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London Wikimedia Meetup Number 130

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Date and time: Sunday 13 May 2018 — 13:00 onwards

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Location: Penderel's Oak Pub, Holborn, London WC1

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Attending

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Add your name to the list by adding a hash and four tildes like this:

# ~~~~

People of all ages and all Wikimedia projects are welcome. Complete newbies also welcome!

Please also invite any London Wikimedia people you know (or have had wiki dealings with) – spread the word!

May be attending

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Interested but not attending

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  • I've always wanted to come to a London meetup, but Sundays are never really convenient for me. Has it ever been considered to have the meeting on a weekday evening, even as a one-off? Thanks. Seaweed (talk) 12:15, 23 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    @Seaweed: We did have a series of weekday evening meets at Waitrose Café Canary Wharf, but they sort of fizzled out (despite being one of the closest I didn't always go, so partly my fault). There have also been a couple of one-off weekday evening meets, usually when someone is visiting from foreign parts and wants to meet, but I think the last one of those was early 2017. No reason not to do it again though - get some expressions of interest, work out a convenient time and venue and publicise it. Thryduulf (talk: meta · en.wp · wikidata) 02:43, 5 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    @Seaweed: The last non-Sunday (Central) London meetup was London Wikimedia Meetup Number 106, on Tuesday 17 May 2016. The last East London meetup was East London Wikimedia Meetup Number 8, on Tuesday 25 October 2016. --Redrose64 (talk; at English Wikipedia) 07:01, 6 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks for the replies. Over the years I've occasionally looked at the London meetup page, so I must have missed that one in 2016. I'll keep a more active interest in future meetups. Hopefully there'll be another weekday one at some point. Seaweed (talk) 12:58, 8 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Sorry, out of the country this month. Mccapra (talk) 00:41, 5 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Weekends are almost always booked up for me, a meet during the week would be much more likely. I'm also not comfortable with the presumption that drinking alcohol is "normal", so it's a pity that for the last couple of years the London meets have defaulted to weekend + pub, with virtually no alternatives apart from the odd editathon. -- (talk) 12:59, 6 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    @: I certainly agree with you about any presumption of drinking alcohol, however I am not sure that is a big issue here. I made sure that I found a non-alcohol venue for the East London Meetups and also made sure they were not at the weekend and not in Central London. I organised eight of these events, but then ran out of steam when I had all sorts of things to do following the death of my mother. During the year or so I ran these, I was interested to see whether anyone else would trouble themselves to organise other parallel events. I made sure the the venue was convenient for me as there was no-one else to share the commitment of making sure the events happened. (In fact I missed no 6 as I was away for Easter.) Perhaps this a situation where our old motto Be bold is relevant: it is up to us to make things happen. I have considered restarting the East London Meetups, but I decided to wait and see whether anyone else would get something going. In that respect I would advise:
    1. make it local and convenient for yourself
    2. make it weekday evening
    3. make it a non-alcohol venue
    In the meantime I would avoid changing the Sunday pub lunch format at a well-established venue, as we know this has proved to be viable. Thanks for raising the topic. Leutha (talk) 17:06, 10 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    @: I don't know if you're familiar with Wetherspoons establishments, but they're not your average pub. In particular, they're family-friendly, and nobody objects if you buy nothing but soft drinks. They also have an offer on coffee or tea - you pay around £1.20-£1.75 (depending on the establishment) for the first cup - and refills are free of charge, as often as you like, for the rest of the day. Much cheaper than Costa, Starbucks, etc. --Redrose64 (talk; at English Wikipedia) 17:55, 11 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    Re-notifying because it failed first time. --Redrose64 (talk; at English Wikipedia) 21:18, 16 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • What sort of time does it usually finish? I am out of town until afternoon but I have been meaning to drop in. Mramoeba (talk) 20:44, 7 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    5/6 pm. Philafrenzy (talk) 15:29, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Once again I'm working on Sunday. --Redrose64 (talk; at English Wikipedia) 17:56, 11 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    sorry again. Whispyhistory (talk) 21:50, 12 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

About the meetup

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The Penderel's Oak in Holborn
Map
Location of The Penderel's Oak

London meetups are generally casual social events where we...

  • Drink coffee, beer, tea and some of us have Sunday brunch. Sunday roasts are no longer offered but they do a reasonable pizza now and have a range of other snacks and dishes.
  • Welcome guests from around the world and other groups which meet there
  • Chat about Wikimedia or any other topics
  • Experienced Wikimedians help out new editors and share experiences about anything from copyright to editing tools.

You can expect to meet some very keen Wikimedians; however, this is also an open invite for anyone interested in finding out more about Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects such as Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata, and Wikisource.

New and prospective editors are also very welcome.

The pub is quite quiet and family-friendly on a Sunday lunchtime, so younger Wikimedians will also feel welcome and safe. Alcohol consumption is not compulsory!

Disabled access

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The pub has an accessible loo on the ground floor. There are some sections of the pub that are only accessible by steps, but we always meet in the main step free section, usually opposite the main doors.

Location: Penderel's Oak

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The Penderel's Oak is a Wetherspoons pub in Holborn.
Address: 283-288 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7HP (OpenStreetMap) (Google Maps)

It's easy to find us – we're usually the crowd with several laptops on the large tables straight ahead of you when you enter the pub. If not, then look for a tabletop Wikimedia/Wikipedia poster and laptops with Wikipedia stickers on them. Wikimania t-shirts can also be a good clue.

Getting there

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Central line
 
Chancery Lane 0.2 miles

(350 m)

Central line
Piccadilly line
Holborn
Circle line
Hammersmith & City line
Metropolitan line

Elizabeth line

Farringdon 0.5 miles

(800 m)

Circle line

District line

Temple

The Penderel's Oak is between Holborn tube station and Chancery Lane tube station. Farringdon station and Temple tube station are not too far. The pub is also within walking distance of Waterloo railway station (1.3 miles; 2 km), St Pancras railway station (1.2 miles; 1.9 km) and Kings Cross.

Several bus routes also go directly to Holborn station; if travelling from Waterloo, it is quicker to travel by bus than by tube.

Bike hire (TfL scheme) is in Red Lion Street, just opposite the pub.

Visit the TfL Journey Planner for more information about your fastest route.

Back-up plan

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In the rare event of a kitchen closure or another problem at the Penderel's Oak, the meetup will be relocated to the Shakespeare's Head – another Wetherspoons pub located nearby. To get there from the Penderel's Oak, when exiting onto the street turn left, then when walking past Holborn tube station turn left again down Kingsway, and after a short walk the pub will be found on the left-hand side.