It’s been a few weeks since we last spoke about the upcoming SWAG on the 18th February and it’s not been simple to organise this one. We usually borrow some tables from the scouts and that deal is falling through, so we are now trying to work out how we can redo the layout slightly. I want to thank all those who have come forward and offered to carry a table of their own in their car, it is going to help us a lot as we are trying to hold onto this venue for a little while longer.
There have been quite a few of you that have been buying the visitor tickets over the last few weeks, this is great as we need to have you all accounted for so we can place the food orders that we now sub-out and we have been very happy with the food provided.
Auction is NOW live, it is not going to be a big auction like last time, I (and any admins) will be adding to the auction over the next week, this will close around the 10th/11th. There were some left over items that I have been listing and also some donations that we have had, these will be listed. I am juggling work/rest and SWAG life right now.
The auction is the same as last time, click the top right to recover your email. If you wish to bid, it works similar to eBay, we will expect you to PAY after the auction and you will be present to collect your items with a valid ticket at SWAG 14.
The room might have a few games going on, we will be holding an official tournament for SWAG14, we have some low budget prizes to give away, but Gil is currently reviewing which game is suitable and how the rules will work. More news to come.
Please get your tickets ordered now. Many thanks Dave and the team.
Happy New Year from all of us at South West Amiga Group!
As we now enter 2023 we are pleased to announce that ticket sales will be open on the 7th Jan at 7pm for the upcoming Feb 18th Dodington Parish Hall meet. Tickets will be priced at £13 for adults. Accompanied children are free! Adult and child tickets will need to be ordered in advance so we know how much food and drink to order and so we can ensure we have enough room for everyone.
As this will be a standard SWAG meeting we expect it to be very similar to our previous meet. That said, we are still open to suggestions for those who wish to come along and display or show off what they have got on offer / projects they are working on.
This year’s Workbench Event is still undecided. We are currently in early discussions about working with a team who are preparing a national Amiga event but with the focus on local user group participation. We don’t want to overshadow the work they are putting in and if it does go ahead the SWAG team will be involved. Our annual Workbench events have been fantastic for a small venue but we are aware that it can be crowded and at times difficult to hear the guest speakers. Th auctions held during our Workbench days have raised good sums of money for both SWAG funds and for the Museum of Computing in Swindon. We will make a decision if we hold the event in the next few months. We have a few alternative plans to present to the group but we are just waiting on further discussions regarding the national event.
The ‘Massive auction’ we had was a huge success which raised over £3,000 for the group. The gentleman who donated the items was planning on dumping all that kit and contacted us via the SWAG website to see if we were interested. Dave has been over to his house and thanked him for allowing us to hold the auction as well as presenting him with a payment of nearly £900 (he asked for 25%) which he was ecstatic about. We told him about the troubles we had with getting some of the kit to work but as a lot of this is 30-40 years old it is expected that the equipment won’t always run first time.
We can now confirm there will be a PART 2 of the auction, but it will be focussing on small items like magazines, games, joysticks, PSU’s and other various small parts that have been donated to the group either by the Bideford gentleman or others over time. We may also have some larger items that will be announced in the next few weeks. We’re are also inviting you to either bring your own items to the Bring and Buy table or we can list them on our auction site for you (contact info to follow). The auction will be held as the ticket sales calm down; possibly the 28th of January.
Sales – We have raised just under £90 for the group with shirts sold on the website links. As we move into 2023 we will be looking at more merchandise and affiliation links with suppliers. We’ll be glad to chat you about promoting on our website which can help pay for SWAG’s running costs as we try our best to keep the ticket and drink/food pricing acceptable while also being able to purchase equipment and competition prizes.
It is sad to hear the passing of one iconic programmer, Archer Maclean who certainly made an impression on us with some really well made games. At the last meet we ran an IK+ tournament that young Ella won. We sent her a £20 gift voucher so she could purchase her own mini SWAG T-shirt. If there is enough interest, we may re-run this tournament in his memory.
Some of you may know that Dave has been helping out set up a new northern based group called Yorkshire Amiga Group. The group will be meeting in Rochdale. If you live in the locality or fancy an Amiga road trip then please check them out.
From all of us who help out with the running of SWAG, we are proud with how our small group has grown to be what it is today. Thank you for your support!
The SWAG committee (Dave, Steve, Derek, Gil, Zeb and Rob)
