I popped over last week, was shown around by a nice friendly fellow with a Wallace & Gromit tshirt ( My memory is awful, I forgot his name sorry!)
I am now taking the steps to join as a member.
I do have another enquiry actually. I work as a creative educator and do one to one mentor sessions at Gorse Hill Studios in Stretford. We run a scheme called the Ace Project , an alternative creative education provision. We have a young person that is interested in woodwork and to build on their skills in the area.
Would it be possible For Gorse Hill Studios to join as a member and for a mentor to work with a young person (after induction) at Hackspace?
That sounds really interesting. Is it just one young person who wants to get involved, or did you intend for Gorse Hill to join, and then have various young people attend through that membership?
You would need to join as an individual as we don’t have group or company memberships.
Then as a member, you would be able to bring in a guest which could be anyone.
However please note you’d be responsible for your guest, and your guests wouldn’t be able to use any tools that require training - your guest would need an induction and in order to get that they too would need to be a member as we can record that they are trained.
So realistically, if you know someone wanting to use woodwork tools, they would need to join and be a member in order to get an induction.
Inductions are basic guidance that protects the tools from misuse and humans from injury and is largely to ensure the space isn’t liable in case of an accident. It doesn’t constitute a training course, and it’s done usually for free by other volunteer members who have been certified as trainers on that tool.
Thankyou for the fast response! And for my own thread
So it would be one person to begin with but potentially something we could do with other interested young people. We have a huge arts studio but not any kind of workspace with equipment such as the Hackspace and we think they could get a lot from it.
If we were to be inducted together , work it be an option for us to change the name of the membership of the young person moves on ? And then we could keep that membership ongoing for people that want to use it? I’m just trying to think of a way that I would work for us financially without paying for lots of individual memberships if you get me! Hope I’m not complicating things
I think it would be great if the hackspace could help and compliment other community groups, what I’m not sure of is whether our current setup yet supports that as best it could. Personally speaking, it is something we should look at improving.
The main issue with changing names on accounts is the training is unique to an individual. Additionally, the minimum age to be a member is currently 18 - so this may present the greatest challenge.
I’m not sure why the age is 18 specifically, I’m not versed in this area.
In terms of cost I totally get it - there’s no minimum commitment here so you could join, pay, immediately cancel and get a month of access, but the minimum cost is still £12.50. For multiple people that will add up. The board, who are elected members, can make exceptions but it would be nice if we could set up a framework so we can better open up to other community groups and not have to make exceptions.
Basically I think it’s a great idea we just need to work out how we go about it.
an idea for discussion with the space
Depending on what others think, I’d like if we could implement group memberships. I know some people don’t like there being different types of memberships, so I’d propose we have one group leader who is a regular member, that can then have a small number of dependent accounts.
Dependent accounts would only be able to be in the space with the group leader. They would not get their own fobs or access codes.
Dependent accounts would have their own training records
I’d imagine for reasons I don’t understand that the dependent accounts would not be able to be full members as that has something to do with Companies House, voting in company elections
The group leader may need to pay a bit more than the bare minimum of £12.50l/mo to account for the extra use of tools.
The group leader would be expected to train the dependent accounts, so would need to become a trainer on all the tools they hope to use. This would share out the burden of training which is currently done by a small but committed group of members.
If the group leader would like, they’d be welcome to train other members of the space.
Dependent accounts would currently need to be aged 18+, but unless there’s a solid reason why that is the case, it would be nice if this could be changed to 16 so the space is more inclusive to the community.
That’s a brain dump. What do others think about this idea? It could be total nonsense but I’d like if we can look at becoming more inclusive to the community. If we did, we could look again at National Lottery funding as we might be able to demonstrate a difference we are making in the community
I think every word of this is a great idea, and my gut is that in order to offer this, we’d need more robust risk assessments in place and/or H+S/fire safety documentation. I’m assuming the orgs that would join the scheme would require it. Also data protection. And possibly some kind of safeguarding policy.
We know (some of) this needs sorting, but I think we’re all waiting until the board elections to get it moving…
Think finding ways to work with other community groups is definitely something we should working towards. However with the current list of things we’re needing to sort out within the space currently I can see focus on this being pushed to the side-lines.
I like the idea of the dependent accounts. My thoughts on your points (if they were numbered)
Think this is a good requirement. 24/7 access is a big benefit of our space and is something enjoyed by regular members. Since its likely the dependent user would be at the space with the leader I doubt not having their own fobs would be too limiting.
Agree, this is something we are pushing to be a requirement for all members.
I’d be against dependent accounts having a vote, it would be another regular member benefit.
I agree it should be more than the £12.50 minimum. Maybe have it increase £x amount for each dependent account so that larger groups aren’t limited.
As for training this would probably need a bit of thought. Currently its managed by workshop teams, so either the leader joins them like a regular member does, or we find a suitable way to make exceptions.
Additionally the training for some tools is quite involved (metal lathe & mill) so if dependent accounts are likely to have high turnover, this could quickly burnout our trainers. We’ve already had instances where members have asked for training and then either not used the tool or left the space shortly after.
Atm I’d be against allowing leaders to train their dependants and not have to train others.
Would be encouraged but as mentioned above they’d currently need to join the workshop teams.
If the minimum age can be lowered, this could allow for us to reach out to local colleges who may not have all the facilities for students.
In my personal experience, my college had the machines, but we weren’t allowed to use them as the tutor couldn’t use them themselves.
It could also allow for parents / guardians to bring their (teenage) kids and let them use the space before they turn 18, at which point we’d encourage they become regular members?
Some tools might still need to be limited to 18+ only though. IIRC, again at my college, students weren’t allowed to use the table saw but could use the metal lathe?
I’m actually quite keen on this too, I asked some time ago regarding my son becoming a dependant member, firstly so he could be seen to be making a contribution, and potentially for him to have his own storage, although I agree for larger groups this may not be a provision that’s practically possible.
Unfortunately due to decisions of my son’s own, in my case, that may no longer be a proposition I’ll be pursuing, however, I don’t see why we can’t at least explore the option for local groups or organisations, and longer term be seen to be a much broader community resource?
reasons I don’t understand