S & B London – thank you for a great event

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Some setters are better than others, and some crossword gatherings are better than others.
Today’s S & B was simply fantastic for which huge thanks to, who else, John Henderson and Sue Taylor (aka dirkybee)!
As there was no announcement at Fifteensquared, I didn’t know what to expect but the journey to Kings Cross (great venue!) was worth every penny.
For those who didn’t know this event was on the agenda anyway: see beery hiker’s explanation in comment @5.

Many familiar faces (from beery hiker to Liz, from Mitz to Polly, from Flashling to ClaireS), some new faces (at least for me) like Vavatch, newmarketsausage or Simon S.  
Quite a lot of setters, many from the Indy stable (Tyrus, Hoskins, Knut, Donk, Rorschach, of course Nimrod and Eimi himself).
How lovely to meet Tramp again, and Picaroon, and especially Arachne.
I am writing this post 11 hours after I left my Cambridge home this morning, or, if you prefer, several gallons of Cornish cider later.
I enjoyed the event very very much.
The tireless Mick in Ely was our in-house photographer today and I hope that he will make his shots available to all, here or elsewhere.

 

14 comments on “S & B London – thank you for a great event”

  2. As a debutant I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the whole event was delightful, and I enjoyed it from start to finish.

    Great to meet setters as well as bloggers/commenters: hearty thanks to all involved, both organisationally and attendingly (sic).

  3. Sounds great – as these ‘dos’ always are – just sorry not to have heard about it before the event. 😉

  5. This event was largely organised via the Guardian comments page but drew a wider group than their previous gatherings – so if you don’t follow that you may not have heard anything. There was talk of doing it again next year too…

  6. Thanks for the explanation, beery hiker: it just seemed odd for thanks to be expressed here for an event that hadn’t been advertised here. Perhaps next time… 😉

  7. Before we’ll get a discussion here on the point Eileen is making, I would like to add the following.

    I knew about this event through a chain of emails in which all those involved in organising any form of crossword meetings, including ‘our’ S&Bs, tried to find the best dates for 2016.
    Until tonight I did not know that the London do was initiated on the Guardian website (as I do not follow that thread very closely).
    I thought, John H was the organiser and that he simply forgot to give it a mention at Fifteensquared.
    With no deliberate intention to exclude this site.
    In the Parcel Yard pub there were a lot of people, perhaps even a majority, that we also see on ‘our’ S&Bs.
    Therefore I did not find it inappropriate to write this ‘Thank You’ post.

    Solvers who comment here, may do so on the Guardian thread too – and vice versa.
    And for example, at the Cambridge S&B were also those who usually comment at the Guardian website.
    Funny enough, I thought The Independent was well served too yesterday.
    In the end, it was a meeting in which everyone was welcome – no ‘us and them’.
    But, of course, I agree, it was unfortunate that it wasn’t announced at Fifteensquared.

    By the way 1, if you like to know which events will be organised in the forthcoming months, you could go to Big Dave’s site where there is a Crossword Event Calendar [the result of the abovementioned think tank]. You will find the date for the next Derby S&B in there as well: 14 May 2016.
    By the way 2, when clicking on 9 January 2016 (the London S&B), it tells you: for more information, see www. fifteensquared.net …………

    Don’t shoot me, I’m only the piano player. [Am I?]
    Honestly, I feel for metatron and Eileen (and possibly others).
    Especially, since this really was one of the best S&Bs I went to.

  8. Sil,
    It was a great pleasure to meet you and so many others at King’s Cross yesterday; thanks for posting this.
    warmest regards,
    Rob/baerchen/Knut

  9. Sil,

    Please don’t worry – the only reason I posted my “explanation” above was because I sympathised with Eileen, and was genuinely sorry that nobody invited her. No criticism of you or of the organisers was intended.

  10. This was originally a get-together arranged by a few of us on the Guardian site. It grew to include others but as Baer says it was a pleasure to meet everyone.

  11. beery hiker @9 – that’s really sweet of you. I never suggested I would have expected a *personal* invitation. 😉

    And I really am glad you all had a great time.

  12. Clearly a ‘chain of emails’ invited people acceptable to the organiser, ‘John Henderson’, outside of 15 squared.

    That’s okay. Whoever ‘John’ is can invite whoever he likes, to HIS meet. But with respect, he, or his invitees, can’t then genuinely solicit responses for the quality of HIS meet via 15/2. No-one from 15/2 was invited via the website, and so no-one here, unless privately invited, had any chance to attend.

    I’m really surprised that this thread has been allowed.

  13. Thanks to Beery for the explanation, but it’s a bit galling to read the glowing reports of this event on fifteensquared when it (deliberately?) wasn’t advertised here.

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