Again, sorry for my late reply...
The idea of more frequent meetings at different venues appeals to me. I live in Bourne, Lincs and the only ALUG meeting I've made it to was in Norwich and cost me a fortune on the train. I should really try and get to a PLUG meeting which is more local but seems less active (online at least).
Sharing transport would be great for me, in fact I have an idea...
Perhaps for the next ALUG meeting everyone could bring pieces of a minibus with them, each person could bring a wheel, seat or spark plug etc. until we have enough pieces to build an ALUG minibus which can pick up all the members of from their houses on the day of a meeting. The minibus should probably run on seawater like the car on topgear a while back, very environmentally friendly.
I can donate an engine from an old VW camper to get us started... if anyone can provide the transport to get it there ;) ;) ;) Second thoughts, I'm not sure it will run on seawater...
Does anyone know where I can buy a cuddly penguin for my linux lab?
-- Ben "tola" Francis