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 For MERG members, you might also like to look at our [[https://www.merg.org.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=55|area group forum]].
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+====== July 2024 East Midlands face to face area group meeting ======
+Here is the agenda for our July 2024 area group meeting.
+**Saturday 6th July 2024 from 10:00**
+Kindly hosted by Judi Rastall at her place in Sutton on Sea.
+Come to the seaside for our Summer meeting!
+It is difficult to believe, but we havn't had a meeting at Judi's for 6 years, the last being in 2018.
+The venue is about 5 minutes walk from the Prom, so you might like to bring the family for a day by the seaside, whilst we get on with the far more important stuff!
+Judi can accommodate up to 20 people, so bookings are first come first served. If we become fully booked, we will keep a waiting list in case of cancellations. Note that the 20 limit is for the room where we have the meeting, any partners or family who would like to come along for a day at the seaside are additional to the 20 limit.
+If you would like to come, please let us know as soon as possible. If you do decide at the last minute, it is still worth getting in touch as, with the longer distance that most have to travel, the numbers are usually less than more centrally located meetings, so there might still be a place available.
+Sutton on Sea is on the east coast of Lincolnshire between Skegness and Grimsby. Parking is available on street near the venue. We have scheduled this meeting before the start of the peak summer season. Once the school holidays start, from late July, parking becomes much more difficult and there will be long queues on all roads into the resort on a Saturday morning – so come and enjoy the seaside before the mad summer rush.
+This venue is less convenient for arrival by train. The nearest railhead is Skegness which is at the end of a long branch line and is an hour round trip from Sutton.
+Tea and Coffee will be available, lunch can be purchased from the local fish and chip shop, or bring your own if you prefer.
+Judi is kindly offering the use of the room and teas and coffees free of charge, so there is no charge for attending this meeting - just get yourself there!
+**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 and housekeeping, Judi Rastall
+  * 10:35 Introductionsand group news
+  * 10:45 Kit locker news, Judi Rastall
+  * 11:00 ESU Decoder sound programming, James Cunningham +++
+  * 11:45 Short coffee break
+  * 12:00 ESU Decoder sound programming continued, James Cunningham
+  * 12:45 CBUS news, Pete Brownlow
+  * 13:15 Lunch. Fish and chips from the local shops or bring your own
+  * 14:30 Afternoon sessions:
+  * Further demonstrations
+  * Making it work - our usual problem solving clinic
+  * Help with soldering and kit construction
+  * See Judi's loft layout
+  * Or just relax in the garden or on the sea front (maybe we'll have some sunshine?)
++++ During his talk and demo, James will cover topics including audio capture, sound editing, using ESU Lokprogrammer, sound programming a steam loco and a demonstration of a completed project.
+To access the loft layout, you do need to be able to climb up the loft ladder, so this will not be possible for everybody. Judi is working on the layout and hopes it will be operational on the day. There is the option to visit the layout in the afternoon for those who can access it.
+John will have a subset of the mobile kit locker with some kits available for purchase.
+For the clinic session, as we have done before, if you have built something and would like any help and advice, please bring it along and we'll work on it with you as a demonstration for everyone. If you know in advance what you would like to get sorted, let us know in advance so we can gen up on it.
+The venue is reasonably accessible, there are a couple of shallow steps up through the front door and a step down into the kitchen of 5". The width of the kitchen doorway is 29". Please advise if you need any assistance.
+Please note that Judi is owned by her two Kit Cats who may be in attendance, so anyone who has any feline allergy or intolerance should be aware of this.
+If you would like to come, and have not already done so, please send an email to eastmids@merg.org.uk or post a message in the East Midlands Area group section of the MERG forum. You will get a reply in due course with full address details and directions to the venue.
+If you have already emailed or posted that you are coming, I will send out confirmation emails, with full details of the address and parking information, in the week before the meeting.
+----
+====== May 2024 East Midlands face to face area group meeting ======
+Here is the agenda for our May 2024 area group meeting, which has a Railcom theme.
+**Sunday 19th May 2024 from 10:00**
+Please note that this meeting is on the **Sunday** for a change. This is due to venue availability, but may also allow some who have other regular commitments, or have to work, on Saturdays to get along.
+This meeting is Kindly hosted by the The Kingsway Model Railway Society (KMRS) at the Kingsway Centre in Wellingborough.
+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 KMRS.
+The venue has level step free access and good parking. If you need a disabled space reserved, please let us know.
+You can either bring a packed lunch or nip out to somewhere locally, the town centre is about 5 minutes drive away and there is a co-op shop a few minutes walk away.
+Provided the Internet connection at the venue is working, 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, and so we know how many people to cater for.
+----
+**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 Kingsway Model Railway Society - Roger Barker
+  * 10:45 - Introduction to Railcom - what it is and why you might use it - Pete Brownlow
+  * 11:00 - Railcom in detail - Michael Smith
+  * 11:45 - Tea/coffee break
+  * 12:00 - Railcom continued - Michael Smith
+  * 12:30 - Setting up Railcom on JMRI, and demo of Railcom in action on the MSM layout - Pete Brownlow
+  * 13:00 - Kit locker update - Judi Rastall
+  * 13:15 - LUNCH BREAK
+  *
+  * 14:00 - 16:30 ish - Demonstrations and practical problems help clinic.
+The Kingsway Model Railway Society 00 gauge layout will be open and running. This uses the MERG DCC system and CBUS. Pete will also have the Missenden St Mary's layout set up and running, to demonstrate Railcom and other MERG systems in use.
+Feel free if you want to bring something to run, the 00 gauge layout and MSM are both DCC.
+During the afternoon, Michael will be on hand for further discussions and demonstrations of Railcom.
+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, 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).
+----
+----
+====== 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).
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