Many thanks to all who made the first Cambridge S&B such a success.
And by ‘all’ we do not mean ourselves as the organisers but really everyone who was there on Saturday.
Many of you made clear that The Castle Inn was a good choice, certainly helped by the fact that the weather was nice (which made it possible to sit outside – a real plus).
We were very pleased by the large number of attendants (about 55) but it never felt cramped, we thought.
Familiar names and faces, yes, but also quite a few first-timers - some had to travel a long way (think Lancashire, Cheshire or even Dublin).
For the ‘ordinary solver’ it must have been nice to see so many setters turning up as well – great!
A special Thank You to John H for presenting once more an inspiring pub quiz.
We know that Big Dave took pictures throughout the day. No doubt, they will appear on his website in due course. If others took photographs and are willing to share these, a message below would be very much appreciated.
And as it is Sunday 26 April today, a Hip Hip Hooray for Lynette!
Sil, Phil, Jon
Thank you to the 3 of you for organising such a great event. The Cambridge tour was very good tour, thanks to our two expert guides.
Happy Birthday to ‘Joyce’ from me too.
Thanks again to the 3 for organising a great afternoon in Cambridge.
Brilliant afternoon, where I enjoyed meeting some new faces and was sorry to have to be a party pooper and leave early.
The goss is (and I got it from la bouche du cheval) is that John H is organising the next one in York. But you didn’t hear that from me.
Many thanks to Sil and other organisers. And to John for the quiz! It was good to renew earlier contacts and make new ones.
May I add my thanks to Sil, Phil, and Jon for organising this. Particularly pleasing to see many new faces, esp quite a few solvers. A really good venue and I thought the food was excellent. And thanks to John Henderson for the quiz.
Many thanks to the Cambridge coterie for another brilliant event – you even arranged the weather, against all the indications.
As others have said, great to see so many new faces to fit names to – and some new names as well.
Many thanks to John H for another great quiz – I thought you were quite kind to us! Sorry you had to dash off.
K’s D @3 – apparently 24th is a likely date, according to the Crossword Centre mnessage board.
Thanks for all the organisation, the walking tour and the birthday wishes, all much appreciated.
The venue and beer were both excellent and it was good meeting new and old friends again.
York sounds good John! We look forward to hearing from you – we hope you managed to catch your train.
PS: 24th OCTOBER, that is
Thanks to the 3 of you for organising such an enjoyable event in such a nice pub. Kath and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We have a wedding to attend on the 24th October but if the date should change….
Thanks to Sil, Jon and Phil for organising everything. Nice venue and a great day overall.
Hope it isn’t 24th October !
Thanks to Sil, Phil and Jon for organising – wish I could have been there too, glad to hear it was enjoyable as expected.
Many thanks to the three organisers for a very enjoyable day. Always nice to put a few more faces to names. Look forward to the next one.
Big thanks to Sil Phil and Jon for an exceptionally well organised operation, and for all those who made me (& Molly – 20 yr old daughter who came to give me courage to meet all you scary people) so welcome. It was so good to finally meet most of the characters I ‘see’ here every day, and fascinating to talk to (and buy a drink for!) some of the many setters who came up for the day.
Special thanks to Eileen for the warm welcome and for introducing me to everyone, to Kathryn’s Dad for cleverly thinking of introducing Molly to tupu, and to tupu for being such a charming and interesting person and looking after her so well.
For those who haven’t been to one of these before and might hesitate to bring a +1, Molly doesn’t know a crossword from a chessboard, yet had a wonderful afternoon – as did I.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I just don’t seem to be able to leave any social event without at least once having completely put my foot in it. Saturday’s classic was saying to John Henderson “Ah, The Inquisitor…isn’t that the one in The Sunday Telegraph?” His pained/slightly withering look will stay for a while in the memory. And the afternoon had been going so well!
Thanks again to all who organised, and all we met. The only tiny suggestion I would make for the next one is to have the name badges much bigger for the many of us whose eyesight is on the wane…to avoid us having to keep diving into each other’s bosoms! (And with a memory like mine, that could be several times in one conversation!).
Many thanks Sil, Jon & Phil for Saturday and, of course, to John H for yet another great quiz. It was lovely to catch up with people again – and meet many new people too. Looking forward to the next one already.
@Limeni, apologies for the small print size, will try harder next time whenever that may be. Thanks all for coming and making a silly thought last October a fantastic reality. Roll on York.
Re #14 and #16, a suggestion would be that a printed sheet would be given out on entry listing all those who said they might attend, with info on pseudonyms etc. Name badges to continue to be used as well.
My thanks to everyone involved with Saturday’s meeting. John’s quiz was beyond me — what? no questions about Carl Nielsen!?
It was well worth making the journey from Crewe, and as so many have said, it was lovely to see old friends and meet new folk. If the next meeting is indeed planned for October 24th, that would be great and I will be there (birth of our second grandchild permitting!) — and you can all then consider coming to deepest Cornwall the following weekend for my annual crossword event at Budock Vean Hotel near Falmouth which starts on Sunday evening, November 1st.
Niall, this is actually a thing I thought about but didn’t discuss with Jon and Phil.
A couple of week ago, I went to a conference marking the 90th anniversary of the ‘Dutch Society of Maths Teachers’ and they did a similar thing – and I liked it.
So, yes, that would be something to improve on next time.
And, Maskarade, John’s quiz was beyond me too.
My only contribution was a disappointing ‘minus 1’ for my team.
Fortunately, in particular Claire and Mitz made me forget about that.
No Nielsen, no?
I hope you will have the time of your life next weekend in Copenhagen.
I know what it means to you.
Meanwhile, great that you liked it here in Cambridge!
Sil @20 – that’s very kind of you. Unfortunately, though, my contribution was writing down the answers that Mitz gave me! [Hopefully, this won’t go to his head.]
Limeni at no 14. I was pleased to meet you and Molly on Saturday, and having the chance to introduce Molly to tupu allows me to use one of my favourite words in English: serendipity. Dr Abrahams (aka tupu) is always a welcoming and charming host. He was kind enough when Mary-Rose (Kathryn’s sister) was thinking of applying to Cambridge to give us a tour of his college and to talk to Mary-Rose about the course she was thinking of doing. And two years down the line, she’s loving it.
(See what I did there? Name-checked another child on Fifteensquared. I’ll forward this thread to her to slightly assuage my guilt at using only the eldest child’s name as my moniker.)
Allow me to add to all the thank-yous, to the organisers and our estimable quiz master. A very enjoyable afternoon.
My first visit to Cambridge couldn’t have been more memorable.
The Castle was indeed a perfect venue, the sun shone, the company (old friends and new) was warm, welcoming, witty …
Sincere thanks to Sil, Jon, `flash` and all.
(Where did the time go? And how did I not meet Tupu..?)