Why I’m not standing for re-election
Hi all, while its normal to say why you are standing for election, I thought having been at the forefront of Hack Oldham since the very start I should explain why I have decided not to stand for re-election this year. As I mentioned I have been leading Hack Oldham since 2014 when we first started meeting in the Bank Top Tavern, I formed Hack Oldham Ltd, moved us in to Hardcastle Street, closed down the limited company, formed the Social ...
It’s time for change
What’s happening? As of the beginning of April I will no longer be employed by Hack Oldham to manage the space, it will revert back to being member run. I recommended this change to the membership and they have agreed. Why? Hack Oldham was always intended to be community run, after all it’s owned by the community and operates for the sake of the community. My role was always to help pull things together, to keep things moving forward ...
The next step?
For the last few years I have focused on Hack Oldham, a non profit co-working and maker space in Oldham, what started out as a tiny little group grew into something much larger with the the move into the former Wahoo building on Yorkshire Street. As you have probably seen we have been beset with delays eventually opening 6 months late and then spending the first 6 months troubleshooting the building which to this date still has issues. I ...
Funded with Food & the Hacker Mindset
About six months ago I attended the launch of Open Future_ North's latest intake "Fair by Design", this intake was for businesses that address the poverty premium, a situation where people on lower incomes tend to end up paying more for goods and services. This was far more inline with what we had been doing and Hack Oldham and while Open Future_ North's funding is very different it got me thinking about my own experience in applying for funding ...
Wayra is coming to Oldham
You may have hear that Wayra is coming to Oldham, Wayra are part of Telefonica, better known in the UK as 02. They will be moving into the former Wahoo building along with Hack Oldham, the community maker space I established last year. Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at the pre-launch event held at Oldham college, the aim of the event was to educate Oldham's business leaders about Wayra and their upcoming call for candidates. We also ...
What a year (ahead and behind)
So here I am, at home, having a week off, this isn't something I do very often, having time off isn't something I'm very good at, relaxation is something I just don't do. I'm taking this week off to take stock, a lot has happened in the last 12 months or so and when you spend all your time so involved in a project its hard to see the wood for the trees. As you have probably heard a digital enterprise hub is coming to Oldham, in simple terms ...
I accidentally a Hack Space
Back in October 2014 I game a talk at Barcamp Manchester about how I had accidentally made a hack space, it was a little tongue in cheek at it wasn't so much a physical space as a group of people who wanted a space to happen. This year there will be a follow up. It turns out if enough people want something you can make it happen, with a little help from Oldham Council we have just opened the doors at Hack Oldham, at the moment its a ...