Gary C
Veteran Member
Its been manic.
About two years ago I volunteered to help out someone who had a dream of setting up a vintage computer museum and had already run a pop up in Wigan town centre with his own collection.
The new venture was to be in Leigh Spinners Mill. This Mill had been partially derelict for about 30 years but the family who had built it and still owned it wanted to make it a focus for the local community rather than the obvious choice of selling it to a developer to make million pound apartments for a fortune for which they should be applauded.
Anyway, meeting arranged and popped along to find a room with a tarpaulin over a pile about 5 meters by 3 meters and about 1 meter high.
So started the endless task of pulling out some machine, turning it on, coughing on the smoke and replacing the capacitors. In amongst the BBC's and Sinclair products were some nice items but all required inspection and testing.
Then the day came when the Museums room was available to move the equipment into. Then followed a year of dodging covid regulations and even worse, the fire safety bod who we had to hide from and pretend we were not doing any work while the floor wasn't approved for use
As time went on people came and went, but boss Joe kept driving forward, doing deals and getting more and more computers. At one point the room was full with bits and pieces of computers, wood, wiring, electricians, plumbers and Joe managing to keep calm.
Well, last week we finally managed to open.
What a journey. Since day one we have had a bit on BBC 1 breakfast show, plenty of media exposure and a good stream of people through the doors and I have been desperately trying to keep machines that passed their original tests and had since expired when called on to run for more than 5 minutes.
Looking forward to the future.
And to the guy who donated the complete Apple Lisa including software and external hard drive, just wow.
If your ever near Manchester UK, come and see us.
About two years ago I volunteered to help out someone who had a dream of setting up a vintage computer museum and had already run a pop up in Wigan town centre with his own collection.
The new venture was to be in Leigh Spinners Mill. This Mill had been partially derelict for about 30 years but the family who had built it and still owned it wanted to make it a focus for the local community rather than the obvious choice of selling it to a developer to make million pound apartments for a fortune for which they should be applauded.
Anyway, meeting arranged and popped along to find a room with a tarpaulin over a pile about 5 meters by 3 meters and about 1 meter high.
So started the endless task of pulling out some machine, turning it on, coughing on the smoke and replacing the capacitors. In amongst the BBC's and Sinclair products were some nice items but all required inspection and testing.
Then the day came when the Museums room was available to move the equipment into. Then followed a year of dodging covid regulations and even worse, the fire safety bod who we had to hide from and pretend we were not doing any work while the floor wasn't approved for use
As time went on people came and went, but boss Joe kept driving forward, doing deals and getting more and more computers. At one point the room was full with bits and pieces of computers, wood, wiring, electricians, plumbers and Joe managing to keep calm.
Well, last week we finally managed to open.
What a journey. Since day one we have had a bit on BBC 1 breakfast show, plenty of media exposure and a good stream of people through the doors and I have been desperately trying to keep machines that passed their original tests and had since expired when called on to run for more than 5 minutes.
Looking forward to the future.
And to the guy who donated the complete Apple Lisa including software and external hard drive, just wow.
If your ever near Manchester UK, come and see us.
.