It was fancy dress, ok, so I had to wear something that made me one of the characters (even an extra) and decided that with army boots, camouflage trousers and an old army sweater I could pass as one of Mike's platoon. It was Natalie who told me what character I was (Cromwell). Anyway, I took the train up to London in the middle of Sunday afternoon, feeling a bit nervous about meeting all these people I had got in contact with through the board.
So, I got the Circle Line round to Baker Street (where I had been the night before for pre-meet beers with some of the other members at the Prince Regent in Marylebone High Street) and then to Queen’s Park. I found the pub all right. When I got there I was met by Martin and Natalie and give a badge to wear with my member name on it. Then I got a Guinness and had some Jaffa Cakes. Natalie had decorated the place and her friends had helped. More members turned up, including Chris and his wife Dot, as they were in full mufti - Chris had gone as Mike and Dot as Twist. I also met other members similarly attired in Spaced cast outfits, such as Brians, Mikes and Tims. Then Tara arrived with Gail, Kirsten and Holly, from the Gents board to see us all. Tara had dressed as Marsha and looked very cool. A little while and a few beers later, Simon, Jess, Nick, Julia and Edgar turned up from Spaced to see us all. We had a quiz which Tara had spent hours preparing and then we had a Question & Answer session, where I found out that the note to Sophie had said not much, but that Tim would email her or something; that Twist would be in Series III (yay!) and that Simon enjoyed bands like Weezer, White Stripes and the Pixies.
I had more pints of Guinness than I can remember, yet made a special point of talking at least once to everyone there. It was very friendly. I also took some photos and have a set of autographs as a souvenir of a wonderful evening. I think the evening was a great success, a credit to Natalie's organisation.