FIBS London gathering for August

[alef]

FIBS London gathering webpage

Saturday August 28th there will be a gathering of FIBS players in London. Tournaments with prizes and a specially made trophy will be organized, additionally there will be people informally getting together on Friday and Sunday.

All FIBS players are invited! The event is being organized by diane, gogogiz and myself, please let one of us know if you're interested in coming as that helps us get a good idea of numbers, the more the merrier!

The main venue will be Spice Island in Rotherithe, southeast London. This large pub has both a garden if the weather's good and plenty of room for playing inside. There's also a youth hostel nearby for those needing a reasonably priced play to stay.

I'm editing this fist post so that people have the key info without reading through the full thread... [12 July]




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[Written 9 May:]

Kari will be coming over to London in August and this is an excellent excuse to have a live London tournament/get together!  :beer:

Who?
Everyone is invited! So who's interested?

When?
There seems to be a preference for either a Friday or Saturday, we could even be ambitious and plan events for both. We're plenty early now, but will need to pick a specific date...

Where?
I have a natural bias towards meeting at the Fox Reformed. Advantages: it's a great bg club/wine bar/restaurant already, some of the regulars there also play on FIBS. Disadvantages: it's a bit tricky to get to by public transport, it's also rather small and fills up. They have a small patio in back which is great to use when the weathers good in summer. There's also Ryan's bar across the street which has a much bigger beer garden and large downstairs.

[diane]

Substitute 'a pain in the ass' for 'tricky' to get to !!

Anyway - i will be there - by some means - i do like the fox - but it is small - as you say - and very expensive!!

The pub Mike held the november tourney in was much bigger, and easy i think for most to get to.  We could reserve an area upstairs - which has nice tables suited to playing on - would need to get an idea of numbers i guess first.

It is Spice Island in Rotherithe.  Just a suggestion though - i expect there will be others

You can get a look at it here

http://www.backpacker-backgammon.com/LiL03/venue_pub.html

And some travel info - and peoples comments here

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/show.shtml/1985

[gogogiz]

 hello everyone

i think a tourney is brilliant and i would also like to see it happpen at the
Spice Island in Rotherithe.

so count me in..  

[burper]

Hey, if marvin ever makes it to one of these fibs parties, ask him this for me: "Is the FIBS system being left to anyone in your will?"

[alef]

Hey, if marvin ever makes it to one of these fibs parties, ask him this for me: "Is the FIBS system being left to anyone in your will?"

Hasn't it essentially already been left to Patti? Unfortunately I'd be surprised to see him again, he was rather shy and left early last time. I've always regretted not having asked him more questions about the future plans for FIBS. The only topic I pushed him on was the lack of password retrieval and he responded with pride that the current system is foolproof to others stealing nicks and saves him and Patti from having to deal with people losing passwords.

[alef]

diane and I are planning the central event for August 28th, with plans for people who are interested to also meet up on the 27th and 29th. Our likely venue is in Rotherhithe (southeast London) which has both a large pub with a nice garden and a nearby hostel for those visiting town.

We hope to organize various tournaments....  

[webrunner]

Post it in the event calendar please!

[mrbond]

MrBond....

Good on you alef for taking the responsibility of organising a fibs-members live bg event in UK!

And thank you diane for venue suggestion, which sounds very promising. It is a good choice of location, with transport accessibility and the option of a nearby husstle.

I just wanted to remind you alef, that it is the August Bank-holiday weekend, and as such, many venues do get booked for events..... so DO BOOK EARLY!!!!

With that in mind, fibsters from other parts of the world, who shall be flocking to this gathering, should be made aware too, thus booking their relevant arrangements in good time!!

I have been telling most players I play with about this event, so am taking care of the marketing aspect, but if I can be of any further assistance, do let me know.

[EddieVedd]

Green with envy and wishing i could just duck over to GB for the do

If there's any way you can set up a webcam prior to the event i would be keen to have a long distance beer with you all and could feed back images from my place also !

I understand this may be difficult , i guess it depends on how accomodating the publican is  <_<    

Anyway, enjoy  :guitar:  

[diane]

Not to mention who would actually stand in front of that camera  Count me out on that one!!

[burper]

You have to at least stick a fingernail into one of the pics diane.
I'm putting my foot down right now. If you don't, I swear...

[diane]

You will have to come along and make me then    

[alef]

I've made a little logo for the event and put together a webpage:
www.alef.co.uk/fibs

The most useful thing to know now is a general idea of who's going to be there as there's definitely a momentum factor: the more who may come, the more others feel inclined to join. If I've forgotten you off the list please let me know!

Now that we have a basic page I'll publicize the event on rec.games.backgammon and a few other places to grab the attention of some lesser active FIBS players. Also want to add more to the page about the specific tournaments and links for the nearby hostel...

[toks]

Great idea,

i'm in

toks  

[adrian]

where am I then???  

[alef]

Excellent! We're looking like we'll have a really good turnout. Page updated...    

[jag]

Silly question, I know, but what sort of times will things be getting underway on the various days?

[diane]

This is still to be finalised - I am hoping to use information supplied by those who are coming along to help pick the best times for all.  Where people are coming from, and what time they can make it by - that sort of thing.  Friday is likely to be an early evening affair - perhaps 6 or 7 ish until closing.  Saturday I would like to get underway by midday if possible, since the tournament i propose to run will need around 8-9 hours to complete (on a good day   ) and then we can wind down and have fun games for the rest of the evening.  Sunday I am still a little unsure about - since the visitors who have told me of their plans seem to be off midafternoon, and as i am doing an airport run on sunday around 3 ish, so it will be up to alef and gogo to hold the fort.

We are still planning the details - as i say -and it is helpful if people can give us as much information as possible. We will be posting as much as we can on the webpage - so keep your eyes on that!    

[Hardy_whv]

Hi everyone,


I am happy to say: I WILL JOIN THE PARTY!  I intend to bring myself, a backgammon board and good weather with me.  

And  - sorry diane - ...  I am planning to take my camera with me. But as you know, only your fingernails make it into my photos. I promise I will stick to that policy in London! :agree:

According the time schedule, I think, having an informal warm-up come-together on friday evenening and an more official [yet no tie required] part, including the tourney, on saturday is a good plan  

As I leave early sunday, I wont take part in any activities that day.

I am still looking for a nice hotel, not too far from the venue with good public transport connections to the city center, not too expensive, but at the same time with appropriate comfort for a man of my age   Any recommendations anyone?

Looking forward!


Hardy  

 

[lewscannon]

I am still looking for a nice hotel, not too far from the venue with good public transport connections to the city center, not too expensive, but at the same time with appropriate comfort for a man of my age   Any recommendations anyone?

I believe that shuggie's sister has a boarding house that you might like. They have daily, as well as hourly rates.