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--- public:eastmids [2023/05/25 21:58] – Add May Zoom meeting PeteB
+++ public:eastmids [2024/03/03 07:45] (current) – Add March 24 meeting PeteB
@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 For MERG members, you might also like to look at our [[https://www.merg.org.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=55|area group forum]].
+----
+====== March 2024 East Midlands face to face area group meeting ======
+Here is the agenda for our March 2024 area group meeting.
+**Saturday 16th March 2024 from 10:00**
+This meeting is Kindly hosted by the The Bassetlaw (North Notts) Railway Society at their clubrooms on Retford Railway Station.
+Thanks to MERG and Bassetlaw Railway Society member Julian Pratt for arranging the venue for us.
+The Bassetlaw Railway Society are not charging us for the use of the room, but we will ask for a donation of £2 per head to cover the cost of teas & coffees and biscuits, and make a donation to the Society.
+Access is step free, but the entry door to the clubrooms is probably not wide enough for a powered wheelchair.
+For those coming by train, there are reasonable arrivals from east (9:50), west (9:20) and north (9:38). From the south, there is one from Peterborough and Newark arriving at (8:45) and one from Kings Cross and Grantham arriving at (8:51), so you will be waiting a while before the meeting starts, but as railway enthusiasts you can of course enjoy watching the trains pass by during your wait. :)
+Parking is now: £6.25 at the station, £4.95 at [[https://victoriaroadcarpark.com]] or £4 at Cobwell Road, DN22 7DD [[https://parkanddonate.co.uk]], 3 mins walk.
+There is a Costa Coffee on the station, a convenience store 2 minutes walk away and Retford has many excellent eating places, just 12 minutes walk away, or you may bring a packed lunch.
+There is no Wi-Fi at the venue, so a Zoom connection will not be possible. If presenters need to access something online, we may be able to use mobile phone hotspots, 4G coverage permitting.
+More details of parking and how to find the clubrooms will be included in your confirmation email when you book your place.
+----
+**AGENDA**
+The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:
+  * 10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members
+  * 10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions
+  * 10:40 - The Bassetlaw (North Notts) Railway Society - Julian Pratt
+  * 10:50 - MERG news - John Gowers (MERG chairman)
+  * 11:00 - The CANXIO - Pete Brownlow
+  * 11:45 - Tea/coffee break
+  * 12:00 - The Raspberry Pi Pico - David Jones
+  * 12:45 - Kit locker update - Judi Rastall
+  * 13:15 - LUNCH BREAK
+  *
+  * 14:00 - 16:30 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic.
+During the afternoon our chairman, John Gowers, will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about MERG committee matters etc.
+The Bassetlaw Railway Society modelling rooms will be open, where the main 00 gauge layout will be operated by society members and other layouts will be on display, including a newly started N gauge, a nearly ready O gauge and a Triang TT.
+We will of course have our usual problem clinic providing General help on problems with kits or other electronic projects, building, testing, problem solving etc.
+----
+If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, a week or so before the meeting, you will get a reply with full details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers.
+(Those who have already let me know that you are coming, I will be sending out confirmation emails in the week before the meeting).
+----
+====== January 2024 East Midlands ONLINE area group meeting ======
+Here is the agenda for our January online Zoom area group meeting.
+**Saturday 20th January 2024 from 10:00**
+This meeting will be online using Zoom.
+As before, we have found that regular breaks of roughly 10-15 mins worked well, to avoid people getting fatigued from staring at their screens, so we will plan to do the same again.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+**AGENDA**
+The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:
+  *  10:00 - Get connected, Informal chat
+  *  10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions
+  *  10:45 - Essex Brick part 2 - getting into using YAAT for automation - Eddy
+  *  11:30 - Tea/coffee break (make your own!)
+  *  11:45 - My initial exploration of the Hornby HM7000 system - David Page
+  * 12:15 - QnA on the above talks
+  * 12:30 - Kit and other news
+  *  13:00 - LUNCH BREAK
+  *  14:00 on - General QnA and help clinic
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+For the help clinic session in the afternoon, if you have built something and would like any help and advice, please be ready to wave it at the camera, and we'll see what help and advice we can give from afar.
+If you would like to join in, please go to the MERG website, select the menu option MEMBER LINKS->MY UPCOMING EVENTS, or go directly to https://merg.org.uk/membership/summary.php, and you should see the details of this meeting together with the Zoom link to join in
+Please don't share the Zoom links with anyone outside MERG, or post them on any public social media or web page.
+If you cannot see the details for East Midlands area group meetings, go to https://www.merg.org.uk/membership and make sure you are subscribed to the East Midlands area group. There is no requirement that you live in the East Midlands, any member can subscribe and join in. If you would like to introduce a visitor to the meeting, please email their details to eastmids@merg.org.uk.
+If you still can't get the Zoom link, send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk and I'll email you the Zoom link.
+I will send out the usual reminder email, it will go automatically to everyone who is subscribed to this area group.
+----
+====== December 2023 East Midlands ONLINE area group meeting ======
+Here is the agenda for our December 2023 online Zoom area group meeting.
+**Saturday 9th December from 10:00**
+This meeting will be online using Zoom.
+As before, we have found that regular breaks of roughly 10-15 mins worked well, to avoid people getting fatigued from staring at their screens, so we will plan to do the same again.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+**AGENDA**
+The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:
+  *  10:00 - Get connected, Informal chat
+  *  10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions
+  *  10:45 - Essex Brick a lockdown to exhibition layout - Eddy
+  *  11:30 - Tea/coffee break (make your own!)
+  *  11:45 - Update on my developments with DCC, CBUS and JMRI - Pete Brownlow
+   * 12:45 - QnA
+  *  13:00 - LUNCH BREAK
+  *  14:00 on - General QnA and help clinic
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+For the help clinic session in the afternoon, if you have built something and would like any help and advice, please be ready to wave it at the camera, and we'll see what help and advice we can give from afar.
+If you would like to join in, please go to the MERG website, select the menu option MEMBER LINKS->MY UPCOMING EVENTS, or go directly to https://merg.org.uk/membership/summary.php, and you should see the details of this meeting together with the Zoom link to join in
+Please don't share the Zoom links with anyone outside MERG, or post them on any public social media or web page.
+If you cannot see the details for East Midlands area group meetings, go to https://www.merg.org.uk/membership and make sure you are subscribed to the East Midlands area group. There is no requirement that you live in the East Midlands, any member can subscribe and join in. If you would like to introduce a visitor to the meeting, please email their details to eastmids@merg.org.uk.
+If you still can't get the Zoom link, send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk and I'll email you the Zoom link.
+I will send out the usual reminder email, it will go automatically to everyone who is subscribed to this area group.
+----
+----
+====== OCTOBER 2023 East Midlands MERG Area Group FACE to FACE meeting ======
+**Saturday 21st October 2023 from 10:00**
+The meeting is Kindly hosted by the Nene Valley Railway at Wansford. Thanks to MERG and NVR member Russ Jenner for arranging the venue for us.
+We will ask for a donation of £5 per head to cover both the venue hire and teas/coffees for the day. If we collect more than the cost of hiring the venue and supplying refreshments, we will donate the difference to the NVR.
+The venue has level step free access and good parking. If you need a disabled space reserved, please let us know.
+There is a cafe on site, I will confirm arrangements, but most likely we will pass the menu around in the morning so you can order lunch if you wish.
+If the Wifi at the venue is working well enough, we will endeavour to have a Zoom connection for the morning meeting, for those who cannot come in person. However, the meeting will be optimised for those who manage to get along, who will get the best experience.
+----
+**AGENDA**
+The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:
+  * 10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members
+  * 10:30 - Welcome to NVR and housekeeping - Russ Jenner
+  * 10:35 - Group news and Introductions
+  * 10:45 - CBUS and JMRI at Gwynne Junction - James Cunningham - including some or all of CANMIO Rev K, JMRI semaphore signalling, my JMRI touchscreen signal box and Railcom
+  * 11:45 - Tea/coffee break
+  * 12:00 - MERG & kit locker updates - Judi Rastall
+  * 12:30 - The Universal Experimenters Module - Pete Brownlow
+  * 13:00 - LUNCH BREAK
+  *
+  * 13:30 - 16:30 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic
+----
+During the afternoon, as well as our usual help and problem solving clinic, Russ advises that the railwayana shop at NVR will be open which now has quite a lot of double 00 and a few N and O gauge second hand stock.
+If he can get the 00 layout running for the afternoon he will do so.
+Short trips to the NVR shed will be available during the afternoon.
+It is a running day at NVR with 3 trains, pulled by W D Austerity.
+If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, in the week before the meeting, you will get a reply with full address details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers. Please don't just turn up on spec, in case there are last minute changes we need to let you know about.
+Let us know if you need a lift from Peterborough station. Please plan to arrive at Peterborough station no later than 9:30am, so whoever picks you up does not have to miss any of the meeting.
+(Those who have already let me know that you are coming, I have noted you and I will be sending out confirmation emails in the week before the meeting.)
+----
+====== JULY 2023 East Midlands MERG Area Group FACE to FACE meeting ======
+**Saturday 8th July 2023 from 10:00**
+Due to Judi's building work not being complete in time, we have swapped the venues for our July and September meetings.
+This meeting will now be at Aisthorpe Village Hall, near Lincoln, Kindly hosted by Lincoln & District Model Railway Club (L&DMRC) at Scampton and Aisthorpe Village hall, near Lincoln.
+Thanks to Richard Joyce for organising the venue for us.
+Tea and Coffee will be available all day, please bring your own packed lunch as there are no other facilities nearby.
+We will ask for a donation of £5 per head to cover the venue hire and teas/coffees. Note that one payment covers both, you don't need to pay separately for the teas and coffees. If we collect more than the cost of hiring the venue and refreshments, we will donate the difference to L&DMRC.
+The venue has level step free access and reasonable parking. If you need a disabled space reserved, please let us know.
+Provided the Internet connection at the venue is working well, we will have a Zoom connection for the morning meeting, for those who cannot come in person. I will add a Zoom link to the meeting info, so that it appears in your upcoming meetings on the MERG website.
+More details of parking and how to find the venue will be included in your confirmation email when you book your place. Please remember to book a place and not just turn up on spec, in case there are any changes we need to let you know about.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+**AGENDA**
+The meeting will be informal and flexible, so these are approximate times:
+  * 10:00 - Arrival, Informal chat and get to know the other members
+  * 10:30 - Welcome, group news and Introductions
+  * 10:45 - Introduction to the Lincoln & District Model Railway Club - Richard Joyce
+  * 10:50 - The CANPROG - what it is, building one, using it to program PICs - Pete Brownlow
+  * 11:30 - Tea/coffee break
+  * 11:45 - Update on FCU development (CBUS FLim Config Utility) - Julian Pratt
+  * 12:15 - Kit locker update - Judi Rastall
+  * 13:00 - LUNCH BREAK
+  * 14:00 - 16:00 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic - including FCU tutorial if requested
+There should also be a chance to see some of the L&DMRC layouts.
+We will of course have our usual problem clinic providing General help on problems with kits or other electronic projects, building, testing, problem solving, techniques such as soldering etc.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+If you would like to come, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. I will add you to the list and, in the week before the meeting, you will get a reply with full details, directions to the venue and parking information. Even if you are not sure yet whether you can get along, please let us know anyway so we can plan for likely numbers.
+Please book a place rather than just turning up on spec, if there are any last minute changes we need to know who is coming so that we can contact you.
+(Those who have already let me know that you are coming, I will be sending out confirmation emails in the week before the meeting).
 ====== May 2023 East Midlands ONLINE area group meeting ======
@@ Line 39: / Line 281: @@
   *  11:45 - WebFCU (alternative CBUS config utility) - David Ellis
   *  12:15 - From the MERG chairman - John Gowers
+  * 12:45 - MERG AGM event - possible East Mids Area group involvement
   *  13:00 - LUNCH BREAK
   *  14:00 on - General QnA and help clinic