Minutes of a meeting of the SPG held at the Twin Farms starting at 8pm
on Thursday 4th February 2016.

Present: David A., Brian, Mary and David R., Chris and Tom (with Catherine Ashcroft for part of meeting)


    Due to the closure of the car park outside the Gosforth Hotel, it had been decided at the last meeting to try new venues, and so in February we met at the Twin Farms pub in Kenton Bank Foot.
   Most members intended to have food and there followed a prolonged period of deliberation over the extensive choices from the menu – the meals here are clearly popular, as the pub was very busy and the volume of noise came as something of a surprise to those of us used to the more restrained, often hushed, surroundings of the Gosforth Hotel. While awaiting the food, Mary regaled us with her experiences of the recent precipitate move of the Pathology Department at the RVI to offices in a new building, and in particular the fact that some of these are ‘open plan’. A number of anecdotes were offered suggesting that this was an appalling way of having to work (disturbance to train of thought, lack of confidentiality, inability to doze off  etc.), moving on to reminiscence of more traditional aspects of office life including the apparently dying art of dictation and shorthand.
     Conversation was interrupted at this point by the arrival of the meals. These included the largest hamburgers many of us had ever seen, although hungry members made short work of these. Brian was more abstemious, choosing a simple boiled egg, although this was allegedly from a duck. Observation of the high calorie and high fat content of the meals chosen by our members provoked a discussion of the supposed advantages of the ‘Mediterranean’ diet, and how much red wine was good for the health. This was contrasted with recent pronouncements from the Department of Health about alcohol intake, on the basis of which many members were that evening already well on the way to consuming their weekly allowance. The upcoming Six Nations rugby internationals were discussed, and David A. mentioned seeing a Welshman at a previous game carrying a large leek bearing the message ‘ Warning: Heavy Plant Crossing’.
    Again on the topic of health, Mary reported that she had been subjecting herself to a form of exercise known as Zumba, during which she had torn a muscle. Other members wondered if Pilates might be a less hazardous way to keep fit, although David R. suggested it was probably best just to proceed directly to an osteopath.
      Previously it had been decided that for the March meeting we should have a restaurant meal. The closure of the car park on Salter’s Road made using our favourite venue, Poon’s, less attractive. There then followed a very protracted and meandering discussion of other possible restaurants, and whether they could fulfil our criteria of a round table, relative quiet, and a lack of hoi polloi, at the end of which we decided to have the March meal at Poon’s. 
     Following a discussion of the educational benefits of visiting breweries, the recent fad for gin distilling, and the importance of using the correct barrels for making whisky, the meeting concluded at 10 p.m.