EMPRESS

Join us at MK's new Café Rouge in The Hub, behind Jury's Hotel on Midsummer Blvd/Witan Gate. See www.caferouge.co.uk for location/menu/prices. Booking essential by Tuesday 31st - [Email], or [Phone Number] / [Phone Number].

Due to events elsewhere our meeting at the Fox & Hounds in Harlestone is on the 1st Thursday rather than the 2nd Thursday this month. So, if you want to catch up with all the gossip don't get caught out by the change of date.

Join us for our regular First Thursday of the month at the Millstream, Cambridge Road, Hitchin (about five minutes' walk from the station). Good food and beer (and company!) always available. Call me on [Phone Number] for details and encouragement.

Join us for a leisurely day's sightseeing and a pub lunch in this, the most delightful of Home Counties cathedral cities, St Albans. We'll meet at 11 for elevenses and decide what we're going to do, although I'm sure the cathedral and the Verulam Roman museum will be high on the list! Call me on [Phone Number] for details and encouragement. St Albans is on the Bedford - Luton - London - Brighton "Thameslink" line and can also be reached from Watford Junction (for stations on the Euston-Milton Keynes line). There are also regular bus services from Hatfield (for stations on the Kings Cross-Peterborough and Cambridge line).

Our regular get together is at the Vat & Fiddle pub on Queensbridge Roadon Sunday 5th. What better way to round off the weekend than with a drink and chat with Mensa friends? New faces are always welcome. Find us to the left of the bar.

We meet at 7.00 pm prompt for "Chicks & Flicks" inside the main doors to the Cornerhouse complex. From there we buy tickets for a later film at Cineworld before dining at Nando's peri-peri chicken restaurant around the corner. There are usually enough of us with Orange mobile phones to get 2-4-1 cinema tickets for everyone. Cornerhouse card holders also get 10% discount or free drink (offer changes monthly) at Nando's which makes it a full night out for under a tenner. Contact Paul on [Phone Number] or [Email] for further info.

We're now doing the quiz fortnightly at the Millstream, Cambridge Road, Hitchin (about five minutes' walk from the station); please call Richard on [Phone Number] for details and encouragement. Food and good beer are available! The quiz starts around 8.30 but we're usually there from 7.30 for a meal.

The meeting returns to the city this month. Join us for lunch, lots of chat and hopefully some fun at Tootsie's restaurant on Brayford Wharf North at 12 noon on Saturday 11th August. It's American style and recommended. Please contact me on [Phone Number] if you need more details or encouragement - it would also be helpful to have an idea of numbers. Everyone welcome.

David Onyett is hosting this year's Annual LU postcode area Picnic, Fun, and Games excursion in Wendover Woods, Aylesbury, Bucks, which was previously organised by Tara Morgan. Please bring picnic & drinks to share and sense of humour, plus games equipment! Event starts at noon.

I can no longer ask people to look for us in the non-smoking area of the Standing Order, since that now covers the whole pub, so will newcomers please look for us in the area at the back past the bar. Better still 'phone or email me beforehand.

Join us at Starbucks coffee shop in Borders bookshop by the Hockey Stadium (Portway / Grafton St roundabout). As they now close earlier, we will be meeting earlier. Look out for the Mblem - don't forget to check the comfy chairs round the corner! Contact details as above.

Join us at L'Artista in Frogmoor. We can compare Summer holiday notes or discuss cricket or whatever. Please let me know by Tue 14 if you plan to come. Tel [Phone Number] or email [Email]

It's our annual trip to the dogs on Friday 17th meeting outside the entrance to Nottingham Greyhound Stadium in Colwick at 7.00 pm. The group package costs just £10 per person and includes admission, race card, pie and pea supper, two drinks (Carling, Reef or J2O) and £2 worth of tote bets. You may even pay for your night out with winnings! Please book your place with me on [Phone Number] by 3rd August. Under 18s are welcome but cannot participate in the group offer.

A chance to explore the Northamptonshire countryside with a 4½ circular walk out from the village of Rushton, including a view of the famous triangular lodge. Meet outside the Thornhill Arms, on the junction of Station Road and the High Street. After you've worked up an appetite we'll return to the pub for lunch so bring a change of footwear. Whatever you do, don't go looking for us in Rushden; you want the village a few miles north of Kettering, not the town a few miles east of Wellingborough.

I would very much like to meet some members from the Ripley area at the Red Lion on the Market Square but I'm going to check out the television ready for the rugby World Cup in September, anyway, because I've decided it's cheaper to watch one in a pub than buy one just for a couple of month's rugby. Any television enthusiasts welcome to convince me of the error of my ways? More info on [Phone Number] or [Email]

Join me at The Star in Thrussington for drinks and a chat or for a few games of pool on Wednesday 22nd August at 8.00pm. Look for the familiar faces or the magazine on the table! New members welcome. Please let me know you are coming along by Monday 20th August [Email] or [Phone Number].

Chenies Manor is a beautiful Tudor Manor House accompanied by picturesque gardens with two mazes, ample parking, cream teas and light refreshments. N.B. No disabled access to the Manor House. Details at www.cheniesmanorhouse.co.uk which provides useful information and directions. Call Alistair on [Phone Number] for encouragement.

The last few months have seen the "Postcode Pubcrawl" regulars travelling to far flung areas of the county so on Tuesday 28th we're staying more central and will be visiting The Chesterfield Arms, Main Road, Gedling which has an NG4 postcode. Join us from 7.30 pm for a drink. Food is served until 8.30 pm and there's a fun quiz later. Can anyone suggest a good venue with an NG23 postcode?

We meet at the White Horse Pub, Bourne End, on the Hemel Hempstead Road (the old A 41) half way between Hemel and Berkhamsted. Do come and drink, eat or just join us for a quiet chat.

The roadshow moves to another new venue this month: The White Swan, Main Street, Holcot. The village is a mile or so north of the A43, between Northampton and Kettering and you'll find us in the room to the right of the front door.

Join us in the lounge (or the garden, if the weather's fine!) of the White Horse, Hertingfordbury to chill out at the end of the month - look for the mag and Mblem. Ring Gwen on [Phone Number] for details and encouragement. (Richard's away this month!) The hotel is about 20 minutes' walk from Hertford North station. Meals are available.

Following the success of my pamper party in June we're doing it again on 1st September. Come along to my home in Langley Mill for a treatment by a qualified beautician including manicures, pedicures, waxing, facials, massages and more at very reasonable prices. The event will start at 4.00 pm and continue into the evening with pampering, food, drink and chat. See www.uglyduckling-beauty.co.uk for full list of treatments. Booking is essential by 29th August please. I'm on [Phone Number] or [Email]