This is a shoutout for all the blender users Uk based. I’m looking around for people who would be interested in attending a monthly user-group somewhere in London.
There is nothing set in stone right now just the idea. I have a couple of individual already interested and if all goes wrong, we’ll be meeting ourselves to chat, drink and have a good time.
We are considering going to a pub somewhere in central London or close to start with and we’ll worry about more details when are needed.
Yeah that sounds good, I live quite near London (Harlow) Unfortunately i don’t have much free time, also my English i far from perfect… even very far;) but Hey this can work out!
London is a little far ( I live in Devon) but I’d be interested in going, probably not monthly though, and hopefully I’d be able to combine it with business.
I’m in SE25 (near Croydon) so would be interested. Like Maqs though, free time is a bit of a rare resource for me.
Years ago I went to a couple of Lightwave usergroup meetings in London. Be warned it is/was a bit hard to coordinate and keep the momentum up. With that in mind though, keep us updated
Riiiight, so there IS interest, which is great. We can now start thinking of make this a reality.
I am well aware of how hard this will going to be. Since the comunity is small by nature. That’s why I want to keep it very casual and not try to arrange massive events every month.
It will need a bit of cooperation, though.
Ok, first things first. We should think of a day of the week that would suit most people. From the top of my head, Wednesday would be the ideal night as it’s dead in the middle of the week and there is very little chance people will be out with their missus.
The second thing would be checking out where people would be happier to go to. Somewhere central seems a pretty obvious choice for fairness on people coming from different sides.
It’s my attempt at a forum-based website to help list and organize user groups. There’s even a section for planning future groups like you’re doing right now. If this London group actually happens, I’d appreciate it if you could check it out and consider asking for a subforum.
I work in London 3 days a week, and would be very keen to come along to any such meetings. I’m actively encouraging artists at my work to look at Blender, and some even seem quite keen. So there are London users, and I’m sure there will be more as time goes and Blender grows.
Great that others are interested. I would suggest the last Wednesday of the month for us to meet.
The way I think it should go is, we have someone presenting something. Be it a project they’re working, a new technique, their studio or anything interesting. We can also have a round of news and questions. And we can wrap up with some informal debate about what pint to have next.
I’ll start looking around for somewhere that we can have a corner. Please bear with me as I am not out on a different pub every night.
Also, contact me if you think you would like to show something or do a little presentation. Right now, I think we can be a bit flexible and allow some past projects that are not exclusively blender related so we can try and get started. Later on we can push to have more projects done in blender and then, we can start displaying them.
I’d vote for somewhere in Vauxhall, simply because I know the area very well and that its less crowded than the centre, but its not the most accessible since the Victoria Line is crap on a good day.
I cant remember the name of it (maybe the Champion?) but there’s a nice quietish old school Sam Smith’s pub north of Oxford St near CFC I went to after a screening last year…
It just so happens that Wed nights are bad for me, but I appreciate that it’ll be impossible to find a night that’s good for everyone. I think Tue nights tend to have very few things organised.
Is a pub the best venue? I’d really like somewhere where we can fire up lots of computers - see how stuff’s done - try things out etc. I can imagine a pub being difficult with everyone fighting over the one plug socket!
That said, I know it’s hard to think of another venue that would be free. Perhaps an education institute or university that has an interest in Blender?
Either way, I’m keen to meet some other blenderheads.
Ok took some time over this weekend and strolled around central London hunting for a pub. Didn’t find anything I particularly loved so, the hunt still on. I didn’t find the Champion as Krupa mentioned, I didn’t find the actual CFC to be honest (yeh, I left home without their address and I am not that much of a London rat to know all the places out of the back of my head).
I would, however ask for sugestions again. But this time, with links to the actual place or an address so I can check them out. I will start by suggesting my own local, which I KNOW will not be convenient to any of you but, hey, it’s an attempt.
I am happy to start off in Vauxhall as Laxy said. Anybody else, agree? Disagree?
The Riverside Bar. Located on the ground floor of an apartment complex, can be a bit hidden from the roadside. Very nice but can be quite crowded after clocking-off time. Now that summer is drawing near, the tables and chairs outside fill up so grabbing a table will be easier especially mid-week. Bookings taken. http://www.riversidelondon.com/tovisit.htm
The Beehive Pub. Down the road towards the Oval Cricket ground. Nice big sofas but not a lot of tablespace. More of a drinking place rather than a ‘sitting-down-talking-about-blender’ place. But they don’t make many of them http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/44/4405/Beehive/Vauxhall
Ok, given the overwhelming number of responses we can now take some time to choose where we shall start meeting up.
The chosen place for now is the “Bar Aqua” as suggested by Laxy. We’re thinking about holding a meeting every third Wednesday of the month. If we were to make this month, it’ll be next Wednesday.
Once again, we’re open for people’s opinions on this.
For now, as far I am concerned, it is set to start next Wednesday and be every third Wednesday of the month at Bar Aqua.
