At Home With The Metcalfs
On February 2003
February 2003 saw the first 'at home' event kindly hosted by Merry and Giles Metcalf. They live in an 18th century (haunted!) cottage in a lovely sounding place called Golden Valley which is on the outskirts of Ripley in Derbyshire. Unfortunately the rural location means that there is no easy access by public transport, but the non-city centre venue is an attraction to some members. A good turn out at their first event ensured that it became a regular '2nd Wednesday of the month' get together for members from Notts and Derbys. Each month we meet from 7.00 pm for a chat and to play a board game. At the first event we started a game of Trivial Pursuit playing for a set amount of time and making a note of where the pieces were placed ready for the next session. Over the months we have also played Articulate and other team games and for a couple of months during the summer we didn't play any games, preferring to sit and chat in the garden whilst watching the wildlife (cows, bats, horses, etc). We even did some stargazing when Mars was at its closest to earth. Each month Merry bakes us delicious cheesy whirls or chocolate chip cookies or cheesecake or some other fattening nibbles!
We now have a pool of 12-16 regular attendees with most present at the December event where we arranged a Christmas buffet with everyone bringing a contribution. There was far too much food! We had also clubbed together to buy a 'thank you' present for our hosts, Merry and Giles, for their hospitality over the year. So now we have a new game to play! At our January 2004 get together we finally finished that game of Triv we started playing a year before! Even more amazing was the fact I won! Though I confess at the appropriate moment Giles rang from his current job in Warsaw and became my 'phone a friend' and helped with the answer. [When asked by his boss if he would like a new IT contract, Giles misheard and thought he would be working in the West Midlands (Walsall) so was rather surprised to receive flight tickets to Poland! But that's another story!] The '2nd Wednesday of the month' is a friendly event and suitable for new members of all ages. Do join us sometime!
Maxine Bates