Hello @members,
Shortly after I first moved to London nearly 5 years ago I became involved in what we now know as South London Makerspace.
Back then the project was little more than a meeting in the back room of the Dogstar in Brixton, a lot of talk happened (no change there!) but nothing much happened, a few meet ups but the project became stagnant, it needed some lunatics to push it forwards to happen.
Countless meet ups, thousands of posts and hundreds of hours later, we’ve been through three spaces, seen hundreds of members through the doors, taken part in various events, spend loads of money and made an amazing resource for makers in South London.
I am incredibly proud to have co-founded this space and been a member and trustee through it’s formative years.
Occasionally people ask why I wanted to be involved and what I want to make when it is finished, but I have no answer. For me seeing this happen is what I wanted, if anything the most valuable thing is having a group of like minded people to call friends around me.
It’s been a great run, but I feel now that Makerspace is in a good place and members are starting to take ownership of the space, now is a good time to step down as trustee of South London Makerspace and let someone else hold the fort for a while.
I’ve thought about this a lot, and talked to various people about this, and I feel it’s the right decision for me now.
Being a trustee is somewhat of a thankless task, members hold the trustees to incredibly high standards, often without considering the pressures and realities of what it is to be a trustee, from the legal responsibilities of running the business, to signing contracts, managing finances, and having ultimate responsibility for accidents. There is a lot of responsibility on the plate of the trustees, and it is often very easy for people to criticise the trustees or stand back and leave them to pick up the pieces when things go wrong.
I am a worrier, I always have been and I can’t help it. Contrary to what some might believe I am not a trustee for some sense of power, I genuinely am involved because I want to see this happen, but now I feel that I can be of more use leading the various projects I also happen to be involved in and let someone more able to deal with the worry take over.
Being a trustee has never been about having control, and as we look to rewrite the articles of association in the coming months I imagine the role of trustee will be written to be more of an administrative caretaker role, than the leadership role it once might have been perceived as.
Thanks for all the gates, and I look forward to many more as one of those vocal members in future.
Kind Regards
Tom Lynch
p.s. My last official day as trustee will be the 30th June if @tomnewsom and @dermot accept this, however I’ll do my best to help with the transition where needed, we need more than two trustees.