[Fsuk-manchester] Happy New Year

[Lucy]

It's been an eventful and productive year for Manchester Free
Software. We've been busy establishing the group and getting
Manchester Free Software known across Manchester.

It has been our first full year and during that time we've created the
positions of chairperson and treasurer, held regular admin meetings
and decided upon a mission statement.

We've held regular talks from people involved in free software,
including Richard Stallman himself, which was attended by over 300
people. We attended LugRadioLive and got out into the community with
the Software Freedom Day event. We established a free software
computer cluster at the Marbella Cafe, and while they are currently
closed and looking for new premises, we expect them to be back soon.
We've also started to get involved with the new Arcspace community
project.

In 2009, we have lots more exciting talks planned, starting with Ian
Lynch from The Learning Machine Ltd (http://theingots.org) in January.
And as well as the ongoing projects we have FOSDEM, LinuxTag and
LugRadioLive to look forward to.

Finally, I want to say a huge thanks to everyone involved in
Manchester Free Software. A lot of work takes place behind the scenes
and a number of people put in a lot of time and energy in the name of
free software without so much as a free beer for reward.

So, stay tuned for free software events in 2009 and I look forward to
seeing people at our next talk (or come along to the admin meeting if
you want to help out).

Lucy