 event which was due to take place on Saturday 5th of February. We can’t be certain what restrictions will be in place by the start of next month and we don’t want to organise a massive event if we have to cancel it or if, due to rising infection rates, a large number of guests and attendees are unable to be there.The good news…We will still be going ahead with a SWAG meet on Saturday 5th February, but it will be a standard meet with the same format as the one we had last September. Turn up, set your kit up and meet fellow Amiga users. There will be no guest speakers or raffle.Workbench 2022 is NOT cancelled. We are looking to hold Workbench 2022 in May – actual date to be confirmed. With a May date the weather will be better – we’ll be able to ventilate the room better and by that point the number of COVID cases should have dropped significantly.Back to our February 5th meet (SWAG #12)…Can you give us a rough idea if you’re likely to attend the February meet, please? We just want to make sure the interest is there. PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS THREAD IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO ATTEND.

Tickets to SWAG #12 will be available from 8pm on 8th January.

Many thanks for your support and patience!

Robert

Previous announcement below:-

We had a great SWAG meet to finish off 2021, not everyone could make it but we did sell out within a few hours which means that you guys want more.  So we had to hold back this announcement and we have been working with Amiga Ireland to make sure our dates didn’t clash. We can now officially reveal that February 5th will be Workbench 2022, for this year we are breaking away from our regular pattern to bring you a packed Saturday of fun, raffles, tournaments, presentations, sellers and everything you love about the Amiga.  

We can also announce now that we have been sponsored by WavemStudios, Stephen Fletcher originally started a Kickstarter for the Amiga 2020 documentary and after a few revisions of content, he has now chosen a new name Alive and Kicking, we have been working with him recording footage for the last few SWAG meetups and now pleased to have him as the show’s main sponsor.  Stephen will also be doing a short presentation.

Further announcements will be made throughout the next few months. We are looking forward once again to bringing you Workbench at Dodington Parish Hall in February.  

The SWAG Committee.

January 25th 2020 – Chipping Sodbury
10:00 – 10:00
sponsored by

Games, Tournaments, Talks, Repairs, Traders, Live Music & More!

Revised Opening Times

Thanks to an early morning booking cancellation at the venue we have been able to extend our booking. We now have the venue booked from 10am – 10pm. Those of you who’ve been to previous SWAG meets will know that the first 30 minutes or so is spent setting up the tables and kit. If you’re not bringing equipment then you’re still welcome to arrive for 10am to help us get set up quicker.

Those of you who’ve been to previous SWAG meets will know that the first 30 minutes or so is spent setting up the tables and kit. If you’re not bringing equipment then you’re still welcome to arrive for 10am to help us get set up quicker.

Our Guest Speakers

Right now we are going to confirm our first guest and that is David J Pleasance who will be talking to us about Friend OS and will be selling his media on his stand. As this is our annual Workbench event we’ve pulled out all the stops to bring you some fantastic guest speakers. We’ll have details of our full line up shortly, but we can reveal the following so far.

First-up is Stephen Jones who will be giving us an update on his Amiga Checkmate Kickstarter campaign. You can expect Stephen to provide a good mix of amusing anecdotes and details of technical challenges experienced in the run up to completing the Kickstarter. Next is Vicky Lamburn aka Pixelvixen. Following her excellent Deluxe Paint live tutorial at a previous SWAG meet, one of the Amiga’s most prominent modern day artists makes a welcome return before she moves to Japan.

Vicky will be showing us what she’s been up to since she last presented and will be on hand to provide tips and tricks to help you improve your Amiga art techniques. Finally, we are pleased to announce that ex-Commodore MD David Pleasance will be our very special guest. David will be giving a talk on the Friend operating system and will also be selling / signing copies of his book. If you wanted to find out more about this groundbreaking cloud OS then you don’t want to miss this! You may even be able to ask him questions relating to his days at the helm of Commodore UK. Right now we are going to confirm our first guest and that is David J Pleasance who will be talking to us about Friend OS and will be selling his media on his stand.

Tickets now on Sale

Tickets to Workbench 2020 are now on sale, priced at £7 per person. Note that children under 18 accompanied by ticket holding adults are free. We just need you to let us know how many you’ll be bringing to help with food / drink ordering.

Your ticket price covers room hire, tea, coffee, soft drinks, snacks and a sandwich lunch. The ticket price also goes towards some of the prizes we’ll be dishing out on the day.

To book a place click on the below link. Once there you’ll see a layout of the room. 

If you’re planning to bring hardware to set up and use during the day then please book a table by selecting one. If you’re planning to attend but don’t want to set anything up then please select a chair only.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK TICKETS

Important – at standard SWAG meets we don’t mind if attendees bring non Amiga related kit. As this is our annual Workbench event we ask that you ONLY bring Amiga or Amiga related (e.g. emulated Amigas) hardware to this event.

January 25th 2020 – Chipping Sodbury
10:00 – 10:00
sponsored by

Games, Tournaments, Talks, Repairs, Traders, Live Music & More!

Following on from our initial Workbench 2020 announcement this second email brings news of a revised start time and details of our sellers.

First-up, and our start time has now moved forward from midday to 11:30am. For those of you who have attended previous SWAG meets the first hour of each session is usually spent getting the tables arranged into an optimal layout and for attendees to get their kit set-up. This extra half hour will mean we have a bit more time to spend enjoying the day.

If you’re not bringing kit with you then you’re still very welcome to get to the venue as soon as the doors open. We can always do with help arranging tables and assistance in lugging kit from car boots to the hall!

Seller Lowdown: RetroBench

Following the success of their stand at the September SWAG event sponsor Retro Bench will once again be selling a mass of Amiga related goodies.

From cap kits and Amiga spare parts & accessories to new Re1200 motherboards & PCBs, you’re certain to find something to spend your hard-earned pennies on at the Retro Bench stand.

The team will also be on hand re-capping classic Amiga systems and performing repairs. Don’t forget to dig deep when tipping for the work!

Seller Lowdown: AmigaKit

We are pleased to announced that legendary long-time Amiga retailer and supporter AmigaKit will be manning a stand at SWAG’s Workbench 2020 event.

The Amiga Kit team have booked a whopping four tables and will be taking up an entire alcove at the hall.

You can expect to see Amiga items for sale covering both classic and modern systems. We’re hopeful that there may even be a next generation Amiga system up and running on the Amiga Kit stand.

Tickets on Sale – 21st December 8pm

Tickets to the Workbench 2020 event will go on sale on Saturday 21st December priced at £7. We’ll send out ticket links via email once the page has gone live. Be quick! Tickets sold out extremely fast for our September meet.

Merchadise for Workbench 2020 is now available.