Club Triumph

Hello everyone,

Following our meeting last night, and  the decison which was made-  I can now confirm that as from today I have severed our links with Caistor Hall.They had  informed me earlier in the month that they wanted us to pay £50 per meeting for the use of a room. There was no room for negotiating despite me telling Komal - [manager] that we are not a business like some of the other clubs and have no money.

Several possible venues were discussed which we and some of the other members had visited -The Dun Cow on A140 [good food but no room]. The Railway at Wymondham [ good food, but no room - meetings would be in the bar with no tables ] . The Scole Inn [ great place - room available upstairs and food or snacks available ] but this is too far south for those coming from north of Norwich or Yarmouth. The Bird in Hand is a possibility for the future which we all know but lots of little  side roads to negotiate in bad weather.
Four of us visited The Marsh Harrier on the Ipswich Road about half a mile from the A47 roundabout on the right after Tesco coming from the Ipswich direction.
This is an attractive  venue with good food that is easy to find  with a free room available.
Therefore as from the 31st January 2011 we will be meeting at the Marsh Harrier at Harford Bridges . The management and the club members at the meeting last night felt we should give it a two month trial and see how it goes on both sides.
The management request that we fill the back car park first . Meeting time will be exactly the same .

Sue, is this the right one?

http://www.vintageinn.co.uk/themarshharriernorwich/

Ipswich Road, Norwich, NR4 6DX

Looks like a nice pub. Had a gander at Google maps, is that a Stag with the roof down on the opposite side of the road?

Marsh Harrier looks OK and worth a trial for a couple of months, easily situated of A140/A47. Has a good car park at back suitable for mingling and looking at cars in summer months and a decent Patio area if required. Thanks for taking the time to check out this and others. As attendance on Monday was low due to bad weather this was best decision to make.

Thank you for the supportive and positive feedback Andy. Thank you  Paul for your feedback also.

Yes, I think it was the best we could do at the time  because a  decision had to be made before January in order to book a venue. We had hoped for a better turn out for the meeting of course to discuss and vote on our findings but there you go.
The truth of the matter is that the change was rather forced on us out of the blue and the general consensus was that to pay £50 per meeting was indeed  out of the question when there are plenty of places who are happy to have the business and will let us have a room for free. I see that the other clubs who used Caistor Hall have felt the same way!

Anyway, people will be able to judge it for themselves when we meet there and if they don't like it  we can choose another venue. I'm hoping that everyone will approve though and be open to the idea of the change [the beer is better!]  when we have our first meeting .  I am aware though of the truth of the old maxim that one thing is certain and that is that however hard you try you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time!!

Big thanks to Alan and Chris and Ted and Christina  for sussing out The Railway and The Marsh Harrier the same as we did. Thanks also to Ted for finding out about The Scole Inn and negotiating on our behalf in case we wanted to use it .