On 17 May 2011, at 13:58, Marco Chiesa wrote: > On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 2:37 PM, WereSpielChequers > <[email protected]> wrote: >> The current arrangements suit me, but I'm conscious that under 18s and >> moslems are unlikely to come to a pub. Having a loo that weelchair >> users can't use doesn't help either. The advantage of a pub is that >> provided you have a few drinkers such as myself the venue is free, but >> with the current state of Wikimedia UK funds I think we might be able >> to get some grant money to sometimes hire a different venue. >> > > Have you ever tried contacting town councils to get a room for free? > Or maybe schools / colleges / university whose spaces are tipically > less used on weekends? Normally, it's mostly a question of finding the > right person to talk to. > Marco
In general, trying to get a room for free is a very good approach - but if it doesn't work out, then I can't see a reason why WMUK couldn't provide funds to hire the venue, particularly if there is an obvious benefit such as the "joint Wikimedia UK/Bangla Wikipedia meetup" that WereSpielChequers suggested. BTW, I've previously tried to get a free room at the university I work at on a weekend for the WMUK AGM in 2009, but failed to get it for free because they would have to charge to open up the building on a Saturday (we had a lack of money at the time of this AGM). We ended up in a good room in a nearby pub that we hired for free - but again, it was not disabled-friendly and had several other flaws as a meeting place. Moral of the story: there are many obstacles that can present themselves when trying to get a room for free, and sometimes the best way to get around them in this business-orientated world is with some amount of money.... Thanks, Mike _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list [email protected] http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
