
What we’re about
Welcome to North East Culture & Conversation! 👋
This is a new social group for meeting and mingling with potential new friends in lovely locations, and bonding over shared interests. It’s aimed at the 20s, 30s and 40s age range.
Here you’ll find coffee gatherings, board game meets, dinners, a cake club offering convivial chatter for those with a sweet tooth, and some fun days out too. From time to time, we may offer some cocktail events and parties to bring everyone together, as well 🍸🍷🥳.
Our Adventures in Art 🖼️ events centre around not just visiting museums and galleries, but also trying out new creative skills such as life drawing and pottery painting. There are other cultural activities to try out too, such as theatre trips and live music events. For those who enjoy cross-stitch, crochet or knitting with a side of chitchat, come and join our Stitch and B*tch🪡🧵😉 …
We host two book clubs - one for fiction and one for non-fiction - take your pick or try both! We also offer film club events from time to time, which skew towards foreign, cult and indie movies. It’s great if you want to engage in thought provoking discussion! 📚🎬
Sometimes we attend talks and lectures too, on various subjects: science, history, psychology, classics and more! It’s a great opportunity to learn something new and explore ideas together 🤓.
Our events are primarily based in Newcastle and the surrounding areas, but sometimes we’ll venture a little further afield for day trips and some special adventures! If you’re interested in helping out with hosting in Durham, Sunderland or Northumberland, let us know as we’d love to branch out to offer events for young people there as well. If you have any ideas for new events, too, we are certainly open to suggestions ☺️.
We do ask that members use their first name rather than an initial on their profile, and recommend using a recognisable photo of themselves. We are all here to meet with new people face to face! Clarity about who you are when you show up helps both the organisers and the members 😊.
The group is fuelled on the values of friendliness, kindness and mutual respect. We are all adults, so let’s act like it 😉! Bigotry, harassment and abusive behaviour won’t be tolerated. We aim to foster a pro-social environment, so try to be considerate of your fellow members.
Now let’s have some fun 🤩!
Upcoming events (4)
See all- Smash It! Badminton Social Session 🏸 (+optional coffee afterwards ☕️)Nucastle , Newcastle
✨Buckle up for Badminton✨
Whether you’re returning to the court or simply looking for players of a similar skill, our Badminton Social Session🏸 is the perfect way to get back into the swing of things!
We sometimes go for coffee together afterwards to socialise☕️‼️If you’re attending for the first time, please read on for further details‼️
- Cost of the event:
There is a £10 advance booking fee per court charged by the sports centre (currently £40 per event). To help sustain the longevity of these sessions, attendees can make a voluntary contribution.
Donations link:
https://pay.collctiv.com/newcastle-culture-and-conversation-badminton-meetup-group-68666- Donation-based system: To avoid chasing payments, contributions will be voluntary.
- No excess expected: Any surplus will be used to ensure we can always book a minimum of 2 courts per event, regardless of attendance.
- Suggested donation: A £2.50-£3.00 contribution per person is recommended.
- Personal contribution: KC is happy to contribute £10 each week to support the group.
- What to expect:
🔹 1 Hour of Non-stop Action: We’ve got a full hour court booked from 1:00pm. Chat with your fellow players on the touchline between games.
🔹 Find Your Match: This session is all about matching up players of similar abilities.
🔹 Bring Your Gear: Attendees are required to bring their own equipment to play. (DM KC if you need to borrow a racket - he may have spares)- Event format
- Sessions are casual double matches to 11 points. We play 2 points clear, or first to 15, at 10-10.
- This ensures everyone has a chance to play with and against a wide range of players of varying abilities.
- When a court becomes free, anyone on the touchline can jump into a new game.
- Some people tend to wait until two courts become free, which helps to mix and match the teams around.
- We encourage attendees to swap partners and play against different people as much as possible.
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Time and place
🕓 When: 1:00pm - 2:00pm 📍 Where: NUCASTLE - Newcastle United Foundation. We’ll meet in the foyer around 12:45pm for introductions before heading to our court. -
Important points to note
‼️Parking is located around the back of the centre, off Stanhope Street next to Avolon Court, car parks to the side and front of the sports centre are privately owned 👕Changing rooms including an accessible changing room are available on site. ⚠️I’ve set the attendee limit to 25 to make sure everyone has a chance to play. Please edit your RSVP if you are unable to attend. -
Help!! I don’t know the rules for badminton doubles.
- The service box includes the outer side tramlines but not the back tramlines.
- The server serves from the right if their score is even, and diagonally to the opponent on the left.
- The server keeps serving if their team wins the point and switches sides with their partner. The other team stays in the same position.
This is a great chance to meet other badminton enthusiasts, improve your skills, and most importantly—have fun! Don’t miss out—come serve up some fun, work on your smashes, and get back into the game!🎉🏸
- Book Club: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro ☀️🤖Centurion Bar, Newcastle
Whether you’re a true bookworm or simply seeking a motivation to get reading more often, the book club is a great place for conversation and meeting new people! Come and enjoy some interesting discussion alongside more relaxed chatter, with the book as the jumping off point.
🗣️📖
This time, we’ll be reading Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro , visiting the near-future to meet Klara, a solar-powered artificial friend who is a companion to a sickly child called Josie ☀️👭.
Ishiguro's first novel since winning the Nobel Prize, Klara and the Sun received critical acclaim, with reviewers describing it as a "haunting fable" and a "dazzling genre-bending work" 🌟!
Themes we will no doubt discuss include the nature of artificial life, consciousness and the comparisons to be made with the AI chatbot world we now live in 🤖 💻 …
The Centurion is a relaxed, elegant and spacious bar with comfortable seating and a quiet atmosphere, well-suited to literary conversations! 📕🍷
Converted from the historic first class lounge at Central Station 🚂✨, its luxuriant environs are situated at ground floor level, easily accessible, with public transport links aplenty nearby. If you’re feeling peckish there are various shops adjacent that you can pick up nibbles from.
This is an open session, so feel free to drop by at any time during the evening: we’re pretty easygoing ☺️.
Hope you can join us 📚!