The East Midlands Region of British Mensa

Map of the region, indicating the postcode areas LN, PE 20-25, NG, DE, LE, NN, MK, SG 1-9, 13-19, LU, HP and AL

The East Midlands region stretches from Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire in the south to Lincolnshire in the north. Rumour has it that the region comprises the bits that Mensa had left over after all the other regions had been sorted out! Approximately 11% of the membership of British Mensa live in our region.

We organise a variety of events which are publicised in the monthly Mensa Magazine as well as our regional newsletter 'Empress'. These include pub socials, 'eating meetings', theatre/concert trips, wine tastings, walks, ten pin bowling, parties, days out to theme parks and places of interest and much much more. In the past we have even enjoyed a medieval banquet, an archaeological dig and a 'school dinners' evening - we will try almost anything once! Mensans come from all walks of life and our social events are a great way to make new friends. Don't be shy - give us a try!

Mensa is what YOU make it. Some members choose to just read the Magazine each month whilst others obtain enjoyment by attending local events, participating in weekend gatherings throughout the country or joining one or more of the many Special Interest Groups. SIGs are a way of corresponding with like-minded people, usually via a newsletter, on a multitude of subjects from animals to amateur dramatics, rambling to rock music, sport to Star Trek!

Enquiries from anyone interested in joining Mensa or comments from existing members are very welcome. Please contact the East Midlands Regional Officer via the Contacts page

For enquiries about the Mensa entrance test, including test dates and locations, please contact the Mensa office in Wolverhampton at enquiries@mensa.org.uk

For more information on Mensa in general, please see our main web site at http://www.mensa.org.uk

Empress Newsletter

Empress - Winner of:

  • The 'Service' category in the Regional Newsletter Standards of Excellence Awards 2004.
  • The 'Entertainment' category in the Regional Newsletter Standards of Excellence Awards 2005.
  • The 'Presentation' category in the Regional Newsletter Standards of Excellence Awards 2006.
  • The 'Service' category in the Regional Newsletter Standards of Excellence Awards 2007.
  • The 'Presentation' category in the Regional Newsletter Standards of Excellence Awards 2007.
  • The 'Service' category in the Regional Newsletter Standards of Excellence Awards 2012.
  • The 'Service' category in the Regional Newsletter Standards of Excellence Awards 2018.

The East Midlands regional newsletter, Empress, is published monthly. It contains details of forthcoming events around the region, along with reviews and photos of previous events, humour and competitions. Past features have included a 'virtual pub crawl' bringing pub socials into member's homes, 'LocSec Focus' introducing your Local Officers and a 'Where am I?' competition educating readers on towns in our region.

Please email the editors if you would like to contribute to the newsletter. All contributions are very welcome, especially member profiles or themed quizzes.

Special arrangements may be made for blind or partially-sighted members who are unable to read the standard edition of Empress. Contact one of the editorial team for details.

Positions Vacant

The following positions are currently vacant within East Midlands Mensa:

  • Leicester Local Officer, covering the LE postcodes

    To be a contact for local members and organise (or encourage the organisation of) social events.

  • Luton Local Officer, covering the LU postcodes

    To be a contact for local members and organise (or encourage the organisation of) social events.

  • Northampton Local Officer, covering the NN postcodes

    To be a contact for local members and organise (or encourage the organisation of) social events.

  • Empress Editor

    To edit 4 issues per year.

These roles are voluntary, though out-of-pocket expenses can be reimbursed, and can take up as much or as little time and effort as you wish. But it's definitely a case of the more you put into Mensa the more you get out!

If you would like more information please contact Maxine Bates at [Email]

Facebook

There are a couple of Facebook groups for the region

Regular Haunts

Please note that where available, these links are to the place's "official" web site. Otherwise the link is to the best identified page that says something about the location, and ideally has a good picture. These links are external to this site, so the accuracy of any information that they contain can't be guaranteed. The postcode link is to Google maps.

Please note that although these meetings are typically on the date specified below, for a variety of reasons they sometimes get moved to other dates or very occasionally cancelled. Check the What's on page for the most up-to-date information.

The Vat and Fiddle, Nottingham NG2 1NB 5th day of every month, contact Maxine Bates for details

Three Magnets, Letchworth SG6 3EW 1st Thursday of every month, contact Steve Thomas for details

Adam and Eve, Lindum Hill, Lincoln LN2 1LP 2nd Saturday of every month, contact Jacquie Harrison for details

The Cowper Arms, Digswell AL6 0EA Last Friday of every month, contact Richard Allen for details

The Cradock Arms, Leicester LE2 3TT 3rd Monday of every month, contact Haydn Starkie for details

The Zapato Lounge, Northampton NN1 2EB One Sunday of each month, contact Ian Sargent for details

The Cadland, Nottingham NG9 5EG 2nd Thursday of every month, contact Maxine Bates for details

RSS RSS logo

RSS is a news feed format that can be read by specialised feed "aggregators" or by web browsers like Internet Explorer 7, Firefox or Opera 9. Here, it is being used to provide a list of East Mids Mensa events and meetings over the coming few days.

RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0 and Atom feeds are provided to support different aggregators. By default, these will list events in the next seven days, however you can set the number of days you want on the url. For example, if you want the next 14 days' meetings listed, you can use https://eastmidsmensa.org.uk/rss1.0.ashx?days=14

For a fuller explanation of RSS, the Wikipedia article is a good starting place.