An unwieldy title for a great event.

Everything came together on Sunday at this year’s PyConUK in the TechnoCentre in Coventry for the 3rd year running. We were lucky enough to get Bank of America to sponsor a Raspberry Jam and lucky enough that Alan “Jambassador” O’Donohoe was around to lend his manic energy and unique style.

Despite the relatively short notice we were able to give, we had 25 youngsters plus their parents helped by as many Python developers from the main Conference plus some of the teachers who’d come for Saturday’s Education Track. I’ll link to some of the photos that were taken when they’re posted up. But it’ll be clear to you just how much manic energy was involved and how much youthful mayhem was harnessed.

We had people bringing robots and Python-controlled helicopters; we had children bringing Minecraft-inspired ideas and wackiness; we had people controlling LEDs; we had Scratch and Minecraft and pure Python; some people brought their own Raspberry Pi’s and other people used the ones we’d supplied; some of the parents caught the bug and were coding along with their kids; sometimes it was the other way round.

At the end, a group of three girls (and we had probably a 50-50 mix) went over to present a Lightning Talk to the main conference itself, showcasing their Minecraft-powered UFO.

Overall I think we can count our first foray into Raspberry Jamminess an success. We’re tremendously grateful to Bank of America whose sponsorship enabled us to use the excellent Simulation building as a completely separate space for what was, in effect, a subconference. I hope that it’s inspired people to run their own version of a Raspberry Jam, and that it’s given kids and their parents a flavour of what you can do with a little creativity.

UPDATE: There are photos here