UK Summer GA Get together.

[Yettie One]

Hey all you UK/European GA members.

 

I am proposing organising a GA Meeting over a weekend in the Summer. So one day in June/July/August. (date to be chosen after discussion with members interested)

 

Ok so here is the general idea I have got.

 

It would be over a weekend, either a Saturday or a Sunday.

 

I propose making the meeting place somewhere in the Midlands so it is central for members from North, South, East and West to attend. A city well serviced by train links would be a good plan, and I will organise to have a mini bus to take members travelling by train to the event grounds.

 

I'd also propose organising the event at a social club/similar type venue and make the event a whole day BBQ event, so bring and share type of thing. I will happily work on finding a venue and handling the booking, preparation for the event from this end.

 

So all you have to do, is bring yourself, your friends, your food, lots of drink, and we'll have a day outdoors, in the sun, enjoying some grub grilled on the fire, some good music and a great social event.

 

If this seems like a good plan, please let me know and lets start putting things together. I want to find out how much support there is for the idea before I begin to actually put firm plans for dates, places and venues together.

 

Let me know.

Let's have a great summer together.

 

(everyone welcome, even ya international lot that ain't in the UK. If you may be over here around then, let me know and we'll see if we can sort out something to help you get to the event.)

[Bleu]

It's a great plan, Yettie! Thanks for volunteering to organise this.

I'm not in the UK but I've been to the Manchester and the London meetups. I would hate to miss this one

[Johnathan Colourfield]

I'm afraid i'm in the States June-September so I will have to give this one a miss Have fun though guys!

[TalonRider]

I'll pin this topic to make it easier for those interested to find the topic.

[Traveller_23]

Plan sounds good. I'm in, just pick a date so I can plan my other holidays! Hehe it'll be weird finally meeting some of you in real life (but in a good way ).

Edited March 7, 2013 by Traveller_23

[Andy78]

Count me in.

 

The Paris meet last year was fun, even with the low turnout.

 

**notices John has yet again come up with a plan to avoid meeting me **

[Westie]

Not keen on the Midlands idea, because although its geographically central, transport links there are poor.

 

London is good for transport links, but bad if you have to stay over (not a problem for me, I live in Central London)

 

Will have to think about it....

[Maximoff]

Sorry, I'd love to join. But I'm saving all my vacation days for my Japan trip! 

[Traveller_23]

Birmingham's good for transport links I've heard. No idea about where to stay though, apart from places like Travelodge in town.

[paya]

yeah but Birmingham is not very attractive venue... some people need their time when meeting new people - even if we "know" each other from GA, so having something, anything, as a distraction might help them get comfortable.In Manchester we went to Canal Street, in London to SoHo. IDK if you saw Marais in Paris. Something gay friendly.

 

Or if Yettie is planning to book some place completely for us? That might be too courageous as the turnout is never too high. It would be nice to have a decent meal somewhere, get to know each other and then decide on other programme.

 

As for dates, most probably around 25th July will be a no for the two of us as it might be my sister's graduation ceremony, if she successfully passes the finals this June.

[Johnathan Colourfield]

Count me in.

 

The Paris meet last year was fun, even with the low turnout.

 

**notices John has yet again come up with a plan to avoid meeting me **

 

haha i'm not avoiding you! You'll see lots of pictures of my adventures To prove i'm really me xD

[option]

yeah but Birmingham is not very attractive venue... some people need their time when meeting new people - even if we "know" each other from GA, so having something, anything, as a distraction might help them get comfortable.In Manchester we went to Canal Street, in London to SoHo. IDK if you saw Marais in Paris. Something gay friendly.

 

Or if Yettie is planning to book some place completely for us? That might be too courageous as the turnout is never too high. It would be nice to have a decent meal somewhere, get to know each other and then decide on other programme.

 

As for dates, most probably around 25th July will be a no for the two of us as it might be my sister's graduation ceremony, if she successfully passes the finals this June.

 

Birmingham has Hurst St if you need a gay venue;

3 places that do food, 2 nightclubs & at least 8 bars/pubs

 

theres a gay writing group

 

 

you could see the inspirations for Lord of the Rings, or Thomas the Tank Engine

see the new library (largest in the UK)

'more miles of canal than Venice' & you even go on a canal boat

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature_of_Birmingham

[Slytherin]

Hello

Have you decided when it will be ??

Edited April 1, 2013 by slytherin

[Andy78]

It looks like June will be a no-no for me.

 

There are cancer conferences every weekend in June that I'll have to attend.

[Yettie One]

Nice to see some interest. 

 

Ok had a look at Birmingham. Thing is it is a fair trek to the Gay Village part of town from the Railway station, but once there, everything is pretty well located in the same little quadrant for a good time.

Manchester of course has Canal Street, which would mean that we could always do a bit of a pub crawl.

 

Transport links into and out of both are really pretty easy.

I know that both act as hubs in terms of both bus and trains.

 

Looking at dates, based on some of the feedback here already, how about we look at the August Bank Holiday weekend? So that is either the Saturday 24th August or Sunday 25th August 2013.

 

I am not sure how many other people have been involved in the past, but maybe if we arranged to meet for a meal at say a Chinese buffet or something, and then trooped to a nice pub where they have an outdoor seating area where we could all kick back and relax and socialise.

 

Just some ideas to throw around. What do you guys and gals think?

[Westie]

Well, I would be willing to consider Manchester.  The last meet we had there was awesome.  That said, august bank holiday is the Notting Hill Carnival here in London..  There are too many naked bodies dancing in the street for any self respecting gay man to abandon the capital that weekend... so I guess my opinion wouldn't count for much....

[Traveller_23]

Will be in Africa for work all/most of August - but don't move the dates around just for me! Nobody's said no to early July yet though...*looks hopeful*

[Bleu]

Still interested by this. Just like Andy, June is a no no for me. August might be a possibility unless I have to take that business trip to Asia (unlikely at this date).

The location (London/Birmingham/Manchester) doesn't much matter to me, since it will be quite a trip whatever the destination  

[Andy78]

Personally I'd prefer Manchester to Birmingham, but I'm happy to go with the majority on this.

[Freddyness]

Hey Fred's can pop along if its Birmingham, Manchester or London but only if June or July August I'm in Germany.

[Sasha Distan]

Hey people,

 

I just got on board with this, Andy linked me (so lovely).

 

Early July sounds good. can't do beginning of august (getting married)

 

Manchester or London preferable, anything north of that is The North and we don't get on so much....

 

also hi...i'm Sasha and i hail to you from the middle of f-all and nowhere in deepest rural sussex.

[Yettie One]

Ok

 

Right just to bounce around an update.

 

I think that most of the suggestions have kind of zero'ed in on July, so let's say a date within the first two weeks of July.

I am opting for Manchester.

 

So if we can have a show of hands, then I'll get cracking and make some bookings. (Dates, Venues, Times to be supplied as soon as I find out what is available)

[Marzipan]

I'm keeping my eyes open for this. Would love to meet the GA lot again

[paya]

now it more depends on me having a job, otherwise we won't be able to afford it... we can't afford to visit family as often as we would, so GA suddenly is a second priority...

[Andy78]

Manchester in July sounds good to me.

 

Good luck on the job hunting Paya