Cambridge Industrial Archaeology Society leads the way

In March this year many of our Affiliated Societies decided, quite reasonably, that they were unable to run their usual style of events and shut down their programmes with the thought “we’ll just ride this out for the time being and resume in the Autumn when we get back to normal”.

Well, Autumn has arrived and with it comes the much talked about ‘second wave’ of infections in the UK and the consequent restrictions which could very well be in place ‘for six months’ according to government.

So are our Affiliated Societies going to just lie dormant for 12 months? Are they just hoping that things will ‘get back to normal’ for next April? Will they still exist after a year of doing nothing?

I believe it’s time for our Affiliated Societies to think again. I think we should not be looking back to the ‘old normal’ but rather looking forward to a ‘new normal’.

Take your lead from the CIAS which has refused to be daunted by Covid-19 and is working around the restrictions to publish a schedule of events for this Autumn. See the Events Diary for details.

Of course these are online ‘webinars’ but these must be familiar to you all by now. Haven’t the majority of you been using ‘Zoom’ (or similar) to converse with your friends and families, doing online quizzes etc. during the last six months?

Technically it is not difficult to do. When I set up my first Zoom meeting I was amazed how easy it was and I know many other non-technical people who have found the same thing.

The cost is small – typically far less than the cost of hiring a hall for an evening.

You should give it a try.

( And advertise it on the AIA Events Diary )

Please contact me if you need more information or help with setting up online seminars webmaster@industrial-archaeology.org