Liberal Drinks

I haven’t updated this website for some time now.  The reason has not been because the Liberal Drinks idea is dead - far from it.  It’s because the Facebook group has been the most successful part of this ongoing experiment thus far and I’ve concentrated on that at the expense of this website.

But there is still a place for this site and its integration with Flock Together and I need to get back in the habit of using it again.

One of the things I’m very conscious of is that a lot of people out there want a Liberal Drinks in their area but for whatever reason don’t feel they’re the person to organise it.  Somehow I need to change that.  There are lots of people in North London for example who keep “asking” me for one.  Tempting as it may be for me to do so (it wouldn’t be very difficult), I’m wary of taking on another ongoing monthly commitment in addition to the Westminster one - although I’d probably turn up to it regularly if someone else set it up.  So my proposal to people potentially interested is this: just try it for three months and see how it goes.

Facebook is already proving its worth, and the 100th member of the UK Liberal Drinks group joined in the last 24 hours.

If you aren’t already on Facebook, you will need to register on the site before you can join our group, but once you do it is simplicity itself to keep in touch with the various Drinks happening around the country.

Three Liberal Drinks are scheduled over the next couple of weeks: in Sheffield, Westminster and Andover.

Meanwhile, I’ve been discovering the world of Facebook.  Martin Tod has set up a Liberal Drinks page there, which thus far has nearly 40 members from across the UK, so clearly it has great potential for getting in touch with potential Drinkers.

This is a great time of year for setting up your own drinks.  Good luck, and happy drinking!

Via Stephen Robinson, I’ve come across Green Drinks.  Basically the same idea as this website, but with an environmentalist bent.

Welcome on board Cheadle & Gatley Liberal Drinks, whose first meeting will be taking place on Thursday 26 October at the White Hart in Cheadle.

I’ve added an “about us” page and a “Westminster” drinks page.  If you would like your Drinks to have a page, drop me an email with the relevant details.

More fundamentally, I’ve set up two new email lists, which you can sign up to using the box in the sidebar:

• Liberal Drinks - a discussion list for people running, or thinking of running, a Liberal Drinks in their area.
• Westminster Liberal Drinks - an announcement list for the Westminster Drinks.

Again, if you want to have your email list added to this site, or would like to know how to set one up, drop me an email.

I’ve just written a rather perfunctory guide to running your own Liberal Drinks.  It’s pretty basic, but then organising a Liberal Drinks is so simple, how hard can it be?

Feedback would be most welcome.  In particular I would point you to the “ideas” section.  Why not give them a try (and apologes for not organising a London cinema trip to see An Inconvenient Truth - I simply haven’t had the time)?  Got any other ideas?

Finally, I’m hoping to get some flyers printed for promoting Liberal Drinks at Lib Dem Conference.  Hope to see you there!

The Winchester Drinks have sent us a couple of photos from their inaugural meet up…

New Liberal Drinks have been set up in Nottingham, Winchester and, as a one-off, at Brighton Conference.

Meanwhile, thanks to Martin Tod for sending in this picture of Andover’s event last Friday:

Finally, Duncan Hames suggests a film night - specifically to see Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth next Friday.  Sounds like a good idea, what do people think?

Martin Tod has added a short training video to the Flock Together blog, showing users how to add a meeting to the site.

Potential Liberal Drinkers should also be aware that any meeting added to Flock Together which is associated to the ‘organisation’ Liberal Drinks will automatically appear on this website’s feed, and in particular our map.  You only have to register your meeting once to get on the network.
As soon as I have time, I’ll be adding a section to this website on holding your own Liberal Drinks (helpfully titled “organising a piss up in a pub” to give you an idea of the complexities involved).