Meetings of the Manchester Pickwick Club
The Manchester Pickwick Club meets at its current headquarters, The Moorside Social Club, Moorside Road, Swinton, Manchester.
We meet each 3rd Wednesday of the winter months. Business Meetings in September, October, November, January, February and March (to which visitors are welcome) with the Annual General Meeting in April, at which the new Mr Pickwick and all incoming officers are elected.
We also have alcohol assisted outings biannually in May and December. (Visitors are especially welcome to these outings).
Whilst each month we follow the framework of an agenda, it is rarely accurate and engenders challenge. Proceedings however are kept in reasonable order by Mr Pickwick, who has the power to fine miscreant members. Mr Pickwick himself, of course, can do no wrong.
The Business Meetings should start promptly at 8 p.m. with latecomers fined. Chaotic
proceedings then follow until the meeting’s closure, around 11.30 p.m.
All members are expected to contribute to the discourse of the meeting, some
more vociferously than others. Most incur several fines during the evening. The
only interruptions to the meetings occur when the drinks order is being taken
(this gets more difficult as the evening wears on) and the fifteen minute break,
about halfway, for refreshments (sandwiches).
A raffle takes place late on in the meeting (all members having brought with them a raffle prize) and subsequently, on the purchase of a 50p ticket, all members receive a prize.
There is also a five minute reading from the Pickwick Papers on the completion of which all members are asked a question about the reading. The vast majority of the members answer their question incorrectly and are fined accordingly. The few members who answer their question correctly are also fined for being too smart for their own good.
During the meetings toasts are drunk to Mr Pickwick, to The Visitors and to The Queen. These are in verse and sung pretty much out of tune.
The evening draws to a close with a Vote of Thanks to the Chairman and Vice Chairman which are invariably derogatory, followed by the singing of ‘Good Neet Owd Friends’ also out of tune.
We close with the singing of the National Anthem after which we all make our satisfying way home.
See Minutes of meetings.