There is a company lurking behind Hackspace called Bristol Open Technology Lab and it is a company limited by guarantee (no 07071572), known fondly to many as BotLab.

The company was set up in 2009 by our late friend Peter Ferne as a formal vehicle to allow both the Hackspace and other projects to operate formally, in terms of renting spaces, buying equipment and acquiring funding. Pete himself and Mike Harris, who at the time was still involved in Dorkbot Bristol were the initial directors.

Since Pete's untimely death in 2010, Mike has acted as a caretaker director of BotLab and the one legally responsible for preparing the accounts, paying the rent and sending the forms to Companies House.

Now, over two years from it's formation, it's time to move things on, and to do this David H, Tarim and Mike are proposing that we legally turn BotLab into a co-operative entity with members and a management committee.

Note that membership of Hackspace is not the same as membership of BotLab. Membership of the co-operative means you have a say in how it and the Hackspace are run. Therefore everyone involved to become a member of the co-operative. There is a nominal one pound one-off membership fee for joining Botlab, which also amounts to your legal financial liability.

In order to do this, we need to call a meeting to adopt a new constitution, sign everyone up as members, and then elect the Directors, who will act as the board of the co-operative for a year; and the roles of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.

We are having a meeting at 7PM ON THURSDAY 16TH FEBRUARY 2012 and everyone involved is kindly requested that they attend. The objectives of the meeting will be to:

• Run through what BotLab is and how it relates to Hackspace.
• Adopt the new constitution.
• Get everyone signed up as members.
• Review our financial position.
• Elect new directors and the roles of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.
• Drink a BotLab beer with fellow Botlabbers/Hackspacers.

The meeting will legally be two meetings in one, back-to-back:

• An extraordinary general meeting to adopt the new constitution, followed by
• An annual general meeting to appoint the various roles and approve the accounts.

21 Botlab members meet for the first time to change Botlab to have a co-operative constitution and elect a committee of:

• Anton Francis
• Barney Livingstone
• David Wyatt
• Matt Venn
• Tarim

Many thanks to everyone who came for your support.