Hi all, First up, sorry to those of you who don't engage with the LUG online in any way other than the mailing lists and perhaps were wondering what to make of the lack of any official announcements regarding the LUG - particularly when it comes to meetings. For those of you who are regularly on IRC and Discord then you may know some of this already, but keep reading as there are new bits! As you can imagine for most of 2020, the offices up at Keele were mostly deserted. For most of 2021 however, this was replaced with some very strict rules. These rules, combined with other factors, effectively made it very difficult to restart physical workshop meetings with any kind of guarantee of success.  It's been difficult to gauge exactly how we'd be permitted to re-open things when both company and government guidance we're being regularly updated. Additionally, there were concerns over entry rules and privacy which just seemed too hot a topic for the LUG politically. Ultimately out of an abundance of caution it just seemed safer to wait a bit long. For a lot of this time, the room we'd normally conduct our workshops has been used for the storage of excess furniture and given how it's primary purpose (a disaster recovery suite) didn't really apply during the COVID-19 lock downs, there was little point in keeping it functional or even COVID-19 secure. Additionally Keele University (who normally use the room for fundraising, every November each year) took the view (for both 2020/21) not to risk it with COVID-19 not completely subsided yet, but are eager to resume using it next year. Alongside restoring the room to it's functional state, we've been finishing some long planned upgrades such as gigabit networking for all desks, headsets, and other kit. Additionally, we've now got multiple webcams and a telepresence display that are tied into our Jitsi video conferencing so that people can now join in remotely.  We also now have a table in the middle of the room (since some cupboards have gone) which might be great for board games. Regarding meeting virtually, we did initially in 2020 have a fortnightly voice chat on Discord which attracted some regulars but not many. This eventually stopped and we started to use Jitsi for occasional video meetings, however, there are many in the group who understandably dislike webcams and only begrudgingly have tolerated them in the workplace. It's been really good to see more active LUG's like WolvesLUG thrive online and to share their activities with us, and additionally cross-post on the mailing lists. We plan to have in place, by Christmas, a schedule of workshops to cover at least the first 6 months of 2022 with the first workshop to be scheduled for late January. Please let us know if there are any topics you would like covering or would like to present and cover yourselves, and perhaps consider paying us a visit in 2022 as part of your New Year resolutions! Hopefully with 2020 and 2021 shortly behind us, we can all start a fresh and return to a version of normal life and the LUG can thrive, particularly in person, again :) However, that being said if there is adequate interest, I'd be happy to set up a social gathering around Christmas, COVID-19 permitting. Regards Richard -- LUGMaster Staffordshire Linux User Group Part of Function Office registered in England & Wales number 06745059 at Innovation Centre 3, University Drive, Keele, ST5 5NL.