About DARC

DARC (Derbyshire Acorn RISC Club) was founded in April 1996 by Mike Smith, a local vicar; and Barry Thompson, of Selective Computer Services; to provide a local forum where users of Acorn Computers could share hints and see demonstrations of new software and hardware.
Following the demise of Acorn, the club changed its name to Derbyshire Area RISC Club in April 2000, encompassing the new non-Acorn RISC OS machines.
With the decline in new RISC OS software releases, the focus of the club started to change; to cross-platform topics such as networking, alternative platforms (Linux, PDAs), and even Windows-only software (Photoshop Elements).
In light of these changes, the club changed its name in May 2004 to 'DARC Technology Club' (a press release about this is available here (39k PDF)).
In September 2008, the meeting venue was changed to Weston-on-Trent Village Hall.

The club was wound up in October 2021 due to declining interest and the Covid 19 pandemic.

Closing Statement from Chair

The DARC Technology Club has been a part of my life ever since I was invited to speak by Barry Thompson back in 2005 and never looked back. Sadly I have to reflect on the fact that after a quarter of a century, the DARC Technology Club is coming to an end, so all I can do is to look back with pride at the many achievements and successes along the way. The club was formed at a time when knowledge wasn't as easy to access as it is now, and it regularly featured cutting edge subjects, closely tied in with the development of Acorn computers.

Glancing through the list of meetings on the website [...] is akin to reading through a who's who of the most important figures in the history of Acorn computer and software developments. In later years, the remit was widened, and still we featured cutting edge subject matter - we were even semi-regulars on BBC Radio Derby for several months.

We always featured subject matter which we felt would be of interest first and foremost to our members, but invariably attracted visitors. As membership has declined, and the ability to find almost anything about anything on the Internet, all clubs have started to find it more difficult to keep going, and the recent (ongoing?) pandemic pretty much hammered in the final nail for many, ours included. However, we must never lose sight of the fact that the DARC Technology Club provided an amazing service - friendly, accessible experts across a whole gamut of fields.

The website will continue [...], and the mailing list will be available for those who wish to ask future questions or request assistance. I was proud to be elected Chairman for the first time many years ago, and it allowed me to become very aware of the superb structure and organisation of the committee, who have steered us through all of the highs and lows. I cannot mention everyone who served the club so well and with dedication and affection, but I feel I must thank Paul Mellor, Chris Dawson and Matt Cook - Paul and Chris seemed to have been there for ever, always dealing with the admin of the club and managing the finances with such finesse, and then when Paul stepped down as Secretary, Matt once again came to our rescue.

It's been an amazing journey, and life will be different in the future but I am proud and delighted to have been able to help in the running of such an excellent club. I wish you all the very best now and into whatever the future brings us.
[Bimal Jangra 09/11/2021]

Donation of Funds

In March 2022 the remaining club funds were donated to charity. The final statement from the club chair is available here (660k PDF).