Nominee – Jim McCann

What would I like to see

I would like to point out that the community is already pretty fantastic so any changes/improvements would have to maintain the already supportive nature of the group, both nationally and internationally. I have heard from numerous builders that the club and its members have helped with mental health issues in significant ways.

I would like to see a more widely published network of help with builds. I know this network already exists and I know who I would call with various problems but new people don’t necessarily know this. Volunteers that people could talk things through with, like Mark set up in person at DBUK, published on the site I think would be useful (without individual contact details being posted).

Increase the charity presence for events, we always seem a little nervous to push the charity arm of the club, I believe, correct me if I’m wrong, but the monies raised for charity come mostly from within the club itself rather than from public events, it would be nice to see more active ways to collect at public events (Within the LFL guidelines)

Transparency from the committee, I don’t think that people have much knowledge as to the amount of effort that is put in behind the scenes, making this more public would hopefully increase the amount of volunteering for events and hopefully bring the club together as a whole.

Trying to push the PLI, I see a lot of builder profiles that have ‘PLI unpaid” on their profile, this can only hurt the club financially and if some people don’t pay then others will just see this as an excuse to not bother either. Perhaps published accounts annually that would show how much charity money has been raised and the amount of unpaid PLI that could have gone in that pot.

The creation of a document that would state our minimum requirements from event organisers for our presence, nothing to demanding, but a work in progress that could be added to as needed, simple things like accessibility for loading, table needs based on size of space etc etc. This would allow people trying to arrange new events a jumping off point when communicating with events organisers.

What can I bring that may benefit the community?

Passion for the community and the desire to see it thrive and grow above everything else, my journey has been one I have taken with my son (14) and I want to make sure that this opportunity is available to him as an adult and for his future family. A desire for inclusion of all droid builders, families etc, increasing diversity and championing the next generation of builders.

I can offer assistance to the already great work the committee does, lighten the load and make things easier for the guys that do the heavy lifting. I don’t mind grunt work. I can be organised and task orientated. Hopefully bringing some fresh ideas.

I have experience with various committee roles, including treasurer, events officer, international relations, chairman and president of The Round Table, a large, international club with a large charitable arm and I’m sure many of the traits I learned for that could be useful for us as well. I run my own businesses and can manage people and deal with other companies.

My droid building career

My droid building career started on Sunday 22nd April 2018 after meeting the Droidbuilders at Sci-Fi Scarborough, a long conversation with Darren and a much shorter conversation with my then 7 year old son as to whether we could build one as a father/son project and a plan was hatched. A conversation in the pub later with a friend who also then became a Droidbuilder, and plans escalated and the decision to build him out of steel was made.

This prompted a trip to R2UK in August 2018 and meeting the rest of the lunatics involved in this activity cemented the desire to become part of it.

Bring on Sci Fi Scarborough 2019 and I get attend as a Droidbuilder with a scratch built steel frame to display. This of course resulted in light-hearted ribbing and ridicule for my material choices from 2 prominent builders with whom I would later have over for a cup of tea.

Then R2UK 2019 where I saw my now 8 year old climbing and riding on someone else’s R2, after initial panic, I see Mark Leigh laughing his ass off at my reaction and happily driving Alex round the event (still have the video). This event also launched Tim Berry’s 39.1%ers to the world, being part of that first race was great fun, even if it was Alex that demanded to drive in the final, I think we came 5th.

From there things escalated, I went on courses to learn how to solder and went to night classes to learn how to weld, I learned basic programming, painting, 3d printing, machining and all the other skills that can be applied to building a droid (although time management and estimation of how long a task will take in the real world still eludes me). And now I have a “finished” R2D2, along with all the other droids I built on the way. R2 got his first MOT from Darren a week before his first event which happened to be a wedding, that was an amazing but nerve racking experience.

And after that comes the imposter syndrome, I was asked (told ) to become an MOT officer, I’m getting asked more questions than I’m asking others and wondering when I became a seasoned builder that people would want to get advise from, then I look at Alex now and his first picture with R2 and realise that over 7 years have passed (And about 3 feet in height)

I still very much enjoy the building and the community, my sights now set on a BB8 and maybe one day finish all the other projects I started along the way. The journey has been one I have been able to take with my son, has generated amazing friendships, met childhood (and adulthood) heroes and been to events that I wouldn’t have otherwise.