GASS   

        The Gentlemen's Ale Sampling Society

        1982-2017  35 YEARS OF BEERS

THE APRIL MEETING

CIRCUS SKILLS

Location:  The Circus Space, Coronet Street, Hoxton, London N1 6HD

 THURSDAY 3rd April. 

Link to Circus Space Website

vid

16 clowns made it to Charlie Wrights International Bar in Hoxton, including two guests, Peter and Anthony.

Of course most people followed the dress code as advised, except the obvious two, can you pick them out?

Personally, I can't imagine travelling on a train from Medway, then getting across London dressed like this,

I mean, who would wear a T shirt like that?

Maybe those members who failed to make it were forewarned and this is why they did not come. 

The absentees were Ray, Phil and Stuart (the whole Sittingbourne contingent, spooky that), Len (attending a transvestite gathering at The Roffen), poor, poor Steve Riches and Chris (do those men ever stop working?), Keith (out of the country), Neil (scared of London).

To give them a small sample of what they missed, just look at this blurry photo of a ton of wobbly fat piled 10 feet high,

held up by Don - thank Christ he is scared of heights, imagine having him on top!

No wonder Steve looks a bit collapsed.

We all duly learnt to walk the plank, juggle a number of balls and walk on stilts as well as make a few other funny shaped pyramids. 

Thank goodness we all ignored the Circus Space rules about not drinking before training. 

Most of us managed so much better as a result of the 5-6 pints each we downed beforehand.

 It made us all far more flexible, way more malleable, almost invincible.

Having managed to juggle, balance, wobble. pile and generally use muscles most of haven't used for ages,

without any serious injury, except possibly Steve Bell hitting the floor with a really sickening thud from 8' up on the stilts,

we wandered back to Charlie Wrights International Bar and Chaotic Grill.

Chaotic because it took the members a good two hours to understand that the Bar and Restaurant were actually two totally different businesses, the restaurant did food, the bar did drinks, and never the twain shall meet.  The barmen tried to explain, the waiters tried to explain, but to no avail.  We just could not get the fact that we could not order drinks at the table, weird system to say the least.  We finally got fed and watered but not before several dummies were thrown out of several prams.

The AGM was finalised with everyone having paid (or promised to pay, Phil C) their deposits and so we are booked to go as below.

Single rooms have been requested by Peter, Gary, Len, Chris and Neil, so as 18 are attending there is one more single going begging on a first come, first served basis.

THE AGM 2008 - BRNO

I will leave these details on the site as an easy reminder

Day 1: Friday 5 Sept

• Meet & Greet at Brno Airport and transfer by private coach + guide from airport to your Hotel
• 4 star hotel excellent central location on the main square in the old town
• First night restaurant reservation for the AGM followed by a nightlife guided tour with our experienced nightlife guides
• Overnight in Brno

Day 2: Saturday

• Recommended activity – we will collect you from your hotel at an agreed time and we will take you to the TANK driving venue where your group will be able to experience the fun and novel experience of driving in Armoured cars / tanks (vehicles will be advised on the day)
• Return to Brno in the afternoon.           
• Overnight in Brno

Day 3: Sunday

• Recommended activity – today we will collect you and take you to a shooting range 30 mins drive from your hotel. Here you will get to try a selection of weapons in a competition with a prize for the best 3 shots. This is a novel activity and a great way to clear away a few cobwebs from the night before!
• Overnight in Brno

Day 4: Monday 8 Sept

• Departure flight home. Our guides will collect you from your hotel at the appropriate time and transfer you to the airport for your flight home.

Flight details:

This trip includes two entertainments, Tank Driving and Shooting Range, so could be quite good. 

THE GASS FINANCES  - how you voted

Another one for the record, which will also be left here on the website

To bring the finances into line with the money we expend in 2008, where we needed to raise around an extra £2000 per annum

to cover the next 2-3 years,  the options were as follows:-

A:   Stop GASS paying £100 towards the AGM and pay ourselves – saving £2,000.

B:    Increase the fees by £5 – raising £1,300.

C:    Increase the fees by £10 – raising £2,600.

D:    Pay £20 for occasional large meetings – raising approximately £1,500.

E:    A combination of the above.

Looking at the votes, B and D can be discounted and the choice was between simply dropping the £100 subsidy for the AGM or raising the fees by £10 – with A – dropping the AGM subsidy coming out on top by one vote.

Option A is without doubt the easiest as it does not involve changing 22 standing orders, it also solves the problem by raising about  £2000. 

Therefore the proposal was made that we drop the AGM supplement and leave the fees as they are.  At the April meeting nobody tried to push the second choice of raising the fees by £10, so the proposal of dropping the subsidy for the AGM stands, a very close run thing, a sort of hanging chad win, but a win by one vote is a win and hopefully this is a fair and sensible solution.

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