On Tuesday the 19th of February Southwark went out on a mini pub crawl to look for a suitable central location to hold a trial second meeting for our network. However it was very mini indeed, we managed to crawl to one pub and then crawl home, well it was a school night after all. Also the first pub we entered, the Old Thameside Inn, was perfect for our second meeting. On paper it is in a cool location, right on the river next to the replica of the Golden Hinde, with great views and good transport links courtesy of London Bridge station. However we thought it might be too busy, noisy and cooperate. It turns out that the manager was very welcoming and down stairs there is a very quite comfortable space. So we decided to stay for another beer! To be honest the other pubs on our list were no where near as nice. So there you go, the Old Thameside it is.
But hang on a minute, why a second meeting, are we mad!?! Quite possibly. Also since we've moved to our current location in the Old Nun's Head (a place that we have no intention of abandoning!) we have lost members who find it hard to get there. There are also members that turn up every month, but find the journey a pain in the neck. There are more still who have never come to a meeting, citing it's location as the reason. Many have suggested a more easily accessible location. We are not going to stop meeting at our present location. It does work well for most of the group, and we have a dynamic team that I do not want to uproot. I want to give others who can't a chance to get involved.
Another good reason for holding a second meeting is that it would be great as an induction for new people (I hear Greenpeace do this regularly in Germany). As our mini pub crawl demonstrated, a more relaxed and informal meeting may be more welcoming. Two new people came on Tuesday (Hi Alex and Luke, thanks for coming). All the frantic organizing will be dealt with in our main meeting a week before (I hope). So we can concentrate on introducing ourselves to all and any who would like to come along to meet the team and find out what we get up to.
Hope to see some of you on the 3rd Tuesday of March, which will be the 19th, in the Old Tameside Inn, London Bridge, SE1 9DG at 19:00.
Contact me, Steve constructionist@hotmail.co.uk if you're popping along.
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