Organised as an online event last year because of the pandemic, the RISC OS London Show is returning to the physical world this year, and will take place on Saturday, 30th October, at its customary venue:
St Giles Hotel,
Feltham,
TW14 9AD.
The doors will be open to the public from 11:00am until 5:00pm, with an entry fee of £5.00 for adults – under-16s can get in for free.
Please note that there will be hand sanitising stations throughout the venue, and both visitors and exhibitors will be encouraged to wear masks while in the show rooms (unless you have an exemption).
It has been some eighteen months since the last in-person RISC OS Show in the UK, so this is the first chance in that time to talk directly to developers and find out what they’ve been up to, catch up with old friends – and perhaps make some new ones.
One potential new friend for everyone who comes to the show is Gavin Smith. Having taken over as Archive Magazine’s editor, many people will have spoken to him by email, but this will be his first show, and therefore the first opportunity for people to speak to him in person. Gavin will have the latest issue with him for subscribers to collect – and if you aren’t a subscriber, to collect when you take out your brand new subscription!
As well as Archive, on-off-on-off-under-new-management PDF magazine Drag ‘n Drop will also have a presence; Christopher Dewhurst will be on-hand, with the latest issues available to buy on USB flash drive, as well as CDs and books available.
As noted in another post, R-Comp’s presence will be a little different this year with Andrew and Steph remaining in Cheshire, but there will still be an R-Comp stand, with Richard Brown acting on their behalf (and look out for Alan Wrigley and Andrew Pullan floating around on the day as well). And, subject to the right incantations being uttered on the day – there may be a suitable receptacle on another stand for blood offerings – there could be a theatre presentation delivered remotely by Andrew R.
Richard Brown will also be representing his own company, Orpheus Internet, and his joint venture with Andrew Rawnsley, RISC OS Developments, with the latest news on the browser project, new internet stack, and more.
As well as existing products in their range, RISCOSbits’ Andy Marks will be at the show with news of some major new developments – including a Pi4-based Lapdock, and a collaboration project – details of which are currently under wraps – that will benefit both RISC OS and Linux users.
Do you have any old Acorn software – BBC or Archimedes – that might be in need of preservation? Paul Emerton will be running a service to do precisely that; bring those discs along, and he’ll image them while you wait.
If you’re a RISC OS gamer, you will be well looked after, with a number of exhibitors catering to your needs – the first of which is Cameron Cawley, who will be demonstrating the latest port of ScummVM, a system that allows quite a number of graphical ‘point and click’ adventures written for other platforms to be played on RISC OS.
AMCOG Games will also be present, with yet another new title from Tony Bartram, this time for your halloween enjoyment – the Haunted Tower Hotel. And as well as Tony’s own new game, you’ll also have the opportunity to play another new title on his stand – Mamie’s House, another ghostly game, this time from Rick Murray.
Rick’s game will also be available to play on the Soft Rock Software stand, along with the version of Escape from Exeria released at the virtual Wakefield Show in April – and, depending how things progress (which is very slowly at the moment, unfortunately), you might have the opportunity to see another new game in its early stages: Catacombs of the Unforgiven.
Members of the Midlands User Group will be at the show to discuss their plans for a possible resurrection of the Midlands Midsummer MUG Show as a virtual event in 2022.
If you make use of emulator RPCEmu, you will be able to get a sneak peak at a couple of new, advanced features currently under development.
And if you like the idea of becoming a super-villain, controlling robots as a means to realise your nefarious dreams, you could always pop along to the Riscy Robots stand. Doing so won’t help you make your evil dreams come true, but you could try your hand at controlling a robot – and if you’re good enough, you could even win one to take home!
Finally, a physical show wouldn’t be complete without an opportunity to support a good cause – so there will, of course, be a charity stand selling off donated hardware, software, books, and so on to raise money in aid of Combat Stress. Bring along some old Acorn kit to donate it, and some cash to pick up a bargain.
If you’re travelling to the show by train, you can now avoid any need to cross the road: there is a new exit from the station at the front of platform 1, leading to a path under the road and up a ramp emerging next to the hotel.
For anyone planning to stay overnight in the hotel, don’t forget to use the promo code ROUGOL when making a booking via the St Giles Hotel website to enjoy a discounted rate.
Lubrication will be available from the hotel bar, which will be open all day – and for sustenance of a more solid kind, there’s a new cafe across the road called Porto Madeira, from which hot or cold sandwiches, all day full English breakfasts, and Portuguese meals are all available.
All day full English breakfasts? Can I have the Soft Rock Software stand located there, please?
