Bids, against the final version of the venue requirements, must be posted to the WordCamp UK mailing list by 1200 (midday) on Thursday 30 September 2010 at the latest.

The decision on the winning bid will be subsequently made by the mailing list.

This event, planned to be held on the weekend of 16-17 July 2011, will be the follow-up to WordCamp UK 2010.

Please note the final name of the event may be subject to change.

WordCamp UK 2010 took place in Manchester on the weekend of 17-18 July.

There’s numerous reports of what transpired, and the consensus was this was a successful and positive couple of days discussing and debating all things WordPress.

As the co-ordinator of WordCamp UK I’d like to thank all contributors – including:

• Everyone who led sessions
• Chi-chi for all the hard work on venue organisation
• Manchester Metropolitan University Business School for the venue
• All our sponsors and microsponsors
• Mike Little for dealing with all the financial issues
• Jonathan Harris for the graphics
• Orange Coconut for recording sessions
• Richard Tape for finalising arrangements at Factory for the Saturday social
• The WordCamp UK Core Group
• And last (but not least!) for everyone who attended

Those present will be aware of the nature of the discussion towards the end of the final Sunday session about the naming of the 2011 event.

Since the weekend, the feedback from participants is that we build on the experience and enthusiasm, built up over three years, and start planning for the follow-up to WordCamp UK 2010, and come back to the question of the name of the event later.

Therefore the Core Group have issued the draft 2011 venue requirements, for which feedback is invited by 1000 (am) on Thursday 19 August 2010 at the latest on the WordCamp UK mailing list.

After that it is intended to invite bids against the final form of the requirements.

Because a number of administrative processes have been put in place over the past year, we will have longer timescales on everything that follows from setting the venue – such as arranging sponsors, allowing attendees to get cheaper advance travel tickets and an extended ticket sales window.

Excellent news!

Many thanks to the various organisers of the brilliantly run campaign to oppose the Corporation’s management proposals to close the station.

I attended Kingston Beer Festival on the evening of 25 June 2010.

Here’s the drinks I sampled, along with marks out of ten:

• Castle Rock Black Gold – 9/10
• Grafton Lady Mary – 6/10
• Marble Pint – 7/10
• Welton’s Bobby’s Best – 9/10
• Gwynt Y Doraig Black Dragon Cider – 9/10

Tickets for the third WordCamp UK, to be held in Manchester on the weekend of 17-18 July 2010, are now on sale.

Discount Early Bird tickets at £20 will be available until 2355 on Sunday 4 July 2010.

This year there are four parallel tracks, designed to cater for all WordPress publishers, designers and developers.

I attended the second demonstration protesting against the proposed closure of BBC 6 Music in the West End on Saturday 22 May 2010.

The day started at midday at the well attended demonstration, outside Broadcasting House, with a range of speakers and performers, expertly compared by Jon Holmes.

Later at 229 Great Portland Street there was a fantastic music gig connected with the demo. Artists included Eliza Carthy, Mirror Kicks, Magic Numbers (pictured) and Doyle & the Four Fathers.

The public consultation, carried out by the BBC Trust, has now closed.

The Trust plans to publish provisional conclusions this summer, and a final strategy in the autumn.

I haven’t seen anyone saying that 6 Music should close, and if the Trust propose to close the station, I’d be very interested to see their arguments.

I spent the weekend of 15-16 May 2010 attending this year’s BECTU Annual Conference in Bournemouth.

I prepared the slides for the Conference on Saturday 15 May, along with those for the BBC Divisional Conference the following day, which were expertly projected on the screen behind the stage area by the regular vision and sound team of Neil Denbow and Ross Hammond.

As well as the decisions taken by BECTU Branch delegates at the Annual Conference, the event was also noteworthy from my perspective for three other reasons:

• This was the final Conference for the organiser, David Cormack, who retires from the union as Administrative Officer after 31 years service at BECTU and it’s predecessor unions. He has ensured there has been an effective administrative core to the union’s activities. Many thanks to David for the advice he’s given me over the years, and good luck in all future enterprises.
• It was also the final Conference, as BECTU President, for Tony Lennon. He has chosen not to stand for re-election as President this year, following 18 years in the position, in view of his retirement from the BBC. Tony has ensured BECTU’s message has been communicated far and wide using every available medium. Tony and I instigated the BECTU website in 1997, then one of the first union sites. In the subsequent years we developed the site and provided content until early 2009; in the early years sometimes to the bafflement of others who had not understood the long term significance of the web. I await Tony’s next career move with interest.
• The result of the 2010-2012 BECTU President election was announced at the close of Conference, with Christine Bond emerging as the winner. I predict Christine will prove to be a worthy successor to Tony, and the website I built for the election campaign will provide a further potential channel of communication for the new President.

Following the union’s Divisional Conferences on the Sunday morning, a select number of delegates explored the real ale delights of The Goat and Tricycle pub.

Pictured by Mark Dimmock above is a rouges gallery of those attending Conference connected with my former Branch ESPG. They are Henry Gibson, Tony Thomas, Nick Carroll and Ken Southern.

At least three of them were last seen in the vicinity of Waterloo Rail Station on or about the afternoon of Monday 17 May 2010.

I attended OggCamp at The Black-E (above), in Liverpool, on the weekend of 1 and 2 May 2010.

During the event, which was part BarCamp and part panel discussions (pictured), I led a session about WordCamp UK on the Saturday afternoon.

On the Saturday evening an enjoyable social was held at Studio 2 at Parr Street, a short distance from Black-E.

Many thanks to the organisers, particularly Dan Lynch, who was involved in the panels, and Alan Pope, who gave a couple of interesting Ubuntu related sessions, and the sponsors for a great weekend.

On 29 April 2010 I attended the launch party for Orange Coconut, a new television post production company, founded by Nick Carroll and Gary Hewson.

For the evening The Bull was frequented by an assorted group of BBC-types and other broadcasting luminaries to celebrate Orange Coconut opening for business.

To support the company I’ve built a new site on a WordPress platform.

The basis of the site is to let the pictures do the talking – hence the liberal use of YouTube embedding!

The Palace of Westminster from the South Bank 0020 25 April 2010.