Stalking Stonny, on 12 February 2013 - 11:09 PM, said:
I would never presume that i would be welcome, and im kinda reclusive anyway, so my main interest in this is purely just informational. Besides my bbq ribs would blow your collective minds.
The history stems from this very forum, nobody knew each other before here. Way back in time (2003/2004 maybe) there was a meetup in Manchester. I think nearly all of the original members from that meetup are no longer with us (in internet terms, they didn't all die as far as I know) and were all UK based. A few years later there was another one which then evolved into a Christmas tradition, one or two people came from overseas. After that Hetan and Malaclypse had a lapse of good sense and invited anyone who could make it to a BBQ at their place. Since then it has become an annual thing for as long as Hetan and Mal can cope with us and the core attendees are a handful of UK people (and Morgoth who likes to sponge of Hetan & Mal's goodwill and Dag) and then the occasional international person who makes the trip specially or who ties it in with travelling around the UK anyway. The Manchester Christmas meetup moved to London last year since various people have migrated away from the Holy Land. We meet occasionally through the year for random events if people live close to each other or if there's a book signing or similar but I think our prime years are behind us (unless people are meeting without telling me!) - newbies are always welcome at the random events out and about, all you need is the resolve to spend a day with weirdos off t'internet and a strong stomach.