Category: Not So Grumpy Old Men

In July, a small very select group of the ‘not so grumpies’ visited the Ten Pin Bowling Alley in Nottingham. Despite several attempts to handicap him, our winner was our very own Mr John Saunders, seen here about to be crowned with his trophy.

Regrettably he moved just before it contacted, so there is a good chance that he will go on to win again at our next competitive activity. We moved on to have a buffet lunch at the Chinese restaurant May Sum on parliament Street. Never knew so few men could eat so much, definitely need to exercise after.

In August a dozen of us visited The Southwell Workhouse for some cultural education, very interesting and amazing that the workhouse operated so recently. The lives of the inmates were extremely hard, families being split into separate dormitories, for men, women and children. Everyone having to work 12 hours a day carrying out very boring and monotonously repetitive tasks. Very basic food being available which was the same every mealtime. If you visit, note there are lots of steep, stone stairs. However, well worth a visit.

Surprisingly, after the workhouse we ended up at The White Post Inn for our lunch on the A614, before finding our way home for a well earned rest!!

In September, we are hoping to visit the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, but more about that next month.

On the day after mid-summer’s day, a group of Not So Grumpy Old Men decided to venture into the big city of Nottingham, looking to see where they could explore their Inner Viking.

They came across Hatchet Harry’s on Lister Gate and honed their skills in Axe Throwing.

After a bit of practise, they were divided into two teams. The A Team and the Axe- edentz.

It was a close encounter with the victorious Axe-edentz winning by 25 points to the ATeam’s miserable 23.5

Fortunately no injuries were sustained and it proved to be a most enjoyable and social evening.

May 24th, 2022 Visit to Linney Mansfield

This visit was originally planned for March 2020 then deferred but not forgotten. Twelve members took part in what turned out to be an amazing experience.

Some of you will remember Linney as printers based on Westgate in Mansfield. The company began life as a bookshop opened by founder William Linney in 1851. Newspapers were a staple especially the Mansfield and North Nottinghamshire Advertiser (CHAD) launched by John Linney in 1871 in 1995 they sold all their newspapers to Johnstone Press.

They moved to Adamsway in 1998 and today, in a state of the art technological environment, they describe themselves as:
‘We’re your full-service creative resource – from digital development to event production, large-scale print to warehousing and fulfilment. We’re here to help your brand navigate the complexities of marketing in the modern world.’

We were shown how Linney’s dedicated video production team creates inspiring film and animation content for some of the world’s biggest brands including McDonalds, Boots and The Post office.
We were there for over two hours and did not see half of what they do and, both by popular request and by invitation from Miles Linney the current MD, we will be making a follow up visit later this year or early 2023.

David Rose

In May, the Not So Grumpy Old Men visited the Great British Car Journey.

This hidden gem of an attraction, in the old wireworks at Ambergate, chronicles the history of the British car industry, with 120 vehicles on display. Audio visual tablets guided us from Austin and Morris through the troubled British Leyland years to McLaren.

Worn out by all that reminiscing, the group retired to the on-site Pit Stop Café for lunch.

April’s outing was to the Whitepeak Distillery in Ambergate. After a presentation about the formation of the distillery and the history of the old wireworks factory in which it is based, the group were led on an interesting tour of the distillery, learning about the process of making whisky, gin and rum before returning to sample some of each. They were given an exclusive opportunity to “invest” in a limited, special edition bottle of whisky that went on sale that day and has now sold out!