https://www.rafletcher.co.uk/tags/release/ Recent content in Release on R A Fletcher's Blog Hugo -- gohugo.io en R Fletcher Wed, 13 May 2026 13:44:05 +0100 https://www.rafletcher.co.uk/posts/club-launchpad-launch/ Wed, 13 May 2026 13:44:05 +0100 https://www.rafletcher.co.uk/posts/club-launchpad-launch/ Club Launchpad Launch Announcement A few weeks ago we Mandy and I put live a website that we have spent quite a lot of time on. We&rsquo;re hoping it&rsquo;s going to make starting and running clubs much easier. It&rsquo;s called Club Launchpad Details This website combines Kickstarter like thinking with the formation of new clubs. Why this matters Here in the UK, and I think in the whole world we are seeing changes to the social fabric of our country that would worry those from the past. <h1 id="club-launchpad-launch">Club Launchpad Launch</h1> <h2 id="announcement">Announcement</h2> <p>A few weeks ago we <a href="https://www.artumi.com/">Mandy and I</a> put live a website that we have spent quite a lot of time on. We&rsquo;re hoping it&rsquo;s going to make starting and running clubs much easier.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s called <a href="https://www.clublaunchpad.com/">Club Launchpad</a></p> <h2 id="details">Details</h2> <p>This website combines Kickstarter like thinking with the formation of new clubs.</p> <p><img alt="club-launchpad-logo" src="https://www.rafletcher.co.uk/images/screenshots/club-launchpad-logo-20260513-140501.png"></p> <h2 id="why-this-matters">Why this matters</h2> <p>Here in the UK, and I think in the whole world we are seeing changes to the social fabric of our country that would worry those from the past. They would see how many of us spend our time stuck behind screens and understand that this is not something that is good for society as a whole.</p> <p>We can see it in worsening stats on loneliness and mental health.</p> <p>I think that the answer to loneliness is being around people more, but that&rsquo;s a hard thing to do if you haven&rsquo;t really got anyone near by who is interested in the things that you are.</p> <p>So what we need is a place that someone can find their tribe, <strong>But not online!</strong>.</p> <p>And that&rsquo;s increasingly hard as we are having increasingly diverse interests and views.</p> <h2 id="whats-in-the-box">What&rsquo;s in the box?</h2> <p>We have functions around starting a club, once you&rsquo;ve entered your club details it shows up in the directory:</p> <video controls width="100%"> <source src="https://www.rafletcher.co.uk/videos/screencasts/ClubLaunchpadClubSearch-20260513-135701.webm" type="video/webm"> Your browser does not support the video tag. </video> <p><a href="https://www.rafletcher.co.uk/videos/screencasts/ClubLaunchpadClubSearch-20260513-135701.webm">Download screencast</a></p> <p>If you&rsquo;re in that &ldquo;pre-live&rdquo; state then once people have signed up you can start emailing them, and encourage them to share details about the club.</p> <p>Once you have a completely active club then you get access to all the leader functions, which you can see in the video below:</p> <video controls width="100%"> <source src="https://www.rafletcher.co.uk/videos/screencasts/ClubLaunchpadLeaderFunctions-20260513-140211.webm" type="video/webm"> Your browser does not support the video tag. </video> <p><a href="https://www.rafletcher.co.uk/videos/screencasts/ClubLaunchpadLeaderFunctions-20260513-140211.webm">Download screencast</a></p> <h2 id="closing-thoughts">Closing thoughts</h2> <p>It&rsquo;s still early days, but I hope we can convince people that it&rsquo;s worth while. At the moment I think people don&rsquo;t like the idea of formal clubs, and would rather do everything with What&rsquo;s app. But I&rsquo;m already fed up with What&rsquo;s app inane chatter.</p> <ul> <li></li> </ul>