A MOMENT WITH
Andy Spencer reveals to us how the Retro Computer Museum is dealing in lockdown
The Retro Computer Museum has been running since 2008 and is dedicated to the preservation of classic consoles and computers from the Sixties onwards. Like many similar museums, the COVID-19 pandemic is taking its toll, so RCM’S founder Andy Spencer is here to explain how you can help.
Andy Spencer reveals how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting his Retro Computer Museum
Why was the Retro Computer Museum first set up?
The museum was originally set up because I had around 20 systems or so from my youth that were sitting in my loft doing nothing. I spoke to my wife, Linda, and asked her if she thought other people might be interested in what I have. Her answer was yes – so the museum was born. One pretty terrible website later (by me), a friend (Nick) offered to create a much better website with a forum. Obviously, I jumped at the chance! The forums became really popular, so we announced our first event.
Our inaugural event happened in a village hall close to where we live in November 2008. We expected a few close friends to turn up, but we had almost 70 people! From then on, we have done lots of events all around the UK. We decided to become a registered charity in 2012 and have never looked back.
What challenges do you face? Ones that would affect any museum that has hands-on and visual displays. We have to keep the kit in good working order – some of our systems (and games) are over 30 years old! We also try to make sure both the kit itself and the premises are kept clean. We also totally rely on people visiting to survive – we get no funding from anywhere. We need to pay everything out of our entrance fees; these items include rent, electric, gas, water, insurance etc. It all mounts up.
The global pandemic has been impacting businesses and charities worldwide. How has RCM been affected?
During the COVID-19 outbreak, like a lot of places, we have had to close completely – this has cut off all our funding. Thankfully, we had a fantastic start to the year which did help us a little with finances, then this pandemic hit us. We have been closed ever since.
Tell us a little about your Justgiving page…
As a committee, we decided to set up a Justgiving page to see if we could get some support that way. We have been absolutely overwhelmed from the support, literally from our friends all around the world. Peoples’ generosity has been staggering, almost humbling to be honest.
How can readers help?
If anybody that hasn’t donated would like to help us reach our £30,000 goal, you can donate on our Justgiving page at justgiving.com/retrocomputermuseum – we really do need your help, even £1 would help. Of course, if you can gift aid it too, all the better!
Does the museum receive donations of hardware?
We were receiving donations before the pandemic, usually several a week! These donations include software, hardware and occasionally a monetary donation, too. Thankfully, we have just started getting emails offering donations again. Over the last 12 years, we have had people donate their entire collections to us – involving several systems and games to go with those systems, too. There are way too many generous donations to name just one – so to everybody that has donated, we thank you for helping to make the Retro Computer Museum what it is today!
Why do you think places like RCM are so important? From a purely professional point of view, we share our knowledge, our systems and our games so that everybody, young or old, can enjoy what was and will always be the best times for gaming, where it all started… Without the systems we have in our museum we would not have the gaming systems that we have today. From a more personal point of view, the whole team loves meeting new lifelong friends who tend to visit many times, enjoying every minute of our wonderful place.