Midlands IBM Retirees Club - September 2022 Newsletter

As you will be aware, IBM has withdrawn support for the IBM Clubs, both those for current employees and for retirees. At an EGM in June, it was agreed that the Midlands Retirees Club would continue to operate without the support of IBM with a new name (Midlands IBM Retirees Club) and a revised constitution. Membership will be open to IBM retirees, their partners and anyone else who wishes to join, subject to approval by the Committee; please contact the Membership Secretary for queries about membership. If you were a member of the previous club and wish to be a member of the new club, please also contact the Membership Secretary if you have not already done so. Notification of events and newsletter publication will be sent only to members of the new club.

The Club’s inaugral AGM was held on Monday 12 September at 11:00am; the minutes can be found here.

There are still a few places left for the Triumph Motorcycle Factory Tour; please contact Richard Short (rdshort9@gmail.com) as soon as possible if you would like to go.

The next meeting of the Tech club is scheduled for Friday 21 October; the topic will be Home Heating Options and Economics. The meeting will be held using Zoom as usual; see below for further information.

Michael Fabianski, Newsletter Editor. E-mail: ibmmidretnews@gmail.com

The following events are currently planned for 2022.

E2210TFT: Wednesday 19 October Triumph Motorcycle Factory Tour. See below.
E2212XML: December Christmas Lunch. .

Photographs from Past Events.

Click on one of the links below to view a selection of photographs from past events.

E2209CNL: Canal trip

We somehow managed to find the one sunny day in a dismal week for the Canal day trip.

We collected our two boats, “Dolly” and “Charlie”, each filled with 10 people, and after an introduction to the boats from the AngloWelsh staff, set off from Wootton Wawen over Edstone (a.k.a. Bearley) aqueduct to Wilmcote top lock where we turned at the “winding hole” just past that lock and back to the boatyard about 4pm.

Lots of exercise for those who wanted to walk the towpath, or operate Bearley and Wilmcote locks as we passed through, and/or chat to passers-by and the canal volunteers operating the damaged lock gate at Wilmcote. Or you could talk to the swans, who were rather keen on scraps, and pecked at the boat while we moored for our lunches.

Lots of positive feedback; we may repeat this next year.

Paul Gover

Click on any of the images below for a larger picture.

E2210TFT Triumph Motorcycle Factory Tour, Wednesday 19th October 2022 at 14:00 Organiser: Richard Short

We are planning a visit to the new Triumph Motorcycles Factory in Hinkley, Leicestershire, at 14:00 on Wednesday October 19th 2022.

We have booked a full tour with 15 places as we can’t book provisional dates. We have to book and pay for the tour up front on a system which is open to the general public. (Their website says you can book group tours of up to 60 people, however when I contacted them they said that you had to book through the online system which has a maximum of 15 people per tour as they currently have some restrictions on tours.)

There will be a 1.5 hour factory tour, there is a Café where you can buy food, and there is a large exhibition area with many old and historic Triumph motorcycles, including the one ridden by Steve McQueen in the “Great Escape”. You can visit the exhibition before or after the factory tour.

Triumph recommend that you allow 3 hours for the factory tour and exhibition area.

Some details of the tour and exhibition can be found here:

Factory Tour

Exhibitions

This is a self-drive event, and the tour of the factory requires you to be on your feet for 1.5 hours, the walking distance is not long and there many points where you stop while things are explained.

The cost will be £25 for members and first guest. We will limit the tickets per person as we have only 15 tickets. If demand exceeds this we may book another tour, however this would probably be on a tour with members of the public.

Please complete the booking form and send it a.s.a.p to Richard Short (rdshort9@gmail.com).

Booking form

When a place is confirmed I will send details of how to pay.

Refer to the document Event Booking Conditions for Terms and Conditions.

Sub-Groups of Retirees Club and Employee Club

Rambling

It is hoped to organise occasional rambles with options so that participants can choose a length of walk to suit them.

Please contact Terry King, terryaking@hotmail.com for more information.

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IBM Retirees Technology Group

The IBM Tech Club meets using the Zoom video conferencing platform at 11.00 on the third Friday of each month. The club is a place where you can talk to IBM folk about matters technical. For example, help or advice on buying or using computers, smart phones,touch pads; engineering, electronics, wifi, bluetooth, cryptography, bitcoin, using computers to making movies, songs or musical works, best software, streaming, the internet, photography, diy, and anything else about the modern world you would like to understand better.

Apart from the technical discussion we try to have a talk by a club member at each meeting. This depends very much on members volunteering to prepare and show something they are interested in.

At 11 o’clock on the day of the meeting click on the link below. It should take you straight into the meeting.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88338135221?pwd=eFYyUTdKZjRUSlR4V0RqZmFYMmlCQT09

If you need help with Zoom contact John Rickman (rickman@argonet.co.uk) in good time before the meeting.