Calling all Yorkshire folk.

TyoSolo

A number of Brickset members based in Yorkshire have formed a LEGO User Group for Yorkshire. Dubbed Brickshire: The Yorkshire LUG (or just Brickshire for short), we officially launched our website today, at www.brickshire.org.uk.

So if you're based in or around Yorkshire (or based anywhere else and have an unquenched desire to attend meet-ups and events held in Yorkshire), we'd like to get to know you.

We have a small membership at the moment, standing at 13 members, but we are all passionate about LEGO, and we have met several times in an unofficial capacity. We also have our first event planned, which will be at the Northern Modelling and Engeneering Exhibition in Harrogate, North Yorkshire from the 10th until the 12th of May.

I look forward to hearing from some of you in the near future.

Si_UKNZ

Just out of interest, why not use Brickish? Is brickish disbanding or something?

Huw

I think a lot of newcomers to the BA feel disenfranchised, frustrated with its clique-ness, that it doesn't meet their needs and expectations, and that's something the BA needs to address if it wants to maintain its position as the main UK club.

bricksan

What Huw said plus without repeating over and over again why, as a local LUG we have already met up 6/7 in past few months and is easier to arrange local meets and events without having to travel long distances for events etc.

The people who set this up are all good friends due to all being in touching distances and for us was an important factor as it makes everything easier if you can just nip to each others house to go over event details something you can't do with a national one.

Si_UKNZ

Do you need something as formal as a Lug to do that?

Legoboy

^ I agree. For just a few mates to meet up, does it need to be formalised?

On a regular basis (fortnightly), I meet up with two or three others to moc. Personally, I wouldn't have thought I needed to start a new LUG just to pop over to my mates house for an evening to have pizza and beers.

bricksan

That is down to your groups. This is want we wanted to do so we did it, the majority of our founder members were not Brickish members and did not want to join it for numerous reasons such as viewing it as a old boys club that have a clique, too many internal politics, the outdated website and restriction with payments and it is viewed by many as a more southern based LUG. The list can go on and we all preferred starting our own county based LUG and doing it our own way and not having to answer or sort things with people on the other side of the country.

Personally I am not a fan of traveling long distances to display so the fact that our events/displays will be in Yorkshire makes it more appealing to me and others to actual display.

You can carry on asking why but the fact is the LUG is official and is here to stay.

Si_UKNZ

Since you've set up a new group, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask what you're trying to achieve. I'm actually genuinely interested, so no need to get nowty about it.

Legoboy

bricksan said:

You can carry on asking why but the fact is the LUG is official and is here to stay.

I'm not sure there's a valid reason for taking that approach with me. Si merely asked a valid question, a non-critical question, one of which I might have asked myself. We simply hadn't been educated as to what the new 'official' LUG's purpose was.

@TyoSolo's OP suggested a 'group of mates' that already met up on a semi-regular basis were to meet up and enjoy LEGO. That's great - I do it all the time! We simply couldn't see the reason for wanting to start a new LUG just for that. I know there are dozen's of smaller groups of mates within Brickish that meet up on a regular basis. They haven't however felt the need to start up a new LUG. They simply just get on with it.

Your post perhaps tells a different story. It's clearly a very passionate topic to you, so I won't pry any further. Whereas I am a Brickish member, I'm just happy to meet up with my mates and build.

bricksan said:

Personally I am not a fan of traveling long distances.

See you in Sheffield, Yorkshire for the Brickish AGM next month?

bricksan

I will let others explain our views as they are probably better than me in explaining it without getting hot headed like I can.

For me Brickish isn't want I want in a LUG and I feel it is set in its ways, I will stay a member but I felt rather that trying to fix what is broken with it and at same time trying to alter the views of those long term members very much set in their ways, I felt a new local LUG was the way to go and with the amount of applications today I feel it was the right decision to do.

I also find that everyone in Brickshire are very like minded people, yet I feel I easily clash with people in Brickish and hardly contribute as in real life I would personally have nothing to do with me. Again this is my personal view only.

As for attending the AGM, I will be there at some point to drop off a model but doubtful I will hang around for anything other that the meeting part of it.

TyoSolo

@Si_Dorking_Surrey_UK you have a valid question, and the answer is no, you don't need something as formal as a LUG, but nor is there any reason not to set one up if that is what is right for your group.

I would encourage any member of Brickset/Brickish/FreeLUG, etc. to do the same. If the infrastructure that is already available doesn't suit you, for example, you don't drive, so find it hard to travel all over the country, or spend all your working week travelling all over the country, and don't want to do it in your spare time, then find like minded people, and set up your own group.

Our website (brickshire.org.uk) and constitution gives a good flavour of what we're about and what we aim to achieve, so I would direct you there in the first instance to learn more about us.

I am still a member of Brickish, and intend to continue to be a member, but some of Brickshire's members had no desire to join Brickish, for their own reasons, whatever they may be, but did want to have a formal arrangement/ brand for displaying their models in their home county. That's why Brickshire was formed.

I'm happy to field any questions you may have about Brickshire as an organisation, but there is little point in trying to draw comparisons with any other LUG.


All the best

Rich

woodstock

Hi, I'm Andy and a founding member of Brickshire. Lego itself recognises an official LUG with 10 members or more so the question is why not create our own? Please understand we are a little upset as we just can't understand why we have received negativity and bad feedback when we are non profit and just here to have fun.

I never wanted to join a group as big as Brickish that is based so far away, run by people I've never met and that I had no imput and control over. Creating our own LUG meant that we could create our own name, design our own logo and website and do it with people that we know and regularly meet with.

We look forward to the future to meet other enthusiasts, gain new members and create new friendships. We can and will organise and join events that are closer to us that we can create and control. We are not against any other formed or future LUG's and look forward to maybe displaying futhur afield as a joint effort to show the public with a few little plastic bricks how awesome we all can be.

Si_UKNZ

Thanks, that answers much of what I was wondering about. Obviously I'm not in Yorkshire, but I'm just interested, as I dont know much about LUGs. For example, I thought LUGs only happened nationally, so I was surprised to see a regional one.

Didn't realise you could be in two LUGs either, so I guess it's not a direct choice for people between this and Brickish, as someone can be in both?

I think the reason you might have got some negativity is that the initial 'reason' of meeting locally doesnt make any sense when the Brickish AGM is in Yorkshire and when you can meet informally anyway. What you just said does make more sense, 'displaying under a brand that is distinctly yorkshire', 'more control over the groups destiny' and 'better website' seem to be the main benefits of the smaller LUG. Fair enough really.

tedward

More power to you guys.

Here in Canada we have a mix of city-LUGs and Provincial-LUGs. (No point in a National-LUG like Brickish when many of our Provinces are larger than the entire UK.) From my perspective it has always seemed odd that you don't organize by city or county but perhaps that is simply the evolution based on numbers. I would look at the formation of "local" LUGs as a positive step that shows how much the hobby has grown.

I know I am an outsider but perhaps the Brickish Association could consider becoming more of a coordinating group and help local LUGs to form and come together at big "national" shows/conventions?

cheshirecat

As a non-brickish member I can totally see why smaller, more regional LUGs are more than a little desirable. And certainly it seems that many of the localised LUGs in the US appear (at least) to be much more active than Brickish. The biggest difference I would say is the accessibility. Brickish to an outsider just doesnt come across as very accessible. Partly thats because its a little clique~ish but its almost certainly partly due to its size, its just too distant.

It seems like this group may have started out as a small group meeting regularly like many others, but it seems clear that there's a desire to expand that and to be a much more accessible LUG - that has to be a good thing and hopefully will encourage a good take up with a younger crowd?

Overall I think its great and hope its a great success - given the impression of pro-activeness I've got of the founders I suspect it will be. Hopefully it may also encourage Brickish to change its ways - more of an umbrella for active (accessible) regional groups would seem much more appropriate given the popularity of LEGO amongst young and old alike!

My only negative is the name. Brickshire could relate to about 90% of England or more, implies Berkshire more than Yorkshire (even though I'm much closer to / aware of Yorkshire than Berkshrie) and has a strong hobbit feeling to it. To be honest I think the name is appalling - but then can't think of a better one. ;)

Edit - actually, i even think "YorBricks" is better, and even that's not great!

TyoSolo

^ I suggested LUGY, but the members voted. I've grown to like it though.

tedward

cheshirecat said:

... i even think "YorBricks" is better...

With a viking mascot from old "YorBrick". :)

cheshirecat

I like lugy. Building on the above you could even have loveYORbricks or something.

I get that it's been agreed, but a name isn't just a name, even for something as simple and minor as a lug. It says something about it. My impression is that the focus on your lug is local and fun. The name suggests neither and in many ways the opposite. A huge swathe of nonspecific countryside and a slightly old fashioned feel, not dissimilar to brickish.

richo

I quite like the name.

mr_benn

Crikey. Next they'll be demanding their own brand of tea, and their own broadband....

Actually, I think that the advent of a new LUG in the UK can never be a bad thing - from what I've read here, there will be no detriment to Brickish in terms of numbers of members, the voice of the community gets louder in the UK and hopefully we could see some events being a collaboration of LUGs and getting more people showing off their stuff :)

bricksan

I wanted Lugy or slug

Try001

Well it might not need to be formalised but if we are an official LUG then we are available publicly! I cannot thank brickset enough for making me part of a community of Lego fans! And brickshire is just an extension of this but it gives us purpose. And organisation. It's not a competition. We reviewed the possibility of forming a lug and if people had the ability, time and notion to devote to it and we decided we did so we have! Because we wanted to! That's the best reason to do anything! It's good to do things that you want to do rather than need to do! So if your an adult and want to join go to the website and have alook at what it entails!

CCC

I live in Yorkshire, but I wasn't born (or educated) here. Would I qualify, or do you have similar rules to the YCCC of old? :-)

I say go for it. If it gets you recognition that otherwise you wouldn't be able to get (and allowed to do displays, purchase bulk, etc) then it's all good.

TyoSolo

@CCC we're open to all, but our base of operations (so to speak) is in Yorkshire.

hantot

Does anyone know if Lego will start to "tighten up" the AFOL discount days to LUG members only in the future?

bricksan

If they follow the example of the stuff they are doing in the USA then yes. For afol days you need a afol sticker on your VIP card and these are only given to lugs, I was told to expect news on this soon, so will be in a position to say 100%.