Members of the Quantum Technology Club make a fine exhibition of themselves at Liverpool MakeFest 2025. This was the tenth running of the annual event that started out as a one-off gathering of techies, makers, artists and thinkers. It has grown to become the largest one-day festival of making in the UK. But was it the last one?
Ten years, culminating in Liverpool MakeFest 2025
For some members of the Quantum Technology Club, this was their eighth attendance at Liverpool MakeFest. They attended their first year under the guise of the Southport & District Amateur Radio Club. However, since then the Quantum Technology Club has faithfully exhibited each year and become a firm favourite of the organisers and those attending.
For the last three years the club has enjoyed pride of place on the main stage. With the space available to them, the club have embarked on ever larger projects each year. In fact, this year’s showcase turned out to be so big that it had to be reduced in size whilst setting it up on site; the night before the MakeFest threw open its doors to the public.
Quantum Technology Club’s showcase projects – introducing the Qyramid
All of the Quantum Technology Club’s projects have been given whacky names, making use of the fairly unique starting letter in their name. We’ve have had the, rather boring by their standards, Quantum sign, followed by the …
This year’s project was no exception as they launched the Qyramid, a twelve foot high (eventually) illuminated pyramid that appeared to fire laser-like beams of light along its edges.
We’ve produced a closer look at the Qyramid so that you can see what it is and how it was designed.
Making an exhibition of themselves
However, the Quantum Technology Club’s reason for attending isn’t only to feature their latest project. They’re there to show folk what ‘amateurs’ can achieve in their own homes. They market themselves to potentially new members. They push their Code Club for youngsters – one of who was on this year’s stand. But, ultimately, they’re there to exude enthusiasm by the bucket-load about making, coding, electronics, wireless communication and technoCrafting.
New Meshtastic BBS amongst other activities
New this year was the unveiling of its latest wireless communications project. Their new Meshtastic bulletin board system (BBS) drew a lot of interest and was demonstrated live for folk to see exactly how it works. This BBS will be installed shortly at a high-spot, on top of the hill in Ormskirk. Its range for direct communications should be out to about ten miles, maybe further. However, users from all over the north west should be able to access it using the mesh network’s multi-hop nature – enabling signals to pass through multiple Meshtastic nodes on its journey from the source to destination node. We will run a few articles on Meshtastic once the summer is out of the way.
The ever popular Morse Code treasure hunt was run again, our friends from the Wales Digital Radio Group supported us with a demonstration of digital amateur radio, and we had our technoCrafting guru with producing custom plaques and stickers.
Will Liverpool MakeFest 2025 be the last?
At the end of each MakeFest, there’s always a group photograph taken of all the organisers, helpers and exhibitors. There’s the usual heartfelt ‘thank you’ and then the strip-down begins. However, this year sad news was uttered. One of the three organisers works for Liverpool Central Library, where the event is held. She announced her retirement from both the Library and the organising team. Unfortunately, the other two organisers also announced their retirement from the team, citing that it was time for a new team to take over and take the event in a potentially new direction. So the event is on the look-out for a new organising team.
Thanks, it’s been a blast
We at the Quantum Technology Club would like to thank the retiring team for all their hard work and dedication in running Liverpool MakeFest. It has enabled provided us with a magnificent stage (literally) from which we have been able to showcase our club, and what we do, to the general public. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and look forward to working with the new team who will take the event forward, built on the firm foundation that it currently has.
Thanks so much, it’s been a blast – we’ve enjoyed every minute of preparing for, and attending the event.