Dear Club Members,
Merry Christmas and Happy 2012. As you are no doubt all aware, according to the Mayan Calendar, the world will come to a sticky end this year. Ha! What do they know? Has any of them ever rolled a d20 upon which hangs the fate of the universe? I did not think so.
The Dragons on the Hill, of course, have done so since 1984(ish) and will continue to do so, if we have anything to say about that. Of course, things went a bit silent over the Christmas period, as all of London seems to have come to a stop.
El Presidente for Life, Ian, and the Club Secretary, Johan, are pleased to announce that we have located an alternative venue for the Dragons. As was already indicated on the Forum, we have been in touch with the Distillers Pub, of 66 West Smithfield, London EC1A 9DY. It has its own website:
smithfield.thedistillerspub.com, and is located about 5 minutes' walk from Barbican Underground station, as you can see:
HERE.
The Distillers' Management will, free of rent, let the Dragons use the private sideroom upstairs AND the mezzanine. In all all, this would result in the following capacity (sideroom and mezzanine combined):
Monday – 10 6-person tables.
Tuesday – 10 6-person tables.
Wednesday – 8 6-person tables (2 tables are already in use by another group).
Your fearless Club Secretary has personally cast caution to the winds to go and reconnoiter the location, and sample the provender (the manager makes a good White Russian, if anyone cares to know). There are some pros and cons to the location.
The mezzanine is open to the ground floor, so there will be some ambient noise. On the other hand, when your fearless Club Secretary was visiting the premises (a Wednesday evening), the pub was not particularly busy, and noise levels were manageable (besides, it's not like WE have taken a vow of silence).
The venue is rent-free, and we are not a rent-paying group. This means that, as at the Kings Stores, we can get bumped in case of a paying event. Your Club Secretary was told that only very few events take place on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, and that if attendance is good, he'd prefer to have steady numbers coming in on a regular basis.
Usual pub etiquette applies – only drinks and food purchased in the pub are allowed for consumption.
All in all, it's our view that the venue is worth a try, as it is rent-free, not too far removed from our current location, and relatively close to a Tube station served by several lines, and it has the capacity to seat us all, and even allow for new groups to start up.
Your courageous Club Secretary will visit the pub to finalise practicalities with the manager this Friday, at High Noon. Barring any further announcements, we can recommence regular service as of Monday 9 January. In order to ensure smooth transition, your humble servant shall be present every night of the first week to answer any questions that you may have and give you the guided tour, should you care for one.
Initially, we would like to stick to the same roster. If you want to switch nights, please inform the Club Secretary, as always. Any feedback on the new venue is welcome, of course. We will continue the system of Club Reps for every evening to serve as points of contact for the management. and, by the way, the position of Monday evening club rep has become vacant. Volunteers for the job are eagerly sought.
Although the officers did all the hard work, of course (lifting a White Russian IS hard work), a lot of the members provided suggestions for venues - too many to enumerate, but you all know who you are. Thanks to all of you.
So, without further ado – ROLL THEM DICE!
Forum 
