It is with great sadness that I have to announce the closure of the "The Little Acorns" electronics club that I started and ran for the previous five years.
I called it Little acorns for two reasons, firstly because the premises were surrounded by massive Oak trees, and secondly, from little acorns, great Oaks grow. A reference to the members who by their learning, could go on to achive great things with a career in electronics.
I would like to thank all the members of "All about circuits" who have supported us either by donation of parts or in answering questions posed by the club members.
I hope the moderators won't mind me posting this on here, as due to circumstances beyond my control, I have been unable to contact some of the club members directly to inform them, but I know they read my posts on here.
As far as the club assets are concerned, without mentioning names on here, "The Workshop" have aggreed to store all the equipment and components and are free to any of the club members to use. Just ask Mike for anything you want. The £17.50 tea fund we have decided to donate to charity.
I hope you all continue to enjoy your hobby and that the club encouraged you to learn and have fun. I thank you all for attending and making it a worthwhile experience for me.
It is such a shame that bureaucracy cannot see beyond the end of it's nose, and the fact that people were enjoying themselves and having real constructive fun seems to have irritated some individuals who have the power to stop it. Lets hope Karma is real eh.

 

I am sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, similar things happen in the US too. There are just some people who are not happy until you're not happy.

 

Sad to hear. Bureaucracy always seems to get in the way of such things! One of the reasons I moved to Scandinavia... it hasn't quite reached here yet!

 

Wondering what / who was able to hamper the club, bringing it to a stop. Very sad.

 

It is with great sadness that I have to announce the closure of the "The Little Acorns" electronics club that I started and ran for the previous five years.
I called it Little acorns for two reasons, firstly because the premises were surrounded by massive Oak trees, and secondly, from little acorns, great Oaks grow. A reference to the members who by their learning, could go on to achive great things with a career in electronics.
I would like to thank all the members of "All about circuits" who have supported us either by donation of parts or in answering questions posed by the club members.
I hope the moderators won't mind me posting this on here, as due to circumstances beyond my control, I have been unable to contact some of the club members directly to inform them, but I know they read my posts on here.
As far as the club assets are concerned, without mentioning names on here, "The Workshop" have aggreed to store all the equipment and components and are free to any of the club members to use. Just ask Mike for anything you want. The £17.50 tea fund we have decided to donate to charity.
I hope you all continue to enjoy your hobby and that the club encouraged you to learn and have fun. I thank you all for attending and making it a worthwhile experience for me.
It is such a shame that bureaucracy cannot see beyond the end of it's nose, and the fact that people were enjoying themselves and having real constructive fun seems to have irritated some individuals who have the power to stop it. Lets hope Karma is real eh.

It's with all clubs. Some people think ' it's MY club' terrorize and have a anti democratic approach.
resulting in an unworkable situation resulting in a hostile club and nobody feels attached anymore.

Kick the rotten apples out.

Anyway I expect that you are more than welcome at allaboutcircuits.
Will help you to finish your hobby project.

Picbuster

 

We discussed in another thread the potential benefits to youth (and others) of electronics clubs in local areas. I am very eager to start up such a social enterprise similar to this one I read about recently that has had a 10-year success story.

Diyode Community Workshop

I would be curious to know what was the nature of the bureaucracy that caused the demise of your club so that my efforts do not suffer the same fate.

 

It's with all clubs. Some people think ' it's MY club' terrorize and have a anti democratic approach.
resulting in an unworkable situation resulting in a hostile club and nobody feels attached anymore.

Kick the rotten apples out.

Anyway I expect that you are more than welcome at allaboutcircuits.
Will help you to finish your hobby project.

Picbuster

The club had become very sucessful and had a very happy friendly atmosphere.
I would love to explain the reasons we had to close but I would probably end up with a court case. Suffice it to say that a local councillor didn't like it within his area, invoking every health and safety, environmental and any other rule he could use to close us down. Now he has turned his attention to a local junior football club. Unfortunately he has friends in high places.

 

Zoning is the hammer that is used frequently in the US. Even small Bible study groups in private homes have been closed on the pretext that the residential property wasn't zoned for a church or large gatherings. Restricted parking, parking complaints by neighbors, fire safety are often cited as justification. Then there are HOA's. What a nightmare they can be.

 

Still not clear at what "bureaucracy" rules brought the club down. Or what "bureaucracy". But I have my suspicions.

Hopefully things will change back once again England becomes the mighty free nation it once was.

But unless it is a club for kids, I really would consider changing that name.

 

Isn't the problem with clubs like this all down to health and safety and insurance? If a kid burns himself with a soldering iron, who gets sued?

 

I dont know the exact details in this closure but I am pretty sure there is no legal way of shutting down a STEM based club in the UK. If anything, there are government bursaries in place to encourage this sort of activity. Please check your inbox

 

If it is a child based club then you likely need background checks for all adult members. That does sort of only make sense in this day and age (unfortunately)

I had to go through a background check when working at schools for disadvantaged kids. It had to happen every year. I finally devided it was too much of a PITA and dropped out of that part of the program. I still try to work in the part of the program where we do maintenance on school grounds etc. I like the outdoor labor a lot better anyway.

 

I dont know the exact details in this closure but I am pretty sure there is no legal way of shutting down a STEM based club in the UK. If anything, there are government bursaries in place to encourage this sort of activity. Please check your inbox

I am a registered STEM ambassador which is ideal for running things like this because they pay to put you through the PVG (background checks).
Absolutely shameful that someone would go out of their way to shut something like this down. Perhaps the IET would be able to offer advice?

 

Sorry to hear of a group I knew nothing about before it has to go away - goes away.

Hopefully things will change back once again England becomes the mighty free nation it once was.

We have a "Donald" we can send you.

 

This is why I wish I could start another human society on another planet. One where people are not so "Politically Correct". Where people understand that life is about learning - and sometimes those lessons in life come with a little pain. How many of us have shocked ourselves unintentionally? And yet we don't demand the demise of the power companies that provide us with potentially life threatening energy.

Bureaucracy is when someone with some measure of power feels the need to extend that power into everyone else's lives under the guise of protecting us from ourselves. Warning labels comes to mind as one of the major contributing factors. "Natural Selection" will take care of things if we just give it a chance. The strong survive. Swift survive. Smart survive. Weak, slow and dumb does nobody any good. Hey! Wait a minute! Does this mean I have to go? Well, it's been nice knowing yea'.

 

This is why I wish I could start another human society on another planet. One where people are not so "Politically Correct". Where people understand that life is about learning - and sometimes those lessons in life come with a little pain. How many of us have shocked ourselves unintentionally? And yet we don't demand the demise of the power companies that provide us with potentially life threatening energy.

Bureaucracy is when someone with some measure of power feels the need to extend that power into everyone else's lives under the guise of protecting us from ourselves. Warning labels comes to mind as one of the major contributing factors. "Natural Selection" will take care of things if we just give it a chance. The strong survive. Swift survive. Smart survive. Weak, slow and dumb does nobody any good. Hey! Wait a minute! Does this mean I have to go? Well, it's been nice knowing yea'.

Your mention of warning labels reminds me of a cheap clothes iron that had a label that read "do not iron clothes while on body" and the instuctions on the bottom of a chocolate gateau box that stated in big letters "DO NOT INVERT"

 

The one that I got a kick out of was for the tension idler/bearing for a car alternator belt.
'Do not Change while motor is running'!
Max.,

 

The sad part for the result of warning labels is that at some time someone has tried it!
Max.

 

I am a registered STEM ambassador which is ideal for running things like this because they pay to put you through the PVG (background checks).
Absolutely shameful that someone would go out of their way to shut something like this down. Perhaps the IET would be able to offer advice?

Thank you for the interest, but one of the members brother worked at the local citizens advice bureau and did a lot of investigation on our behalf but sadly to no avail. To be perectly honest, I'm not surprised. the surrounding area is designated for housing development and we were just small fry potentially in the way of big bussiness.
When you look at the "legal"requirements for suitable premises, plus the need to provide all sorts of facilities to accomodate the different needs of some members, it really is beyond what we are able to provide.
No longer are members of the public allowed to decide for themselves whether or not something is suitable for them and to accept personal responsibility for their actions without big brother stepping in and telling them that they can't.
Also, as we had some young members and some with disabilities, a million other rules needed to be complied with.
Although recently I had assistance from some very proffessional engineers, my health has declined over the last year and despite my best efforts, it was becoming harder to handle the somtimes twice weekly meetings.

 

Thank you for the interest, but one of the members brother worked at the local citizens advice bureau and did a lot of investigation on our behalf but sadly to no avail. To be perectly honest, I'm not surprised. the surrounding area is designated for housing development and we were just small fry potentially in the way of big bussiness.
When you look at the "legal"requirements for suitable premises, plus the need to provide all sorts of facilities to accomodate the different needs of some members, it really is beyond what we are able to provide.
No longer are members of the public allowed to decide for themselves whether or not something is suitable for them and to accept personal responsibility for their actions without big brother stepping in and telling them that they can't.
Also, as we had some young members and some with disabilities, a million other rules needed to be complied with.
Although recently I had assistance from some very proffessional engineers, my health has declined over the last year and despite my best efforts, it was becoming harder to handle the somtimes twice weekly meetings.

I really do not know much about that issue, especially in a different country than where I reside, but two points come to mind.

First, it is a shame. I remember you talking about the club quite a while ago and I was impressed - it just seemed like such a valuable part of the community.

Second, is it not possible for the public education system to allow/encourage/underwrite/enable such activities? IOW provide the space and adherence to the umbrella of regulations?

I wonder about how all of the Makerspace facilities here manage.