On the 6th June, members of the Quantum Technology Club visited the North West Computer Museum. The last visit was not long after the museum opened, now it’s celebrating its first birthday.
The museum is located within the impressive Leigh Spinners Mill. It houses a very large collection of computers, gaming consoles, portable digital assistants (PDAs), arcade machines and other related equipment. Not to mention the huge library of software, books and magazines. The shop is stocked with some very useful electronic items, promotional products (be quick, and snap up a limited edition 1st Anniversary mug) and computer products that are surplus to requirements.
Museums are very often look, but don’t touch. Not so the North West Computer Museum, you are actively encouraged to operate them. You can play games, or even program them. There is also an education room that is set aside for various computing activities to be undertaken.
It was interesting to calculate how much money members had spent on these devices over the years; only for them to have been binned, given away, or sold for a pittance. It was also quite engaging listening to the anecdotes flying around from days gone by.
We are very fortunate to have some young members and they we equally engaged, though probably more from trying to understand how such underpowered computers could do so much.
We hope to return next year and look forward to seeing what is new in the world of retro computers. You can keep up-to-date with what is going on at the North West Computer Museum on their Facebook page.
Do have a look at our calendar to what other exciting activities and visits we have planned for the future.
If you have any interesting places for us to visit, do please let us know.