The twenty-second Bristol Splunch will take place on Saturday, 18th August 2018 from 2:00pm - 7:00pm in Horts Bar, 49 Broad Street, Bristol, BS1 2EP, and for those who are still peckish/thirsty later at some eatery/watering hole elsewhere in or near the city.
This is a vanilla meet; all over 18 from anywhere are welcome, and entry is free. I might even buy your first drink.
What is it?
It's a 'vanilla' pub social meet - drink, chat, meet'n'greet, listen, learn, advise, offer opinions, discuss substances, etc, make friends, maybe arrange a session. This is usually followed by a meal in the evening, and an outdoor mud session the following day; always subject to the bl**dy weather.
If I can answer any more questions, I'll be delighted to help; and in any event to welcome you to the Splunch.
How do I get there?
Broad Street is about twenty minutes walk from Bristol Temple Meads railway station, easily accessible from almost anywhere in the country, and there are several car parks nearby.
From the railway station exit, turn right along Temple Gate to the roundabout, cross over onto Victoria Street, continue over the river bridge into High Street, and bear gently left into Broad Street as High Street turns to the right into Wine Street. Horts Bar is about one hundred yards down on the right.
From the bus/coach station, exit onto Whitson Street, left into Lower Maudlin Street, cross Lewins Mead to Rupert Street and turn right. After about two hundred yards, turn left into Christmas Street, cross Quay Street and through the stone archway into Broad Street. Horts Bar is about fifty yards up on the left.
For those driving, at the bottom of the M32/Newfoundland Street, turn right onto Bond Street, take the first exit at the roundabout into The Haymarket, turn left into Bridewell Street, left into Nelson Street, right into Halifax Street and into the multi-storey on All Saints' Street - only £5 for the whole day, and closer than any other one. Please note that many roads in Bristol are subject to a 20mph speed limit; the previous mayor, who introduced the limit, was caught speeding.
To get to the bar, from All Saints' Street, turn right into Pithay, right into Tower Lane, left into Newmarket Avenue, and right onto Broad Street - the bar is a few yards down on the right. (Politically correct notice other car parks are available in Bristol.)
For those flush enough (or subsidised) flying into Bristol (Lulsgate) Airport, take the Airport Flyer bus service to the bus/coach station and proceed as above from there.
Hotels the usual chains are readily available: Premier Inn, Lewins Mead (approx a half mile from £74); Premier Inn, Haymarket (next to the bus station, approx a half mile: from £81); Premier Inn, King Street (approx a half mile: full); Premier Inn, Finzels Reach (approx. a third mile from £77); Hotel Ibis, Temple Quay (approx a half mile from £112); Hotel Ibis, Anchor Road (approx a half mile from £114); Travelodge, Anchor Road (approx a half mile: from £102); Travelodge, Mitchell Lane (approx a half mile from £108); Holiday Inn Express (approx a half mile from £123); Holiday Inn (approx 1 mile from £117); Novotel, Victoria Street (approx a half mile from £125); and Mercure Brigstow (approx a half mile from £123). For those hotels that are not available for Saturday only, rooms seem to be readily available for two-night stays, either Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday nights at very reasonable rates. Other hotels are available; check laterooms.com or trivago or similar sites, try the Royal Hotel, Avonmouth, or check the out-of-town hotels from the above chains.
Dinner - please let me know if you'd like to stay for dinner on Saturday evening; it's likely to be Chinese unless there's an overwhelming vote for something else.
I'll be hoping to do an outdoor mud shoot on the Sunday (always subject to the bl**dy weather and availability of models and sober drivers).
If you have any further questions, post them here or pm me.

Mike.

I'll be there

We are at a wedding

Hope you have fun!

I will be there and staying for dinner.

Not sure at this stage, likely to have a trip home in August so trying to keep my plans fluid.

Count myself and Godfarter3 in for dinner too

Oooops, scrub that - I should really check our diary first. We are in Worcester that weekend for GF3's birthday....bugger!

Hi Mike

Please add DazUK & Myself to the list for Saturday
Not sure about Sunday yet but is the shoot location near by ???

Kisses
Chantelle

Hi Chantelle,
We'll be delighted to welcome you to the meet.
I'll let you know the shoot location once we've finished location-scouting.
Mike.

Is anybody heading down from Yorkshire/North East way? I'm not sure whether I'm goign to to drive or get the train yet.

A screen refresh with four weeks to go: -

Definites & Probables
BDNik
Daz UK
Falkor & Custard
Sploshman
Wamadeus (D)
WamChantelle
and me (D).

Maybes & Possibles.
Deepintheshadows
Diapered dingo
Dizzie D
Dungeon Master One
Faawn
Iaian-ecgunge
Janet & Nick
Kapitan Kitty
Kitten 125
Knkzz
Lalala-123
Naughtyjim
RaoulDuke1971
Weegie Wammer + 1
WrestlerPhilxxx

Still room for more, and time to let me know if you want dinner.

gutted to not be able to make it - need the weekend for family with all other weekends being booked up with session and studio related things now it's all almost ready

have fun guys x

A quick update with two weeks to go: -

Definites & Probables
BDNik
Daz UK
Falkor & Custard
Gorgeous George
Sploshman
Wamadeus (D)
WamChantelle
and me (D).

Maybes & Possibles.
AllyseQueen
Deepintheshadows
Diapered dingo
Dizzie D
Dungeon Master One
Faawn
Iaian-ecgunge
Janet & Nick
Kapitan Kitty
Kitten 125
Knkzz
Lalala-123
Miss H
Naughtyjim
RaoulDuke1971
Weegie Wammer + 1
WrestlerPhilxxx
Yamtree


Still room for more, and time to let me know if you want dinner.

I'll probably come to the pub, but I can't commit for certain until the day. I won't be around for dinner.

I think ill be able to make it to the pub not en-femme though unfortunately

Another update with two days to go: -

Definites & Probables
BDNik
Daz UK
Falkor & Custard
Gorgeous George
Sploshman
Wamadeus (D)
WamChantelle
Xenia Dressman
and me (D).

Maybes & Possibles
AllyseQueen
Deepintheshadows
Diapered dingo
Dizzie D
Dungeon Master One
F1r3f0x
Faawn
Flank
Iaian-ecgunge
Invisiblecosplay
Italian Spanker
Janet & Nick
Kapitan Kitty
Kitten 125
Knkzz
Lalala-123
Little Cutie Bunny
Naughtyjim
RaoulDuke1971
Weegie Wammer + 1
WrestlerPhilxxx
Yamtree

For the newbies, etc, we should be on the right just inside the main doors in a reserved area; there'll be a map and a light bulb on the table.

Still room for more, and time to let me know if you want dinner. At the moment it looks like two bags of fish and chips on the train home.

Normality is subjective.

On my way right now and looking forward to it

Great Splunch, Mike Custard and I had a lovely time

I'd like to say a big thank you to those who came to the meet, the diehards, the occasional visitors, and the Bristol newbie couple alike, for making it the meet that it was. I'm sorry that my health issues meant that I wasn't my usual sparkling self. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves; I think I got to chat to everyone, some only briefly, others for longer, on a wide range of subjects. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible, especially returning newbies, at future Bristol and other meets.

Those who made it were: -

Falkor and Custard
Flank
Gorgeous George
Invisiblecosplay and Little Cutie Bunny
Janet & Nick
Sploshman
Wamadeus
Xenia Dressman
... and me, Mike Nomic.
An honourable mention too to Firefox, who came thinking that a Splunch was just another name for a munch, and didn't hang around too long when he realised he was completely out of his comfort zone.
There were a lot (21 a record?) of no-shows, in addition to the notified ones, a great disappointment.

The card is below; despite having checked that cameras were available, we again forgot to take a full group photo.
There was no mud shoot on Sunday due to a lack of location-scouting and suitable models. Have I retired from shooting by default? The next Bristol date is 18th May 2019. Prayers for good weather will be gratefully received.