*European WP Meet-Up in London this Summer; When Exactly?*

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E-mail sent.

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Braziers:

15 bedrooms with 27 beds, and space for 500 camping.

But all weekends in August and September are booked, though it "may be possible to share the house and facilities with another group" depending on the size of our group. Invited to telephone next week to discuss this with the "head" of admin, ( who is away this week ). And can not provide prices without more exact details.

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As misslottie and yourself mentioned, we can also try Godstowe, in Buckinghamshire: http://www.godstowe.org/
And Charney Manor: http://www.charneymanor.demon.co.uk/

The Retreat Association website also lists possible venues: http://www.retreats.org.uk/

Great! Another inspiring site.

I love the sound of this place: http://www.thefriars.org.uk/index.html

The prices are amazing too; £24 something for B&B, ( single room ), and £43 for full board if were interested.

It must be my frustrated inner monk that this place appeals to so strongly.

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It seems very good to me too. It is a beautiful place, in beautiful surroundings and in a good location - Quite near Maidstone, Kent, which is close enough to London.

I dont know if this is normal, but I would like to go...

buuuuttt
Just thinking about it makes me anxious, nervous and even starts to make me think how to act and plan everything... At the end I would be so overwhelmed that I end up giving up and not going.

don't worry, we are even wierder than you are, so you could just relax and be yourself - we are all very tolerant towards fellow aspies. We accept each other's eccentricities.

I will e-mail them today.


This thread, and maybe others as we get closer to the meet, are places to express worries about it, agonise about transport issues, rant about having lost something, and generally work stuff through. If it wasn't for Greentea's original thread allowing a bunch of us to brainstorm around the whole idea, and get excited enough to overcome fear, I don't know if these meets would be happening.

It would be lovely to meet you.

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I have just e-mailed The Friars. I really hope we can hold the meet-up there; it looks lovely.

PS. misslottie; I asked about camping too.

this will be great! thanks guys for working so hard on it all!

The Friars, http://www.thefriars.org.uk/ ( near Maidstone, Kent ), replied. The only weekend left ( in August or September ) is 22 - 23 August.

Rates for three nights full-board and a single room, from Friday afternoon to Monday morning after breakfast, would be £138.10. ( sharing a room £132 ).

A meeting room is included in that rate for the Saturday, ( all day ) and Sunday, ( till 4pm ), but if we wanted a meeting room on the Friday afternoon and evening aswell it would cost an extra £130. However there are guest lounges to sit in.

What do people think?

They didn't say no to the camping for people who don't like sleeping in a "strange" room/bed, but they didn't give a price.

Need some feedback from a few people here!

I don't know how far we could go in the booking/reservation process without paying deposits, or whether we should consider individually booking guest rooms, which however would not offer the same guarantee that others would get rooms there later on, nor include the meeting room on Saturday and Sunday.

The rates for individually booked single rooms, with breakfast, is £24 ish, and with full board is £43. So people coming from Saturday morning till Sunday evening would probably only have about £65 - £70 to pay even if ate all meals there.

Please post with feelings/thoughts about The Friars as possible venue, asap, people ! I don't know how long the weekend will remain available.

PS. Commonwork replied too; they charge £81 for full board per 24 hours if do own meal service and clearing up, or £101 if they do that. Way too expensive in other words.

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The thing is, ( thinking aloud here ), whether we chose The Friars or somewhere else, and we still don't know what sort of place will most appeal to people, ( urban/London with London sights and activities, or rural/peaceful with beautiful countryside, a meeting room, and meals provided on site, etc ), we need to:

1) Decide if we will try to block-book something at all, ( Youth Hostel/Retreat Centre, etc, so as to get things like meeting rooms, catering, and guaranteed places for a minimum number at least ), or potluck on a chosen hotel/B&B/campsite ( so long as has chalet/caravan accom. to hire aswell as pitches for tents ), with slightly more flexibility about booking, ( though not much in August ), but no meeting rooms etc.

2) Work out how to organise the logistics of a block booking if we go for that. How to pay deposits etc.

So, three things;

a)Where/what sort of venue/place for the meet-up
b)Whether to book individually or in a group
c)How to block book if we do.

Do people want an urban meet? The London experience? More expensive, less group-friendly, but perhaps more exciting.

Or something more peaceful/rural, less expensive, but also perhaps less exciting?

Your thoughts urgently required!

PS. And whatever we decide we need to move fairly fast because it is nearly March, and there will be fewer and fewer places available.

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In my opinion:
a) Something more peaceful/rural, less expensive. (The Friars on 22-23 August seems excellent to me).
b) Book individually, which would give us more flexibility about booking.
c) If we do block book, I suppose everybody will send their deposits to you, so you could block book for all of us.

I have just started a new thread, with poll, to ask what kind of venue/meeting people want, at:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt91630.html

Please vote to say where you would most like to meet. Thanks.

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I think that we can safely say that August is the month to book/investigate accommodation for! Or?

If it isn't; if you would love to come to a WP meet up in/near London just not in August, please please vote/post to say so. It will help to give us a clearer picture of how many people are interested, and whether we should hold it at another time.

Thank you.

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Please check out latest info about accommodation in this post, and the one after it, on the London venue thread, at:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp2084047.html#2084047

And if you are still seriously interested please post on that thread to say so!

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