Draft of the first LCS newsletter, edited by current Chair of the Society, Peter Byford.

Transcript :

LEO COMPUTERS
REUNION SOCIETY 
NEWSLETTER NO 1 - MARCH 95 

Temporary editor: 
Peter Byford. 
[Personal data removed]

We thought it was about time we kept in touch with our membership between Reunions and reported on the activities of your committee. 

The committee is concerned about the ad-hoc nature of our Society which, although encouraging the important informality of reunions, can cause problems about dealing with any "assets" that the Society has under its control. We are seeking to provide some formal structure to the Society and, in particular, the provision of better protection for its memorabllla. 

STATUS OF THE SOCIETY [struck through - 'change']
We are looking at ways of forming a trust or a small company without it causing us too many administration or financial problems. I would welcome any views on the best way to achieve this. 

SOCIETY'S MEMORABILIA 
We have a fair size collection of papers, photographs and some hardware which is currently looked after by our Secretary, Geoff Parry. Most of the collection was "given" to us by Gordon Collinson when the ICL Historical collection at Stevenage was closed. Since then members of the Society and others have given or loaned extra items. 

We have started negotiations with Reading Museum about loaning our memorabilia to them in return for it being properly catalogued and secured. The immediate problem is that our lack of status means that we cannot prove ownership and therefore the Museum could not accept the collection for legal reasons. We hope that once the status is clarified we can continue with this exercise. It may require us to get ICL and others to confirm our ownership/stewardship of the materials. 

You may ask "Why Reading Museum?" Partially because it provides easy access to the Society, and also ICL, as LEO's successor company, has a significant presence in Reading. Karen Hull, the Museum's Director is enthusiastic about providing displays which reflect Reading's position in England's Silicon Valley and is therefore keen to help us. We will keep you informed of progress. 

SOCIETY TIE/SCARF 
I was asked at the last Reunion if we could provide something for members of the Society. We have looked at Mugs but we are not convinced that this would be very popular. 

I have asked one of the design staff at Beaumont (Peritas) to come up with a design for a tie and a scarf. he is also getting some quotes which I will pass on. The design is likely to include a "Lion" and the LEO motif and we will try and use the blue that was used in most of Leo Computer's stationery. Again we would like to hear from you if you have any alternative ideas, 
Watch this space! 

THE COMPUTER CONSERVATION SOCIETY 
At long last the CCS are running a meeting about LEO. On Thursday, 18th May (11 am to 5pm) they are hokUng a meeting entltled "The LEO Story". I was glad to hear that it is being organised by Society members. John Aris is arranging it and the speakers include John Pinkerton, David Caminer, Frank Land, John Gosden and Peter Hermon. The venue is still to be announced. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend but If I will keep in touch with the organisers so please contact me if you would like to attend. 

LAST REUNION 
The last Reunion in September 1994 was, I believe, successful and enjoyed by the 150 who attended. We had two videos this time: the LEO fllm and a video which was actually a 1960 training film from the institute of Office management -It was a curiosity if a little heavy going in places. 

1994 was the 40th Anniversary of the establishment of LEO Computers Ltd and the Centenary of J.Lyons Ltd Leo's parent Company. To commemorate these events J.Lyons made a donation to the Society which went towards a drink for all attendees and we also had a free raffle for a rather splendid claret, appropriately named Chateau Leoville. 

NEXT REUNION 
It is a long way off but we are planning to run the next Reunion in April 1997. We would welcome ideas for any changes you would like to see. We will probably use the HAC again, but we always consider other venues so let us know if you would like to suggest an alternative. 

We will endeavour to make our name badges bigger and bolder next time, to cope with our generally failing eyesight! 

We are opening up membership to those working on LEO Customer machines. Please let us have details of anyone who you think we may not know about, and keep us posted of change of addresses please.

Provenance :
Donated to the LCS archive by Peter Byford.