South East FRA Region Meeting

Andrews Garrard? Im not a cluster bot, although if youre going off weight...

Good to see everyone (eventually - knew I shouldnt have said the A259 would make it easy to find the place). 160-ish miles from Debenham, and about 2 1/2 hours, plus a bit if you miss and go through Newhaven, should that information help anyone around Easter. Fortunately, it was only 70 miles back home, which makes Brighton very slightly further away from me than Cambridge (which is why Im hoping the East Anglian group will get their act together too).

Thanks for putting up with my newbie questions (including Mike embarrassing me with a novice error with the pivot point for a flipper - I actually *do* know better, but my first combat part failure seems to have been my brain). Interesting to get such a view of the politics in the roboteering community, too - most of its hidden on this site!

Still, thanks to everyone for a friendly welcome to the FRA. Next time we do this, Ill try to get there earlier and mingle with the other half of the table. :-) (And Karolines right - Ian, you didnt look well; speedy recovery!)

Now the question is whether Ill still be able to match names and faces *next* time... I was expecting a small local pub and six or seven people - not something that seats hundreds and four tables worth of roboteers! Ill know for next time. :-)

Looking forward to seeing many of you in action at Debenham (even though Im going to be restricted to the public bits of the event).

Finally, good to put a face to you too, Eddy! Karoline - oh, *that* posting (when you mentioned it, I was trying to connect the tattoo with the women-in-robotics thread). :-)

When shall we, er, about twenty, meet again?

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Fluppet

It was certainly a good meet. We could really do with a pub with a backroom next time, especially if the numbers grow.

Looking forward to the next one.

Paul

My Uncle owns a pub in Brook (near Haslemere) which has a function room. It might be a bit North for some people tho. Thoughts? Its the Dog and Pheasant, Brook.

Eddy, that sounds like a discount talking there.

Mike.

Hiya folks, thanks to everyone who turned up, it was a good evening. I think the final body count was 19, nnn..nnn...nnnn...19! (Gedditt??)

I would suggest end of April for the next meeting, a couple of weeks after Debenhams? Eddy, wheres Haslemere?

Looking forward to the next one

TTFN

Jon.

Also looking forward to it, but advanced warning that Im otherwise occupied on the 24th/25th of April, so if avoiding that weekend would be possible then Id be most chuffed. (Not that Im particularly significant in the grand scheme of things.)

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Fluppet

Sometime between debs and wales (I think theres a three week gap between them)- if Andrew is otherwise engaged on the 24th/25th, how about the weekend of the 17th/18th?

Mike- my thinking entirely :-)

Jon-

A general map link of Haslemere- roughly somewhere in between Horsham, Godalming, and Petersfield.

http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?X=490000&Y=130000&width=500&height=300& client=public&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&add r1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&advanced=&local=&scale=20000 0&out.x=6&out.y=7http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.c...&height=300&cl ient=public&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&addr1 =&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&advanced=& local=&scale=200000&out.x=6&out.y=7

And a map link to the pub itself.

http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=GU8%205UJhttp://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=GU8%205UJ

Its not as big as the Saltdean tavern- its a village pub opposite the criket club- that kinda thing. Its nice tho, and they do nice food. I will talk to my uncle this weekend if people so wish ;-)

Ed

One thought: I noticed that there was a lot of soft drink around last time. I dont know how much of that was by choice, and how much of it was people needing to drive home. No skin off my nose, because a) Im teetotal, and b) Id probably drive anyway, but is there any benefit to aiming somewhere easily accessible by public transport?

The tiddlywinks crowd with whom I normally hang out are real ale types, so maybe Im abnormally used to people getting through ten pints in an evening and its not an issue...

17th/18th is good for me, as is the suggested location (other than still being about 70 miles away from my house).

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Fluppet

Sorry we couldnt make it guys. Was a bit occupied with someone else in my local :) Will try and make the next one.

Jas

Spoke to my uncle this weekend- the function room is being re-decorated but should be done by the 17th. It will happily hold 20+ ppl. Im slightly concerned the pub car park wont hold 20 peoples worth of cars- I shall scout next time i go up there, but I cant see it being too much of a problem.

As I mentioned, its nothing like the size of the saltdean tavern- it is a village pub, but its nice and friendy, and has the aforementioned function room available. Thoughts?

Eddy