Shadowcat Systems Limited

Throughout the months of May and June Shadowcat Systems will be moving offices.

"What?" We hear you call in genuine horror, 'does this imply that you are leaving the beloved castle from whence you reign?".[1][2]

In short, no.

We will be still based in the wonderful, and historic, Barracks Building which is part of the White Cross Industrial Estate in Lancaster, we are simply moving to better offices in the same building.

So why are we moving, have we outgrown the offices?

Well, yes, and no. The current Shadowcat Offices are easily large enough to accommodate the current staff in the Lancaster region, especially since a larger number of our staff do not work from these offices. The Lancaster office has always been just the principal administrative office.

However there are some new considerations to moving that will give us some advantages.

• We can fit a new alarm system;
• The network and power cabling is better laid out;
• The main road is at the front of the building and the new office at the rear so it should be quieter;
• We can fit access control on the doorways;
• The rooms are laid out in a more pleasing manner;
• There is a small room we can turn into a workshop room for the rising LAMM;
• The new office has its own small kitchenette;
• It has its own fire escape door;
• It is on the ground floor, has a ground floor level fire escape with no step so has disabled access;

All of these mean that we can have a better layout to the office and provide more access for guests and for local meetings such as the LAMM group who meet regularly at our offices.

We have a few pictures of the current look of the office which wil be updated and changed to reflect the work we do moving in. So keep coming back for more views.

The new internal front door

The rear fire door - ground level access - the fire door is a traditional door from the time of the original Barracks. It is therefore Grade II listed and the tiny vestibule it is in also has an arrow slit - so we can still defend the office in the event of a Zombie Apocolypse

Part of the Main Room

The kitchenette and column holding up the roof

The Workshop Room with benches

[1] Admittedly you probably will not use those exact words, or in fact anything approximating those words, but it is amusing to think you could.

[2] Addendum, as pointed out by my very fine followers this should surely be where, or if feeling foppish in a usually whimsical manner (that surely I am by the tone of the piece) it might be whither (if obtuse and directed at, thither). It should, dear readers, and I could just correct it. However, so much better I think to thank you kind readers and to note here that it is place not time, and that tiredness occasionally wearies us all.

As many of you following the news from Castle Shadowcat will know we have had a series of images created by Jack Knight of Knight Time Creations. Our Steampunk Themed images are being used on promotional material and on documentation to give a distinct look connected to our very distinct presence.

This week we have received a batch of the first clothing to bear the new images. There will be more of these available over the coming months to be given out as promotional items and also to be sold to the general populace as part of a continuing expansion of the image.

The first three designs have received a lot of interest not just from staff but from friends to Shadowcat, they are presented below for your judgement. Why not write to us, tweet or comment and tell us what you think of them.

First design on Grey t-shirt

Second design on Orange t-shirt

Third design on Green t-shirt

In our usual style we would like to talk about some of the recent guests to Castle Shadowcat, we begin with Dave Golden.

As you may know from previous news articles we recently organised the fifth Perl QA Hackathon in Lancaster. A large number of delegates were invited and they arrived in Lancaster, and some at the Castle Shadowcat, on the Thursday before the event.

The wonderful xdg, Dave Golden of CPAN testers fame, arrived in Lancaster a day earlier so that he could mitigate some of the crippling effects of jet lag and stayed with Shadowcat Staffers Ian and Claire.

While Dave was here he took the opportunity to be a denizen of the Castle and do a little pre-event hackery as our guest.

Dave Golden in the Office

As you might be aware from my previous articles this weekend is the fifth Perl QA Hackathon which is being held in Lancaster.

As many of the delegates arrive they have to make their way to the Shadowcat Offices and then shown to the hotel once they are assembled. We thought it might be a little confusing as to which offices are ours so we came up with a novel, if somewhat jocular and childish, solution.

We hung Pingu, the North West England Perl mongers mascot, out of the window. We hung him by a proper noose made from CAT5 cable, as you have to do these things properly.

I think for this event we can forego the decorum and respectability and engage a little in the whimsy.

Pingu hanging from the window

Pingu on his Jibbet

This weekend sees the sixth Perl QA Hackathon and will occur this year in the historical town of Lancaster in the north-west of England.

The event has gone from strength to strength with each year seeing a larger number of attendees who assemble to improve the tools that many of us use in our day to day lives. The list of targets on the wiki has grown quite impressive and we will be tweeting and blogging about the achievements over the weekend.

This event has been made possible by the generosity of many sponsors, and if you would like to join them as a sponsor, or make a personal donation you can still do so.

Shadowcat Systems have not only sponsored but will be part hosting the event as the organisers, Mark, Ian and Claire, are all members of our illustrious staff.

The event is a highpoint for the region and part of the strong commitment to open source and Perl favoured by Shadowcat and its staff.