Thought I'd put a few details down about the events of yesterday - apologies for some parts being a little hazy to recall completely 
Pictures of the event are being posted in the People section of the Photo Gallery.
Ibis pI
I arrived at the Ibis Hotel at around 1330hrs and parked my l'il red Matiz next to Pix's Cappucino - 2 small red cars with V-F stickers on the back next to each other
Checked in and went up to my room for a shower & change, then caught up with the cricket coverage. Traipsed down to the bar at around 1425hrs, to find one bloke sat at the bar, smoking - as there was a VTS bag on the floor near him, I suspected he might've been around for the social so said hello, but that was it (you know how it is when you're not quite sure about introducing yourself ). I saw Pix coming into the bar and recognised him from the i-Fly feature - introduced myself, and then found out that the other bloke at the bar was indeed PaulS - a fellow Northerner, so no translation required
Pix handed us our name badges, and we sat and chatted over a pint for a little while - Onionz came in and introduced himself. Not long after this, we reckoned it was time to empty the goodie bags out of Pix's car and haul them on over to The Pheasant.
The Pheasant
Arrived here at around 1515hrs to find that Buffers, Arfortune and Jonathan had already arrived and commandeered a table in the beer garden in the beautiful sunshine (good move guys [8D]). More members arrived as the afternoon progressed (Ian, Chefknife, buns4vs, Pegitt, Nottingham Nick, Derby Dave, RichardMannion, Decker - have I covered everybody?). The landlord came out to have a chat with us, and generally we all sat around chatting, enjoying the nice beer (and bar snacks where applicable) and the sunshine. What a great pub! A raffle ticket was drawn for each member as they arrived, with them receiving the matching goodie-bag, full of VS/VTS/VF treats
Buffers & arfortune had to leave early (hadn't obtained the correct documentation for the night ), and took the opportunity when we headed off for the bowling alley (thanks for the lift Ian ).
Bowling
An excellent laugh - I was on the same team as buns4vs, onionz, Pegitt and Decker. The only downspot was the jobsworth that kept telling us to move our beer back behind the bowling area and use the "proper" ashtrays (weird). Decker won the highest single game score with a 159 (IIRC, PaulS came second with 154), and picked up an A340-600 model from Pix as his prize. The 2 hours passed very quickly, and we headed back to The Pheasant for dinner (who drove us back there - I'm thinking it was Ian again?)
The Pheasant Restaurant
Hmmm, not quite remembering a lot of this - especially not sure about how I ended up with a pint of Guinness - LOL! ISTR that the food was excellent - I had lamb, which arrived looking more like half a sheep Don't know what time we left here to head back to the Ibis for a final few drinks (thanks buns for the lift ).
Ibis pII
Pix, Decker, Pegitt, PaulS, Jonathan, buns4vs and myself (again, is that everybody?) settled into the bar area to add more alcohol to the bloodstream - although buns4vs was leaving early (driving), Jonathan decided to stay at the hotel, even if he hadn't planned to
A very enjoyable wind-down to the evening passed quickly, accompanied by some nice scenery. One by one, folks started disappearing off to bed. Decker was last seen staggering off with 3/4 of a bottle of red wine, leaving two to remain in the bar (myself & Pegitt keeping the side up), before retiring at ~0130hrs (I had some difficulty keeping my eyes open)
In summary, good advance research by Decker saw us in top venues, and with excellent company it made for a cracking afternoon/evening & night - thanks everybody, it was great to meet you all and put faces (& personalities) to names - bring on the next one
Cheers
Michael
Pictures of the event are being posted in the People section of the Photo Gallery.Ibis pI
I arrived at the Ibis Hotel at around 1330hrs and parked my l'il red Matiz next to Pix's Cappucino - 2 small red cars with V-F stickers on the back next to each other
Checked in and went up to my room for a shower & change, then caught up with the cricket coverage. Traipsed down to the bar at around 1425hrs, to find one bloke sat at the bar, smoking - as there was a VTS bag on the floor near him, I suspected he might've been around for the social so said hello, but that was it (you know how it is when you're not quite sure about introducing yourself ). I saw Pix coming into the bar and recognised him from the i-Fly feature - introduced myself, and then found out that the other bloke at the bar was indeed PaulS - a fellow Northerner, so no translation required Pix handed us our name badges, and we sat and chatted over a pint for a little while - Onionz came in and introduced himself. Not long after this, we reckoned it was time to empty the goodie bags out of Pix's car and haul them on over to The Pheasant.
The Pheasant
Arrived here at around 1515hrs to find that Buffers, Arfortune and Jonathan had already arrived and commandeered a table in the beer garden in the beautiful sunshine (good move guys [8D]). More members arrived as the afternoon progressed (Ian, Chefknife, buns4vs, Pegitt, Nottingham Nick, Derby Dave, RichardMannion, Decker - have I covered everybody?). The landlord came out to have a chat with us, and generally we all sat around chatting, enjoying the nice beer (and bar snacks where applicable) and the sunshine. What a great pub! A raffle ticket was drawn for each member as they arrived, with them receiving the matching goodie-bag, full of VS/VTS/VF treats
Buffers & arfortune had to leave early (hadn't obtained the correct documentation for the night ), and took the opportunity when we headed off for the bowling alley (thanks for the lift Ian ). Bowling
An excellent laugh - I was on the same team as buns4vs, onionz, Pegitt and Decker. The only downspot was the jobsworth that kept telling us to move our beer back behind the bowling area and use the "proper" ashtrays (weird). Decker won the highest single game score with a 159 (IIRC, PaulS came second with 154), and picked up an A340-600 model from Pix as his prize. The 2 hours passed very quickly, and we headed back to The Pheasant for dinner (who drove us back there - I'm thinking it was Ian again?)
The Pheasant Restaurant
Hmmm, not quite remembering a lot of this - especially not sure about how I ended up with a pint of Guinness - LOL! ISTR that the food was excellent - I had lamb, which arrived looking more like half a sheep
Don't know what time we left here to head back to the Ibis for a final few drinks (thanks buns for the lift ).Ibis pII
Pix, Decker, Pegitt, PaulS, Jonathan, buns4vs and myself (again, is that everybody?) settled into the bar area to add more alcohol to the bloodstream - although buns4vs was leaving early (driving), Jonathan decided to stay at the hotel, even if he hadn't planned to
A very enjoyable wind-down to the evening passed quickly, accompanied by some nice scenery
. One by one, folks started disappearing off to bed. Decker was last seen staggering off with 3/4 of a bottle of red wine, leaving two to remain in the bar (myself & Pegitt keeping the side up), before retiring at ~0130hrs (I had some difficulty keeping my eyes open) In summary, good advance research by Decker saw us in top venues, and with excellent company it made for a cracking afternoon/evening & night - thanks everybody, it was great to meet you all and put faces (& personalities) to names - bring on the next one
Cheers
Michael
