We'll only just have just got New Year out of the way when it will be time for the first Northants events of the year. Our monthly First Monday meeting is on 4th January and you will find us at The Malt Shovel, Bridge Street, Northampton at 9.00pm. All being well we will be towards the back of the pub, close to the exit to the Beer Garden. If we're not there, scout around for the Mensa mag lying on one of the tables.
If you've just returned to work after the festive break and need a good night out to cheer yourself up then pop along to the Vat & Fiddle pub from 8.00pm on Tuesday 5th for some good conversation and a drink. The venue is on Queensbridge Road near Nottingham railway station. Look for a yellow Mblem usually to the left of the bar. New faces are always welcome.
Regular FThOTM meeting on Thursday 7th - a week after New Year, we'll be around from 8.15pm for our usual mix of lively conversation and a good atmosphere. As always, we're at the Millstream, Cambridge Road, Hitchin. Good food and good beer both available! Call me for more details and encouragement. The pub is about ten minutes' walk from the railway station.
Happy New Year all! First Thursday is at our regular venue of Jurys Inn on Midsummer Boulevard on 7th from 8.00pm. Look out for the Mblem on one of the tables to the right in the foyer. Parking is a bit busy around Jurys and The Hub, so we usually try and get in across the road and then walk through the underpass.
Christine's first Saturday is again on the SECOND SATURDAY - 9th January - due to popular opinion that people will be busy/venue possibly closed the previous weekend. Do join us at noon in the coffee bar at The Collection, Danes Terrace. There usually ensues far-ranging but comprehensible discussion, some have lunch/snack, or just partake of drinks. Christine will try for a table at the far end of the room, spot the magazine and/or black Mblem. For more details/encouragement please contact me on [Phone Number], or [Email] . All are welcome.
On Wednesday 13th we have our regular night out at Nando's chicken restaurant - with a growing number of veggie options - followed by a film at Cineworld. Meet us at 7.00pm prompt inside the doors to the Cornerhouse. There are discounts at both venues for Cornerhouse card holders or Orange phone owners. For further information contact Paul on [Phone Number] or [Email]
This month we have a new event for anyone living in the south east of Lincolnshire. Do join Adam at The Moon Under Water, High Street, Boston at 7.00pm for a meal or later for just a drink on Friday 15th. This is a Wetherspoon venue offering good value food and drink and the Mensans will offer good conversation! Please contact Adam at [Email] or on [Phone Number] if you can make it so a large enough table can be bagged on the night.
It's Mark's birthday, so join us on Saturday 16th to celebrate! Meet at 5.00pm to eat at Zizzi's in Eden and then go to the Swan theatre to see "The Holly and the Ivy" by Wynyard Browne at 7.30pm. Sit with us in the Upper Circle to watch this festive play, starring Philip Madoc and Tom Butcher.
Set in a Norfolk vicarage on Christmas Eve 1947 the play shows how the arrival of two irritable aunts and an errant daughter disrupt the household and even the lovable vicar himself is not immune to the stresses and strains of family life.
You are welcome to come to one or both parts of this event. Please buy your own tickets for the Swan, see www.wycombeswan.co.uk. Contact me by Sunday 10th January to let me know you are coming to the meal so that I can book us a table.
There's another Sunday lunch and cinema outing this month, on Sunday 17th. Meet at 12.00 noon for lunch outside La Tasca in Xscape, and then we will attempt to reach agreement about which film to go on and see at Cineworld afterwards. Call me on my mobile after about 1.15pm if you just want to come along to the film.
There's not a lot happening this month, just our regular 3WOTM meeting at the Standing Order in Derby which falls on Wednesday 20th. Join us for a meal or just a drink and some great conversation from 7.30pm. Look out for the yellow Mblem on a long table in the area just beyond the bar. Please feel free to contact me, for more details/directions or even if you just want some encouragement.
Our Third Wednesday meeting at the Old Beams in Shenley Lodge is on 20th. If you're definitely planning to come please let me know as it will help us to grab the right sized table, but don't let that put you off deciding on the spur of the moment - you'll still be welcome. See www.mcmullens.co.uk for location and menu details. You can eat or not, as you wish - their food is quite good and reasonably priced. Look around for the Mblem as we don't always get the same table each time.
For the next meeting the Roadshow goes off to the Barley Mow at Paulerspury on Thursday 21st January from 8.00pm. The village lies just to the west of the A5, halfway between Towcester and the Buckinghamshire border. The pub can be found on the High Street, almost at the far end of the village. We'll be at one of the tables close to the bar and, again, the Mensa mag will give away our location. So far we've not met the pub's ghost - will it make an appearance this time?
Finally please join us for tea, open views, and probably cakes, definitely conversation at the Gibraltar Point Visitor Centre cafe on Sunday 24th at 2.30pm. The car park is pay and display. Look for magazine. If weather is particularly poor, please ring me on [Phone Number] to ensure we can get there.
Tuesday 26th is Australia Day so we're going for a meal at Moomba Australian restaurant in The Rushes in Loughborough. Their party menu costs £10.95 for two courses and can be found at www.moomba-restaurant.com. Both kangaroo and vegetarian options are available! A table has been reserved for 7.30pm. Please book with Maxine on [Phone Number] or [Email] by 22nd so that numbers can be adjusted as necessary. The event proved very popular last time attracting members from Notts, Derbys, Leics and Northants.
We're joining Maxine this month at the Moomba as our usual January meeting will be no more! Ruth, unfortunately, is finishing serving meals at her farmhouse in Long Clawson at Christmas. She has been threatening to do so for a few years now; over the past 12 years or so, we have had some good times and enjoyed some great food there - it will be difficult to find anything to match it. So I hope to see you at the Moomba instead.
On Wednesday 27th we will meet at the upper room in the "Eat Fish" restaurant on Berkhamsted High Street at 7.45pm-ish. All members young as well as adult very welcome, you do not have to eat, just have a glass of fruit juice or any other drink and enjoy the chat.
Join us at the Cowper Arms, Welwyn Village for our new look LFOTM on Friday 29th from 8.00pm. Good food and good beer available to suit all tastes! This is the first meeting at our new venue, which is next to Welwyn North railway station (Kings Cross - Cambridge and Peterborough line with trains every 30 minutes). Do come along and try it out for yourself!