Warrington meet-up, Saturday 18th April, 2pm approx.

[dirtydids]

2009 isnt going very well for me regarding "MEETS"

I missed the London Meet through a last minute crisis at work and now i am missing this meet i am afraid folks because its actually my Birthday on the 18th and there is noway i will be able to get to Warrington.

Dids

[muckypup]

Hi all,

So how many have we actually got confirmed for this Northern splunch? I'm not sure how many people have replied to claymore but so far as I know there are 4 or 5 confirmed.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but is this just an extremely unfortunate weekend to arrange this for or are people just not really up for a Northern meet? I only ask because it is a bit of a struggle getting this going.

Has anyone got any suggestions as to what could be changed in order for them to be more likely to come? (hope I'm not treading on anyones toes here or repeating old conversations!)

Pup

[BillShipton]

Speaking personally, it is just a very awkward weekend (my Dads' 87th birthday and my Mum & Dads diamond wedding anniversary). I seriously fancy a trip to meet the Northern members and I certainly think they should be able to have a meet of their own.

[Lizzie_Claymore]

I suspect it might just be 'one of those things' as far as the actual date goes, as Bill says.

I haven't heard anything from my query on what happened to the post about this meet on UMD that just disappeared so I might just go ahead and try another and see if it goes the same way.

I think we need to just plod on for a bit and keep gathering people in. Even the very first northern meet years ago with just me and Wamadeus was still worthwhile as we had a great discussion and a very entertaining time.

We've managed a reasonable number of people in the past so I don't see why we shouldn't do so again. (Having said that, I wonder if we're starting to see the first effects of the recession on the Wammers' World?)

Regards,
C_W

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The UK Regional WAM e-Mail Notification Groups

[andy250]

Its just not orgainsed properly, as several people have stated its excactly the same time of year as 2008 so the same things will
be happening esp were birthdays are concerened. Move the date, its only 3 weeks today since the London meet. Times are hard, nobody has the money to go to meets every other month. Plus Warrington is not the most hospitable place I have visited.

Your not in a city, your in a town, thus restricting transport services, hotels, etc. We even struggled to the find pub last time we visited.

All these reason will add up, thus the meet being quiet.

regards

Andy

[muckypup]

Thanks for the feedback Andy, I think the dates were chosen to not conflict with other meets around the country, and are at a set time so people know when they are, but maybe these need looking at. I have to confess I don't generally know when they are going to be and I would probably just be better with a few weeks/months notice, but maybe I'm just disorganised!

So far as I can tell there are probably only 3 main meets? London, Brighton and Warrington? Maybe it would be enough to have a Warrington/Northern one once a year until it takes off?

I think Warrington was chosen as it has good road/rail/air links and it is a great location for a lot of us, and not far from people in Manchester/Liverpool, but perhaps it would be easier for people to meet in Manchester or Liverpool?

As claymore says I think we'll keep plugging away for now to create some momentum like London has; much appreciation must go to claymore because I know how busy he is!

Any more feedback gratefully accepted!

[Lizzie_Claymore]

Interesting points, Andy. Thanks for your thoughts.

Just to clarify, the reason the dates are the same was the idea that holding it on the 3rd Saturday in April & October (i.e. 6 months apart) means that people should at least always be able to work out when the next meet is so that they can try to leave themselves clear at that time, though it will take a few years before that's fully engrained into the consciousness of most people I suspect. These meets have been consistently on these dates for the last 3 years and they are published on the linked page, so one could hardly accuse this meet of popping up randomly.

The fact that it's only a few weeks away from a previously held meet in London is, perhaps, somewhat unfortunate but another random date to add to the other meets that don't have fixed dates would seem far more likely to produce a potential clash. Indeed, you have perfectly exemplified the point that I have consistently made, which is that if we could arrange all our meetings around the country in a fixed pattern such as that proposed in The UK Regional WAM e-Mail Notification Groups then we would easily be able to avoid such near clashes. However that has, sadly, not yet found favour and I'm sure that those who attend such meetings are, at least, grateful that someone has taken the trouble to actually organise something, so I wouldn't wish to be too critical of them on that score.

Of course, whenever a meeting is held, it'll always be close to someone's birthday or other event. After all, there's a 1 in 52 chance of someone's birthday being in the same week whenever it's held ... which is rather better odds than the National Lottery!

With regard to the location, as the top post explains, Warrington was chosen specifically because travel to it is so much simpler. For rail travellers, it is on the intersection of the West Coast Main Line (London-Glasgow) and the main Trans-Pennine route (York-Leeds-Manchester-Liverpool). If you'd care to consult the full timetables, I think you'll find that there are actually more trains from a range of locations than go to one city or the other either side, as it is such a busy 'through route'. Similarly, for car drivers, it lies on the intersection of the M6 for North-South, the M62 for trans-Pennine and the M56 for North Wales. There is actually no better-served location in the North-west (which is why it expanded and prospered as a New Town in the 1960s). [Incidentally, in case you wonder, no I don't live near there either but I also find it much more convenient to drive there on the motorway than I would to a big city and parking is a lot cheaper and simpler too.] The main bus station for the area is about 100 yards anyway, btw. Even Liverpool Airport is only about 20 mins away and, as a major hub for Easyjet & Ryan Air, that even allows those from Northern Ireland to get there easily, as DD demonstrated previously.

As far as the numbers go, we have in the past had comparable numbers with those that Miss Helen used to get at Leeds (the last of which I managed to make) but I don't think you'll ever get a regional one that will compare with London, no matter when and where you hold it, simply because London is so huge and easy to get to from nearly anywhere. I'm sure Wamadeus will recall the meeting in Manchester a few years ago - only he and I were there, so that does rather go to show that a city is no guarantee of a busy meeting. We've done much better since we moved to Warrington, in fact.

Yes, I remember you and Jammed had to be guided in by phone last time, though I recall that there was some puzzlement (and not a little amusement) by everyone already there (who didn't seem to have endured any problem) as to how your satnav system was unable to find a pub slap in the middle of town on the busiest main pedestrianised thoroughfare!

Regards,
C_W.

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The UK Regional WAM e-Mail Notification Groups

[Smiley]

Hello,

It’s great to see other meets advertised in the region. I am surprised that considering this is designed primarily for people living in the north west area, that hardly anyone local bothers to attend which is a great shame.

I found it a nice refreshing change to attend a Warrington meet. But I would like to supply some feedback as suggested.

The town is nice enough to visit, but it is small ish, so now I have visited the town once, ive seen all there is to see. Warrington does not seem to have much to offer for the tourist. I know the meets are initially designed for people in that area, but it’s nice to see people attend from all over (as with the London Meets).

To get to the meet for 2pm meant for me an early start to travel up (something which might put others off traveling from a distance?), and I seemed to have no time before hand to check the town out, grab something to eat and check in to the hotel ect, it all was a bit tight schedule to get to the pub for 2pm.

I also found once the meet finished at 6pm on a Saturday evening, there was nothing much else to do in Warrington. Also no one else wanted to hang around for dinner or to try out a few local pubs ect.

My suggestion, maybe shift the meet time from its current slot to a new time which leaks into the evening a bit more such at 4-7ish, this means people doing a day trip can still head back home in good time and others staying over will have more time to travel up, and finishing at 7pm means people are more likely to want to stay around to check out some local pubs or restaurants for dinner.

I think the meet could do with a local volunteer guide who maybe knows Warrington and surround areas well enough to take other around after the meet, and show what the towns have to offer.

All in all this still has plenty of potential and I would love to see this develop more over the years, It just needs to build up a good reputation and a bit of a following.

Better to leave feedback now so the meet has a better chance of success in the future.

Many thanks for your time.

J

[Lizzie_Claymore]

Hi J.

Thanks for that - some interesting points you made there.

Yes, I think you are right in saying that this meeting is designed for people in the region to get there and back within the day and, therefore, it hasn't really been designed with those travelling long distance and staying overnight in mind, as that's not the primary thrust. (Ooooh er, Missus!) To be honest, I'm always amazed that people would travel the length of the country for such a meeting - I can't justify that for myself though I'm delighted that some can and do. Obviously, the less distance people have to travel, the more likely they are to come so I would hope that we'll continue to attract people from the major conurbations of the north-west, at least (Liverpool, Manchester, Preston etc.)

I agree that a town like Warrington is not exactly known for its tourism either(!), though again as you say, that wasn't really what this meeting was aimed at and for those purely travelling to the meeting then getting back home a.s.a.p. (which would apply to the majority), that isn't really an issue as they don't have time to sightsee.

For those travelling from (say) Cumbria, the western Scottish borders or Northern Island (which are in this WAM group's catchment area), the timings if later could be a little tricky - trains returning to outlying parts tend to become more scarce later on. However, there is certainly nothing to stop people staying on in town if they want to, or even driving the 20 mins (or taking the train for 30 mins) the short distance to Liverpool or Manchester for the evening, both of which are served very well by the transport links, Warrington being half way between the two. We did actually stay on a bit later a couple of times but found that after about 6.30/7pm, you tend to start to get the 'Saturday night mob' coming in, the music in the venue went up to deafening proportions etc. so those of us who were left gave up as we were unable to converse anyway.

However, your point about 'leaking into the evening' is an interesting idea and one I think we should consider for those who want to do so, as is the idea of having an evening host to tour round the better locations. (Pup - are you local to the area? Would you want to do that ... or does anyone else?) The snag now is that we've already advertised this one on several boards from 2pm (approx.) so I don't know that we could change at this stage too easily, though it's something we could certainly discuss for next time.

The timing is undoubtedly tricky when you're trying to create something that allows people to come from as large a catchment area as possible without having to stay overnight. Maybe we should say something like "arrive between 3 and 4 and stay as long as you wish".

The old saying is true - "You can't please all of the people all of the time" ..... though at least we're actually having a go!

All good stuff. Ta!

C_W.

[muckypup]

Hi all,

Only 2 weeks to go until the next Warrington meet, so I guess we should try and find out who is coming to THE northern WAM event of the year (possibly)

Who's definitely going to make it down and who's arms can we twist? If anyone needs any more information or help with logistics let me or Claymore know.

Hope to see you all there,

Pup

[Lizzie_Claymore]

Yes, hoping to see people coming along for a pint and a chat. Don't forget to dig out an OS (or other) map for ID. (Always handy for pointing out where the best mud is, of course! )

[Lizzie_Claymore]

Ah! Only a week to go and a redesign of the UMD site (where the map images were stored) means that they've now disappeared so I've had to upload them again.

[muckypup]

Just in case thats not enough maps:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 09656&z=17

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

[muckypup]

Don't forget the Warrington meet is this Saturday from 2pm!

[andy250]

How many people are going to this?

regards

Andy