A selection of Apple Computers

The GSPK Design team headed over York way to visit The Jim Austin Computer Collection. The magnificent collection of computers was a truly memorable trip and one the team will truly cherish for many years to come.

Computer collection - York - Jim Austin

After a hearty lunch, Jack, Jim, Joseph, Tom, and Chris made their way to the little village of Fridaythorpe where they were greeted by Jim Austin, a Computer Science Professor at the University of York and owner of Cybula Ltd. Housed in over 8000 sq ft of buildings the computer ‘sheds’ include thousands of computers as well as many other artifacts including books, calculators, computer mice, video games, cameras, radios, valves… and much more!

Examples of the computer collection

The collection was officially started in 1986 but this has really been a lifelong passion that Jim was born with. His in-depth knowledge of computers was fascinating and the stories he told the team during the three-hour tour were riveting. Each piece of computing memorabilia has a story to tell and Jim has been fortunate enough over the years to build up a network of people to happily donate him items. He is also actively involved in auctions both offline and online through sites like eBay and continues to grow his collection every day.

Inspecting the computer collection/museum

The first shed was a nostalgic trip back in time for Electronic Design Manager, Jim Needham. With thousands of computers stacked to the rafters (quite literally), this was a great opportunity to see computers of days gone by and how they transformed through the ages.

The first shed

Heading into the second half of the shed, and the team stepped back in time once again but this time surrounded by radios, cameras, valves and more. Neatly placed on shelves this impressive radio collection features some iconic radios from military sets dating back to World War 1 right up to modern day sets. Jim is also a keen camera collector, hundreds of lenses and camera bodies are housed in this part of the shed and any self-confessed camera nerd will certainly be in their element.

A selection of Apple Computers

Onto the second shed, named ‘PS3’ and the team got a chance to see mid-range computers as well as an ever growing video games collection! From some of the earliest Apple computers to a work in progress Fighter jet Simulator, this part of the collection was a treasure trove of computers.

Collection of video games

The third and final shed (PS4) housed some of the collections finest supercomputers. Included in this section was a huge IBM mainframe as well as ten Cray supercomputers. These massive machines have huge amounts of history and were used in some of the biggest businesses and Universities in the world to compute huge amounts of data.

The GSPK Design team would like to express their huge thanks and gratitude to Jim Austin and the whole team behind the computer collection. If you are interested in getting involved the bi-weekly shedders days you can contact Jim via his website here: http://www.computermuseum.org.uk/

Jim speaking with the design team

Some of the North Yorkshire’s most talented young entrepreneurs went head-to-head as the Young Enterprise, Yorkshire & Humber, Company Programme Competition heats up. Four teams from schools across the county found out last week which of them had earned a place in the Young Enterprise Yorkshire and Humber Grand Final due to be held at the Merchant Adventurers Hall in York on June 15th. The teams, which have been taking part in the competition to set up and run a business since September last year, have all presented to a panel of highly experienced judges, undergone rigorous interviews and set up trade stalls to their companies. The prestigious awards ceremony was held at the Pavilion’s of Harrogate on Tuesday, May 10th. This year’s teams include Pearl from King James School in Knaresborough, which makes bespoke glass and bead jewellery; tourism business Magentaprize from South Craven School in Keighley; Chains from St Aidan's C of E School Harrogate, which also makes jewellery, and; Cutting Edge from St Peter’s School in York, which produced a Chair Yoga DVD, “Get Fit Whilst You Sit” for use with the elderly and people suffering with mobility problems. Paul Marsh, Managing Director, was MC of the Ceremony, Chair of Judges and presented an award which was supported by GSPK Design Ltd . GSPK Design supported the award for Most Innovative Product/Service. Presenting the award Paul said…….."Innovation is all about change and improvement, and this year all the teams showed this in great abundance. It gave us great pleasure to present the award for Innovation, GSPK Design pride ourselves in constantly looking to improve and innovate and we felt it important to indentify and recognise this within the competition." As Chair of the Judging panel and also as MC of the event Paul went on the say……"The competition is really hotting up and the finals are going to be difficult to judge. This year there are some extremely passionate and committed young people, with business skills and acumen that would rival a lot of their seniors. Good luck to them all." Jill Tinsley, Development Manager for Young Enterprise North Yorkshire said, “ GSPK Design Ltd have given Young Enterprise tremendous support over the years. Paul Marsh in particular has been a great advocate for Young Enterprise and I’m really pleased that he was able to lead the judges and be able to hand over an award to such an enterprising company as Cutting Edge.” The overall winners Cutting Edge will now go on to compete in the Yorkshire and Humber final on June 15th at Merchant Adventurers in York, and the winner of that will represent Yorkshire and Humber in the Young Enterprise national finals on 11th – 13th July.
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