Information about Ashbourne Sprint 2023
This issue will contain practical details relating to the Ashbourne Sprint in Derbyshire, UK 1-8 December 2023. This is in the process of being updated and the details will change over the coming two weeks.
Please also see these two related issues:
Introduction
Sprints are friendly and welcoming events that provide an opportunity for you to get to know the rest of the CiviCRM community and contribute back to the project at the same time. They are ideal for working on your pet project, learning about the latest developments in CiviCRM and building up your CiviCRM network.
If this is your first sprint with CiviCRM, we aware this is a lot of information to take on board. Please don’t panic, the sprint and developer training will be a relaxed, friendly and supportive environment for everyone. We will organise a short workshop for people who haven't attended a CiviCRM sprint before on Saturday morning to make you feel welcome.
If you haven't done so already please join the sprint channel on CiviCRM chat (Mattermost) to introduce yourself and keep up to date with the latest information.
If you have any questions, you can contact the sprint organisers on chat as follows:
- Oliver Gibson @gibsonoliver - Sprint housekeeping and general sprint management
- Aidan Saunders @aydun - Admin training and sprint
- William Mortada @wmortada - CiviCamp and sprint
- Craig Almond @alarmingcod - Sprint housekeeping and catering
- Matt wire @mattwire - Developer training lead
Everyone attending the sprint will be expected to abide by CiviCRM's:
Please familiarise yourself with these two documents. We aim to make the sprint a friendly, safe, welcoming environment and will not tolerate any unacceptable behaviour towards other participants. If you have any concerns please report them to the sprint organisers listed above.
Getting there and away
Arrival is from 17:00 on Friday 1 December.
Departure is by 9:00 on Friday 8 December.
The address of the venue is: Somersal Cottages, Somersal Farm, Somersal Herbert, Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6 5PD, United Kingdom
Directions for car drivers on venue website
The nearest train station is Uttoxeter, which is five miles from the venue (15-20 minutes in a taxi). There will be some people arriving by car who may be able to offer lifts to and from the station but we can't guarantee this. Please post a message in chat if you are looking for a lift on arrival. There is a spreadsheet for lift sharing offers and requests.
More detailed travel information.
Coach from CiviCamp
Many of us will be attending CiviCamp Manchester on 1 December. We have organised a coach to take us directly from CiviCamp to the sprint. This departs at 5pm on 1 December and should arrive at the sprint venue at about 7pm.
Please let us know if you would like to book a place on the coach by completing the questionnaire that has been emailed to you.
Train strikes
Train strikes have been announced between 2-8 December. Travel on Fri 1 December should be okay, though there is an overtime ban that day which may cause some disruption. Those travelling to the sprint on Sat 2 Dec may be affected. Anyone leaving the sprint by train may be affected. We suggest that you check your journey before travelling. We will update with more details in the sprint channel as the situation becomes clearer.
Latest update (as of 30 Nov): December train strikes
Accommodation
We have booked four cottages at the venue. We will allocate rooms on arrival. The nature of the accommodation is that rooms will be shared with other attendees (up to four per room). Rooms will be allocated based on gender (i.e. males sharing / females sharing) but if you have any considerations you’d like taken into account on your allocation, please let us know by filling in the questionnaire. We want to ensure everyone is comfortable.
Catering and food
The sprint will be largely self-catering. We'll have food and refreshments available from the time people arrive on Friday 1 December through to breakfast on Friday 8 December.
Breakfast and lunch will be a self-service arrangement. We'll have plenty of food available. Fix your own meal when you feel ready.
Breakfast - there will be fruits, yoghurts, cereals, breads and spreads, ingredients for cooked breakfasts.
Lunch - there will be ingredients for sandwiches and salads.
Evening meals - Craig will be catering for the first two nights but is looking for volunteers for the rest of the week. A team of 3-5 volunteers is needed for each evening.
Please fill in the questionnaire to let us know which days you are staying so that we can plan the catering.
Please see the shared document for a food plan and if you'd like to volunteer to help cook: Evening meal plan.
Development environment
If you are attending the training or planning to do any development work please make sure that you have a local development environment for CiviCRM installed on your laptop before you arrive.
If you haven't got one set up already, we recommend installing VirtualBox and installing the recommended CiviCRM set up - see the documentation.
Having this set up in advance will help the training and sprint hit the ground running on the Saturday morning. If you hit any problems, or have questions about this, please ask in the sprint channel in chat.
Schedule
The proposed schedule for the week is as follows:
| Day | Time | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 1 December | 5pm | Earliest arrival time |
| 7pm | Coach from CiviCamp Manchester arrives | |
| 8pm | Introductory meeting and welcome | |
| Saturday 2 December | 9am | Formal start of sprint |
| 9am | Introduction for first time attendees | |
| Developer training - day 1 | ||
| Sunday 3 December | ||
| Developer training - day 2 | ||
| Monday 4 December | ||
| Tuesday 5 December | ||
| Wednesday 6 December | ||
| Thursday 7 December | ||
| Friday 8 December | 9am | Leave venue |
What to bring
- Your laptop - preferably with a CiviCRM development environment set up in advance (see above)
- UK travel adapter for the UK's unusual 3-pin electrical sockets
- Walking shoes and waterproof coat - if you fancy a break from the screen
- Torch/flashlight (or use your phone) - for walking along dark country lanes