December 2015 Newsletter

‘Ethnic’ meal at the Micatto Italian Restaurant in Warwick on Wednesday, 3rd February (Organiser: Dave Compton)

The annual ‘ethnic’ meal will be at the Micatto Italian restaurant in Warwick on Wednesday, 3rd February 2016. The Micatto is opposite the Market Hall in Swan Street and has had great reviews on TripAdvisor — average of 4.5 out of 5 from over 500 respondents.

We will have the use of a private upstairs room from 7pm. aiming to be seated by 7.30. On arrival, there will be a ‘Welcome’ drink of prosecco. This will be followed by a 3 course meal — please make your choices from the attached menu of regional dishes using the numbers in blue on the left side of each option. Drinks with the meal (and coffee) are not included as people may prefer non-alcoholic options to wine. House wines are Merlot and Orvietto at £17.99 a bottle but there is a wide choice of other wines and drinks.

The price is £26.00 per member/first guest and we are limited to 20 people, so second guests can only be accepted if there are spaces after the closing date.

Please send your cheque for the full amount together with the completed booking form to Dave Compton, Ashby House, Northend, Southam, Warwickshire CV47 2TN as soon as possible.
Closing date is 23rd January 2016 unless spaces are filled sooner. To be fair to everybody, no emailed forms please.

Refer to the document Event Booking Conditions for terms and conditions.

Go to Booking Form.

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Day Trip to Portmeirion (Organiser: David Dagley)

You're invited to register an interest in a Day Trip to Portmerion (North Wales)… the reason for this invitation is to gauge interest as the coach travel time could well be 3 and a half hours there and the same time to return (including stops). It would mean a relatively early start (approx 8.00am and return home by 7.30pm). NO money is asked for at this juncture - just a note to register an interest - and if a sufficient number are then the date would probably be first week in July. Lunch would be included.

Please send an e-mail to david.dagley@lineone.net if you think its a worthwhile day out and you'd be interested should it go ahead.

Portmeirion, an Italianate Village, famous as the setting for “The Prisoner”, stands on a rugged clifftop on its own private peninsula overlooking Cardigan Bay. It is surrounded by 145 acres of sub-tropical woodlands and miles of sandy beaches. Portmeirion was built by visionary Welsh architect, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, who wanted to prove that development did not have to mean destruction of the natural environment.

Work started in 1925 and the village completed during the early 1970's. Portmeirion is now acknowledged as a unique architectural work of art. Many know Portmeirion for its role as “The Village” in Patrick McGoohan's television series “The Prisoner”. It is also known for the Portmeirion Pottery, designed by Clough's daughter Susan Williams-Ellis (1918-1997). Its Victorian sub-tropical woodland garden known as Y Gwyllt includes a tree trail featuring unique rhododendrons, Californian coast redwoods, New Zealand's ‘dancing tree’, and the tallest Chilean maiten tree in the UK.

The village has many colourful shops and restaurants including Castell Deudraeth (gastropub menu; free village entry with lunch), The Hotel Portmeirion (table d’hote menu), The Terrace Self-Service Restaurant, Cadwalader’s Ice Cream Cafe and Caffi Glas Italian Cafe.

For further reading visit… www.portmeirion-village.com/visit/.

Portmeirion

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Galway Tour 2nd Oct - 7th Oct 2016 (Organiser Brian Long)

Following the feedback to our survey of members interests/events for 2016, a bespoke tour of Galway has been planned for 20 people.

The outline details are:-

- Flights from Birmingham Int to Shannon via AerLingus with 20kgs of luggage per person.

Depart Sun 2nd Oct 16:55, arrive Shannon 18:35.
Return Fri 7th Oct 19:00, arrive Birmingham 20:35
(make own arrangements to get to Birmingham/parking)

- 5 nights/6 days bespoke tour staying in 4* hotels in Galway City (3 nights) and Westport (2 nights) on a B&B basis with dinner on 3 nights included.
- All luxury travel/transport costs and entrance fees included.
- The details of the tour are given in this document.
- The combined cost of the tour and flights will be approx £600/person.

The Irish aspects are priced in Euros so until the final payment is due we are subject to foreign exchange fluctuations. A deposit has already been paid to secure the ‘Irish’ aspects. As this is a bespoke tour, the flights need to be confirmed and paid for as soon as possible. To enable us to do this and cover the tour deposit, £200 per person is required by 11th December.

To book a place, fill in the booking form and send it with your cheque (£200pp) made payable to IBM Retirees Club (Midlands) by the 11th December to:-
Brian Long, ‘Soudan House’, Southcrest, Redditch, Worcs. B97 4PA
Email: brianlong1@hotmail.com, Telephone: 01527545727

There are only 20 places available so book quickly for this unique tour.

Refer to the document Event Booking Conditions for terms and conditions.

Go to Booking Form (or Word document).

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Sub-Groups of Retirees Club and Employee Club

IBM Retirees Rambling Group

The IBM (Warwick) Rambling Club is now a subsection of the IBM Midlands Retiree Club. Any member of the Midlands Retiree club is welcome to join our subsection. Our subs are £5 per person per year. Our programme consists of a meal in late February, a monthly ramble with a pub lunch using own transport and an AGM in December. We also share a 3-4 day trip using coach transport with retiree sightseers in May.

Any retiree who would like to give us a try, can come along on one of our monthly walks without needing to join. Meal subsidies are available only to members and not for those joining us on a trial basis.

For more information, please contact Terry King, terryaking@hotmail.com.

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IBM Retirees PC and Technology Group (founded by Harry Green)

The IBM Retirees PC and Technology Group meets every alternate month for a lively discussion on PC and technology topics in the digital age. There are usually one or two specific presentations given by members or by outside speakers, which the members of the Group have requested. We try to provide a reasonable balance between PC “techie” topics, new technology, and topics of a more general nature such as digital television, Internet telephony and digital photography. So whether you are a newcomer to the PC or a more experienced user, we hope you will find something of interest. You are very welcome to join us.

Contacts:- Roger Goodman email:- roger@northside.me.uk Alan Bridgman email:- abri@waitrose.com

Go to meeting dates and other information

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Click on the links below for more useful information.

IBM Midlands Retiree Club Constitution Committee Contacts AGM Minutes Newsletter Archives IBM Club Warwick UK IBM Club Newsletter Production IBM Alumni Directory IBM Hursley Museum IBM Shares IBM Rewards Employee Purchase Plan IBM Pensions Trust (IBM Contacts and other useful information)

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