As well as shows like RISC OS North, a good way to support the operating system is to attend your local user group – and a few will be represented at this event:
- The Wakefield RISC OS User Group (WROCC) is a particularly notable one. It was WROCC that organised the Wakefield Show and, with it not possible this year for them to run it again, they have chosen to sponsor this event. They hold regular online meetings (so being local to them isn’t an issue), with guest speakers, and publish a PDF magazine with club and general RISC OS news and features.
- Another group that holds regular online meetings with guest speakers is the RISC OS User Group of London (ROUGOL) – but these meetings are usually hybrid; you don’t need to be local to attend online, but if you are local, you can attend in person.
- A smaller group that holds more occasional meetings, often online, is the Midlands User Group (MUG).
Those groups will have their own stands, but if you’re local to Bristol or Southampton there will be some degree of representation for groups in these areas as well. Either Vince Hudd (Soft Rock Software) or Chris Hall will be able to tell you more about Bristol RISC OS Users (BRU), and Andrew Conroy (Owl-Art) will be able to tell you more about the Southampton RISC OS User Group (SROUG).
And if there isn’t a group local to you, why not try to find out if there are other users in your area, and arrange a meet up? You don’t have to make it a formal arrangement, with guest speakers (though if you can get any, that’s great) – you can just gather around a table in a pub for a natter and a pint.