Friday 9th August 2002

Black Tie & Pie 2002

Fancy digging out your DJ and sharing a beer and a laff with your fellow PHers?

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[PetrolTed]

For those of you that permanently inhabit the Gassing Station . you may not have seen this on the front page.

[PetrolTed]

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What front page?!

The home page www.pistonheads.com

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But do we all have to where black ties

Yep, got to maintain decent standards old boy. Get down to Oxfam now before the rush.

[PetrolTed]

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Ted - do you have an official PH event co-ordinator yet?

Took a different tack on that one. Bookatrack are now handling the track days and am considering the other stuff as we go along. Domster took a bit of a lead on this one.

[PetrolTed]

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After dinner speaker? Heard Bob Monkhouse once (don't groan, he was stunningly funny!) and would vote for him. Failing that, the old Clarkatoma would be worth paying for IMHO.

We'll be doing a cost analysis but to keep the price at the level suggested it's unlikely we'll be getting any hugely famous people unless they're readers of the site

[PetrolTed]

Exclusive use not necessary.

Ideal venue will be a hotel with capacity to take 30-40 rooms for pissed up PistonHeaders to sleep off their excesses and not have to drive home.

Location wise we're thinking probably west of London, along M4/M40 for easy access.

[PetrolTed]

M4/M40 corridor is more likely.

[PetrolTed]

It was hidden away in the bullet points.

Target price per ticket is likely to be approx 55 GBP, with reduced rates for early/multiple bookings

[PetrolTed]

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I sit next to my company's "pet" travel company peeps at work - I could hassle them for a list of likely hotel candidates and see which ones are giving the best rates.

Any suggestions/info would be greatly appreciated.

[PetrolTed]

JC as an after dinner speaker is very unlikely.

Making a few investigations amongst friendly motor racing types but if I can't get hold of someone decent then we'll have to make our own entertainment

[PetrolTed]

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Ted old man, any idea of date yet ? I'm in Florida for the first half of Nov, so I want to get me diary sorted

Cheers.

Really depends on availability of venues. We're checking that out at the moment. We're aiming at November.

[PetrolTed]

Er, yeah. Thanks Nick.

Plan is coming together - Dom's been busy and we should be able to get the ball rolling this week.

[PetrolTed]

I won't confirm any other details yet as I'm still waiting for paperwork and small print etc, but it's looking likely that the date will be 2nd November.

I've also found someone to make the awards

[PetrolTed]

Thanks Mel. I've got another speaker up my sleeve too.

[PetrolTed]

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Come on then give us some clues... who are they?

No details until it's sorted. Sorry!

[PetrolTed]

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Are we going to start putting in proposals for possible awards.
To start the ball rolling how about.
1. Furthest distance travelled to be there on the night
2. Worst fitting dinner suit
plus all the boring ones like
funniest thread, most postings, most offensive post, most boring question, most boring poster, etc etc

secound thoughts maybe not any of the above otherwise carzee will clean up on the night

I may add a couple on the night for good value but we will be nominating on the site in the weeks to come. Votes will be cast for the three nominees in each category and the winner announced at the do.

Haven't decided the categories yet though Suggestions welcome.

[PetrolTed]

Good stuff. Still awaiting paperwork, but should be able to provide booking facilities next week.

[PetrolTed]

Got the paperwork now and things are coming together.

Keep 2nd November free. Venue will be Swindon

Rest assured it's a quality venue.

[PetrolTed]

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Ted, have you been giving Scruff pics of the vegetarian dining area again?

I think we have a leek...

[PetrolTed]

I'll confirm price once I've sorted the entertainment.

Swindon was good because it's near to the M4, and I've been to an event there in the past and therefore knew it was of sufficient quality. It's a nice hotel, good bar, swimming pool etc yet still a fair price.

Yes, all skirts welcome. You have to come Campbell. Everyone wants to meet you! Jump on a plane to Heathrow and cadge a lift up the M4 from a London PHer.