2020 secured at the Ashes

[Rob]

I have now spoken to the pub owner Doug and thanked him for letting us have the field in 2019, and told him we would like to do the same again in 2020.

He has no issues with us and is happy to let us continue, I told him reports from owners who had used the pub say how good the food is now.

Doug told me that business at the Ashes is tight as he tries to build the trade back up but he seems determined to do it so good luck to him, and it will be good for us to get some continuity of pub management.

He did say that a local Ford Transit enthusiasts club ( a few of them were on the other car park when we had the October Nano ) are also keen to hold meets there and when he gets our dates for next year he may try and combine the 2 together, hopefully that will mean having meets on the same day and not them coming into our space and for them to use the other car park but as we are having it for free not much we can do, so will have to plan as we always do and see how it goes.

There is no mention of money at all, so I dont think that we will need to start charging say £2 per car to attend, but it has been suggested that we give the owner something for himself out of Nano funds to keep him sweet, either in form of cash or maybe gift vouchers.

As we run the Nano's largely by consensus I would be grateful for your thoughts on this so whatever we do or dont do becomes a collective decision by mainly the crew but also other owners.

The next social meet is on Tuesday 17th November and I hope to see some of you there, the one following that is on Tuesday 17th December and we are hoping to have a Xmas meal at that one which will need to be booked so please post on here if you are interested in that

[Bernard]

Great news!
The best way to keep the landlord sweet is to use the pub, I would suggest.

[woolleysox]

Thanks for the update I would like to see the nano continue so good news. I’m happy to go with the flow but I’m not against a gesture to pub boss either. I’m also happy to support pub with a Christmas meal

[sewerman]

Great news

I think a donation wouldn't go amiss as we have the funds for it but remember if we do it once we will have to continue as long as Doug is there

Now get some dates out so I can bag the calender before the missus does

[Jürgen]

That's good news!

We should encourage attendees to join the meals by mentioning it at a prominent position in the first announcement of every Nano meet.

but I’m not against a gesture to pub boss either.

[ARCTIC]

Hi Rob/guys & Gals.
Very good news I had no doubt myself that Doug would not let us have the field, I also agree with Bernard it would be best to start to use the pub for our lunches, maybe get back to having more of us turn up at the Saturday evening meal as we used too.

Again I agree with Scott once you volunteer to pass money over for a good will gesture for use of the field there is no turning back, he could then ask for payment for the field at every meet, who knows what price he would like, I say only pay for field if we are asked to, we also need to remember or take on board if we did offer money or vouchers, if the word was passed onto the next manager or owner who takes the FA in the future we could well be negotiating a price every meet or year that we use the field.

I am in the frame of mind use the pub more while we are there, I am sure a few of us are going to turn up at the next social, and we are having a December social with thoughts of making it our Christmas meal something we used to do before as well, but we must understand it's no good going to these social meets and staying there for 2-3 hours and only having one drink each between us, I have said before it does not look good, I know that at times meals were not being served in that case we have nowt to be guilty over, therefore I stand on the side of stay as we are but use the pub more.

PS Scott.
I emailed /PM Rob with 2020 meet dates a few nights ago I presume he is looking through them, remembering that they are only my suggestions, they can be played with so they do not clash with the Longbridge meets, and OC meets if we had too.

[squire]

Thanks Rob for great news regarding the Nano meets for next year. As others have said, I think it best not to offer money or a gift for the use of the field unless necessary, it could also have an impact on other car clubs that may want to meet there, the Transit Enthusiasts for instance.

Showing support for the pub by money over the bar would be best, and encouraging attendees at the Nano meets would help, even if only a drink and sandwich were bought. The Nano social nights need a bump start, attendances have been poor for the last couple of years, what Steve said is true to a degree that we only buy one maybe two drinks each in the couple of hours were there, the odd meal is had from time to time, so not much in the way of takings. What does help is seeing regular faces and cars in the car park, not many people will stop on the off chance if the car park is empty. The pub will struggle to get a good name again and people in the pub and cars in the car park is a good advert to start with. The social nights were intended as a social get together firstly and a way to show the pub some support in some small way, every little helps as is said, it would be good to get back to the old days.

A word of caution though, we don't want to seem too "pushy" when trying to encourage attendees at the Nano to use the pub.

Martyn

[ARCTIC]

Great news

Now get some dates out so I can bag the calender before the missus does

Hi Scott
here you are the dates I have put forward, as I did last year some were changed around and can also be in 2020 if need be if they clash with Longbridge, or OC meets which are only the national anyways.


Below are the suggested meet dates for 2020 which can be debated at the next social meet or posted up and can be changed about if need be

March 21st & 22nd

May 9th & 10th

June 13th & 14th

July 18th & 19th

Sept 12th & 13th

Oct 17th & 18th

[ARCTIC]

Thanks Rob for great news regarding the Nano meets for next year. As others have said, I think it best not to offer money or a gift for the use of the field unless necessary, it could also have an impact on other car clubs that may want to meet there, the Transit Enthusiasts for instance.

Showing support for the pub by money over the bar would be best, and encouraging attendees at the Nano meets would help, even if only a drink and sandwich were bought. The Nano social nights need a bump start, attendances have been poor for the last couple of years, what Steve said is true to a degree that we only buy one maybe two drinks each in the couple of hours were there, the odd meal is had from time to time, so not much in the way of takings. What does help is seeing regular faces and cars in the car park, not many people will stop on the off chance if the car park is empty. The pub will struggle to get a good name again and people in the pub and cars in the car park is a good advert to start with. The social nights were intended as a social get together firstly and a way to show the pub some support in some small way, every little helps as is said, it would be good to get back to the old days.

A word of caution though, we don't want to seem too "pushy" when trying to encourage attendees at the Nano to use the pub.

Martyn

Hi Martyn
What we need to do is when I/we post up the event is let members & owners know that there is an all day breakfast, we also need to know what time that starts from, I certainly did not know until the last meet about the all day breakfast, and on a damp wet September or October a nice hot breakfast would be welcome to quite a few people I should imagine, so yes I will be posting it up once I have found out the times that they are serving the breakfast from, see you all at the next social & our December Xmas meal meet if it goes ahead.

[Rob]

I did mention the availability of an all day breakfast when Doug took over and we were wondering what he would cater for, its a good compromise but I think the issue then was the pub didn't open till 12, it may have changed now he has his feet under the table, we can find out for next year and if they open earlier it becomes a real possibility.

I think it is better for people to go in the pub under their own steam whether for breakfast or otherwise as organising a number of us to have breakfast when the pub opens earlier than usual especially for us is fraught with problems, confirming numbers is one with people dropping out or arriving without any booking, not getting enough people to make it worth the pubs time to open for us is another, and then there are a few who will complain about the food or the price as you cant please everybody