This week suddenly things are starting to really take shape:

• Avery and I installed the worktop in the teeny tiny kitchen yesterday;
• The electronic locks were fitted by Mark the electrician today, which means inducted members will be able to use a keyfob to let themselves in and out;
• Tomorrow Charley the plumber is, fates permitting, coming to plumb in our kitchen sink and tidy up the plumbing under our bathroom sink;
• Tomorrow (Tuesday) and Sunday, Chris is leading volunteers in painting Machspace with donated paint.

In the past few weeks, we have:

• Removed a weird fake fireplace and a partition;
• Taken out two pointless doors;
• Pulled up lots of cement-encrusted and damp carpet;
• Pulled out the old sinks and cabinets in both the bathroom and kitchen, which were in bad shape and extremely mouldy;
• Washed lots of gross mould off the walls and ceilings (thank you Nathan!) and dried out the bathroom and kitchen;
• Reconfigured and wall-mounted a freestanding sink in the bathroom, and installed a grabrail;
• Miraculously, found a cheap 125cm-long offcut of worktop for our tiny cupboard-kitchen, cut a hole for the sink, and installed it in the kitchen;
• PAT-tested lots of equipment and re-mounted some of the ceiling lights that were falling down (thank you Frank!);
• Put in lots of tables and chairs, some cupboards, a sofa and a rug, etc.

We’ve done a lot of the work ourselves, but the electrics and plumbing were outside of our comfort zone! And some furniture has been donated but some we had to buy. All of these initial set-up costs can’t be taken out of our grant from SVF Powys, so that means it’s all funded by the crowdfunder. (Thank you very much to everyone who donated or shared the link! It is a big help right now.)

It’s currently very scruffy and untidy, but the finish line is in sight and we’re really, really close to being ready for the Grand Opening. Once the plumbing is done and we’ve tidied up a bit, I plan to get to work on the crowdfunder rewards.

Thank you everyone so much, we’ve done a LOT in a very short space of time and we’re really excited!

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PS: A reminder that you can follow us on the Fediverse: @machspace@machspace.org. We had a bit of a technical hiccup where follow requests weren’t coming through, but they are now, so if you tried to follow, check and maybe cancel and re-follow!

Stuff is happening! We’re on track for our Grand Opening on 6th October. Here’s how it looks right now:

There was a mysterious fake fireplace mortared onto the carpet, which was a lot of fun to remove:

There was also a sort of sheltered office room in one corner, which took a bit longer to knock out but it has freed up a lot of space:

We’ve got power and water and internet, there’s a comfy sofa and a little fridge, we’ve got first aid stuff and fire extinguishers, and the 3D printer is whirring away. There’s tables and shabby but comfy chairs. It’s actually a pretty respectable makerspace at the moment, short of a lick of paint.

Our first priority before we open is finding out if it’s possible to get some kind of lock system in place so that we can give inducted members key fobs. That way everyone can just let themselves in and out, without us volunteers having to be doorkeepers. This is by far the biggest set-up expense, and the grant doesn’t cover it because it’s limited to running costs rather than one-time purchases. We’re not even sure if the crowdfunding money will cover it. Once the locks are sorted we can start enrolling members.

After that, we want to get the kitchen and bathroom (both very tiny) sorted and more comfortable to use. Both were quite mouldy and badly furnished when we picked up the keys, and we’ve managed to clean the mould. Next we’re installing better sinks and worktops and a few shelves, hopefully this weekend or early next week. (Proper storage will probably have to come later, when we [hopefully] have more money.) Both are roughly usable, so they won’t cause a late opening or anything.

Which brings us to our wishlist:

• Money towards the lock system!
• A kettle
• A couple of little oil radiators on wheels
• 2 more tables
• A tall-but-shallow bookcase to display pay-what-you-feel fidgets and handmade items
• A coffee table
• Cutlery, especially teaspoons

We don’t need any more offers of chairs, sofas, fridges, noticeboards, rugs, mugs or tea towels. Various people have offered to longterm-loan us 3D printers, which is really generous, and we’ll definitely take advantage of those offers when the space is a bit more finished.

As for help from people:

• Do you know about installing electronic locks like you’d get on a hotel room door? If you think you’d be able to help us install this, we need you ASAP!
• We’ll need all hands on deck for painting sometime soon.
• None of us are experts in woodworking, so in due course we’ll need someone to help us check over the second-hand power tools we’ve already got, put together some guidelines/policies, and write up a wishlist.

It’s all really exciting, and we’re exhausted but eager to open as quickly as possible!

Press release: click here

After a whirlwind of a month, we have several really exciting bits of news to share with you!

We applied to the Social Value Forum Development Fund from PAVO in July, and in August we found out that we were successful. We have been awarded an incredible £24,000 (and a bit), which will cover our running costs for a year and a half. We worked really hard on our application, and we’re so proud, and still a little bit blown away!

The SVFDF grant made it possible for us to sign a lease and pick up the keys to our new premises yesterday, something that we couldn’t have predicted even two months ago. (1 Old Town Hall, Penrallt Street, opposite the clock and the new Bike Workshop and the Community Hub.) We are now gearing up to start making our space comfortable, useful and fun – see more on that below! We’re planning the grand opening for 6th October 2023, 3-6pm.

And finally, our crowdfunder recently closed after 8 weeks, and we are very grateful to have received £1,661 in pledges from our local community, our friends and families, and members of the wider makerspace network across the UK. This means so much to us, and will help smooth our first month by allowing us to prepare the space and buy furniture and equipment.

And now…

We need YOU!

We’ve got so much to do, and we need all hands on deck.

Have you offered us equipment? Get in touch on WhatsApp or by email: hello AT machspace DOT org.

We also need to get our mitts on some basics, so here’s our furniture wishlist. If you have anything kicking about that fits our needs, drop us a line (FAO Chris) – we’d love to source second-hand and locally where possible.

• 5-10 large, sturdy tables
• 10-20 basic dining or office chairs (possibly stackable for storage)
• A small sofa or 2-3 armchairs
• 1-2 display bookcases or shelves (possibly to go in the windows)
• Fridge
• 2-3 sets of large storage shelves (e.g. garage racking)
• Microwave
• Kettle
• Basic crockery – cups, mugs, cutlery
• A large cork noticeboard
• A large whiteboard
• Hand towels
• Tea towels
• Little radiators on wheels
• Lockable filing cabinet

Once this is in place we’ll be ready to open!

And finally, we need a regular Mach-based cleaner who can come and clean for us around two hours a week. If that could be you, please do give us a shout and tell us your rates – again, by WhatsApp or by email: hello AT machspace DOT org (FAO Chris).

Thank yous

No community project is an island, and we are full of gratitude! In no particular order:

• To Stiwdio Dyfi / Just In Time, for helping us gather survey responses for our grant application. (Subscribe to their newsletter for regular Welsh arts and entertainment news, it’s really good.)
• To everyone who responded to our evidence survey. There were over 60 of you and all of your thoughtful textbox entries were really valuable.
• To everyone who’s come to our open days at the Bowling Club over the last couple of years. The number one thing that’s kept us motivated while we waited for the opportune moment to jump into a full-time venue has been the ongoing and supportive proto-members who show us why we’re doing it just by turning up.
• To everyone who has donated beautiful and unique handmade items for our pay-what-you-feel table, and to everyone who has donated or bought anything. You know you’re doing something important when people are willing to lay down their skilful work and hard-earned cash to make it happen.
• To our PAVO advisor Louise – supportive, knowledgeable, and a very speedy email-replier to boot. No wonder we got that grant!
• To our 38 crowdfunders. What a bunch of legends. Some of you are local makerspace enthusiasts, and some of you live miles and miles away, and you’re all making a makerspace with us.
• To the UK Hackspace Foundation, for their resources, and especially to the active national hackspace community members who support us when we have noob questions.
• To the Naturesave Trust, who very kindly gave us a huge boost by trusting us with enough money to buy a 3D printer, a sewing machine and a badge-maker. Being able to demonstrate to everyone what we were trying to do was a big and exciting step in our journey.

As the PR guy¹ I’ve got a lot to do over the next few days, so I’ll sign off and get started on a list of website pages that we’ll have to update now we’ve got premises. (Wow!)

Take care,

Cassian

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1. Gender-neutral! ↩︎

You might have seen some posters around Mach saying that there will be a Machspace open day on 1st Sept at the Bowling Club.

This is just a quick post to let you know that THE OPEN DAY AT THE BOWLING CLUB ON FRIDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER 3-6PM HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

This is because we may be EXTREMELY busy in an exciting way on 1st September – stay tuned!

We would have published this earlier, when we first applied for the grant, but we didn’t have a blog upon which to put it yet!

Files: 2023-02-02 Naturesave Trust press release

Friday 7th July was our fifth open day, and our official crowdfunder launch.

It was pretty great! There were 22 attendees, plus the usual gentle, friendly vibes. We raised over £800 on the crowdfunder by the end of the open day, and we took about £100 in cash donations, bank transfers, and PayPal donations.

The 3D printer was a hit, several fidgets found new homes, and lots of people chose favourite farm animals and held them in their hands 15 minutes later. Christine got the sewing machine to do a great array of patterned stitches, and also sewed a fabric patchwork coaster. Other activities included badge-making, digital art, knitting, wood-carving, and screen-printing.

And we made it into the Cambrian News!

The crowdfunder is now over £1,100, and we have scheduled our next open day for Friday 11th August 2023, 3-6pm, at the Bowling Club. You can find more details on our calendar page here, and there’s a Facebook event here.