Event Planning

Free Social drinks with AAA to meet new people, make friend and join our community, might have a game or two there as well to play. Some of our AAA hike leaders will be there too meet and greet. Promise no marketing speeches of our inspiring day hikes, delicious weekends away and European trips abroad :) [FAQs](https://www.aaahiking.co.uk/faq) \| [Terms and Conditions](https://www.aaahiking.co.uk/terms-and-conditions) \| [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/AAAhiking) \| [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/AAAHikingUK/reviews) \| [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aaahiking/) \| [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@aaahiking) \| [Trip Advicer](https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186338-d19994843-Reviews-AAA_Hiking_Outdoor_Group-London_England.html) \| [TicTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@aaahiking) \| [Website](https://www.aaahiking.co.uk/)

### 📅 EVENT DETAILS 📍 **Where:** Aldgate Tower (just outside Aldgate East Station, Exit 1) 🙋 **Who:** Players who already know how to play with scores (not suitable for beginners) ☕ **Included:** Instructur help, free tea, coffee, and unbeatable vibes ## 🀄 WANT TO PLAY MAHJONG REGULARLY? Mahjong is still a niche board game in London — and since it needs **4 players**, it can be hard to organise regular games with just your own friends or family. In many parts of Asia, **Mahjong parlours** bring people together to play. While we’re **not** running a commercial Mahjong club, we *are* here to build a **community**. Many of our players started as complete beginners in our workshops — and now they’re **hooked**! That’s why we created our **🎟️ Just Play tickets**. ### 🌏 DIFFERENT MAHJONG STYLES WELCOME ### 🇭🇰 Hong Kong Style (Main Style) Our main style is **Hong Kong Mahjong**, with a **3 fan minimum to win**.If you know how to play other Chinese styles like **Taiwanese**, **Sichuan**, or **British Mahjong**, you’re still welcome! We’ll provide **scoring cards** to help you adapt. ⚠️ However, these tables are **not suitable for beginners**. If you haven’t yet graduated from Level 1 or Level 2 of our workshops, or if you don’t know how to score, please join our learner workshops first to build confidence. ### 🇯🇵 Japanese Riichi (Growing Community) Riichi Mahjong is **new to our community**, but we love its fast pace and strategic complexity!If you already know how to play Riichi — \*\*amazing! Please join us.\*\*If you play Chinese Mahjong and want to try Riichi, one of our instructors or friendly regulars might help, but we **can’t guarantee full teaching support yet**. You're welcome to learn by playing alongside others. ### 🇺🇸 American Mahjong (New Community in 2026) We’re excited to add **American Mahjong** to our offerings. It’s quite different from Chinese Mahjong, so we’ll run newbie workshops and regular Just Play sessions from 2026. **Note**: Just Play bookings require solid prior knowledge of American rules. However, we encourage cross‑style learning, so if you already know one style of Mahjong, learn another with us, so you can play at any table. ## 💷 OUR BEST PRICE PROMISE We’re doing our best to keep **Just Play tickets affordable at £15** for a 2-hour session — that’s our **best price promise**. 🙌 Unlike clubs that charge entry or venues that require a minimum spend, our ticket price covers only what’s needed: venue, staff, admin cost. And yes — with a booked ticket, **YOU ARE GUARNATEED A SEAT AT THE TABLE**, and we also provide **free tea, coffee**, and the occasional **festive treat**. ☕🍪 We're not a charity, but we are **deeply committed** to creating a welcoming Mahjong community. 💛 Your support helps us keep the tiles clicking, and we love seeing familiar faces return week after week! ## 📱 JOIN OUR MAHJONG WHATSAPP COMMUNITY Stay connected with fellow players in our friendly WhatsApp group — a space to ask questions, get updates on upcoming events, and even arrange private games outside of our Saturday sessions. It's the easiest way to stay in the loop and grow your Mahjong circle! [LINK HERE](https://chat.whatsapp.com/IQXv3nGfbeMCfvI6HsGjfZ "https://chat.whatsapp.com/IQXv3nGfbeMCfvI6HsGjfZ") **Important Notes** 1. Each attendee must be registered to our building in addition to the meetup ticketing. If you book two tickets, we will need both individuals’ full names and email addresses for registration. 2. On **the same week**, you will receive an email from "Aldgate Tower" with your **building entry invitation**. This email includes a **unique visitor QR code**, which you’ll need to scan at the ground floor speed gates. Then, head straight up to the **6th floor**, where we’ll be ready to welcome you. 3. Please check your **spam or junk folder** if you don’t see the email. Still nothing? Send us a message / whatsapp us on +44 7423 755734 , and we’ll assist you promptly.

🌌Ever look up and marvel with insatiable curiosity at both the beauty and wonder of the **universe?** That wild sobering thought that somewhere in the chaos of creation - the emergence of life - the universe became **conscious** enough to look back and ask the existential questions; How it all started, our evolution and place in it, and where else in the cosmos other complex life might exist (we know almost every star you see has planets orbiting with up to **20 billion habitable exoplanets** easily in our galaxy alone!)? 🪐🌟🌟🌟 🌍Then RSVP to view the potential life harbouring moons of **Jupiter**, comets, the famous **Orion Nebula** where stars like our sun were born, the majestic rings of **Saturn**, the international space station, well known star fields, remnants of **supernova** witnessed by our early ancestors, multi-star solar systems (think the double sun in Starwars), the Tau Ceti star with **2 Earth like planets** orbiting in the habitable zone, plus a range of other fascinating celestial wonderments (comets, galaxies) over drinks and engaging chats and banter this Jan fully hosted by a passionate amateur astronomer and former global Journalist covering big picture stories including cutting edge science related ones. 🚀In between observing - we'll have **drinks and engaging chats** on all astronomy related topics for those inclined - space exploration, Fermi Paradox, Astrobiology, Cosmology, paleontology, SETI/Drake Equation (I have my own augmented version giving more realistic estimates of likely alien civilisations!), exoplanetology etc as well as non space chatter and banter too. No doubt we'll hear the usual jokes we've all heard before! If those don't make you laugh, my impersonation of Los Angeles ET will! 👽 And to help set the mood and make the night feel even extra galactic, I’ll put my DJ hat to play some space‑themed tunes and songs about the stars! **======= Joining Astronomers Group & Telescopes =======** I'm able to take a limited number of people (please only RSVP if you can make it) to join my friendly informal relaxed London amateur astronomers' club that have been for over a decade with their regulars made up of up to about 150 people. As there will be people attending from this private Astronomers group as well as others from one of my other groups - the total attendees will be far higher than rsvps here and the public liability insurance only covers a max number of people - hence I need to impose strict limits on attendance. Over the years we have enjoyed numerous social evenings of stargazing and thought provoking chatter with people of all ages and varying levels of astronomy knowledge - so complete beginners that are genuinely curious about the universe are very welcome. If you are just looking to meet generic randoms then there are others groups that will better cater for that. The world renowed **BBC Television Sky at Night** also attended our events pre covid and interviewed some of us for it's show that aired on BBC1 in Feb 2019. BBC **Radio London** (94.9 FM / digital) were there Aug 2023 to cover our meteor shower event broadcasting live to millions of Londoners for 3 hours You don't need a telescope as you will be able to view through scopes belonging to me and other club members (as long as you behave responsibly and don't temper with expensive equipment). If you have your own telescope/binoculars feel free to bring along and I can help you setting it up if you're a newbie **==== Food & Drinks With Seating From Warm Indoor Cafe ====** Alcoholic beverages (wine, beer, cider only), hot drinks and food/snacks will be available to purchase from an indoor cafe at the observation point which Regent's park keep open exclusively for the astronomers group so please don't bring your own drinks **==== ITINERARY =====** We will meet outside Camden Station. After a short wait for anyone delayed, I will escort everyone to our observation point in the local park 15 minutes walk away and brief you in terms of what to expect, observing etiquette, tips, equipment handling and take any questions you have - weather general or astronomy/cosmology related. **After Drinks:** Unless I have a very important 9AM Thursday deadline for a client presentation or something that I'm still gonna be writing 2 mins before start - most of us usually head our way back to Camden for another drink. If so - I will annouce the pub when we leave the park **==== What Can You Expect To See (this time of year)? ====** * Orion Nebula * Jupiter and 4 moons * Meteors * Andromedia Galaxy * Saturn, rings & moon * Star clusters such as the Pleiades & Owl Cluster etc * International Space station fly by * Venus & Mercury * Binary & tripple star systems (think planet *Tatooine in* Starwars!), * Neptune * Uranuus * Mars * Our moon * A look towards the galactic centre where that supermassive £22b Labour black hole sits (Sagittarius A) More here from Jodrell Bank Observatory/Astrophysics Centre: [http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/](http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/) Guide to viewing the cosmos for beginners: [https://phys.org/news/2018-05-universe-distant-starstips-cosmology-backyard.html#jCp](https://phys.org/news/2018-05-universe-distant-starstips-cosmology-backyard.html#jCp) **===Weather Dependent=====** The event is subject to clear skies forecasts on the night so if on the actual afternoon of the event the weather forecasts looks unsuitable beyond doubt then I will postpone so please check the event status on the day of the event . If this event is still listed here at 5PM on the day, it will be going ahead at the designated day and time! Happy Stargazing Lucas Skywalker - The Singin, Dancin, DJ-in Astronomer

"Help isn’t coming. And even if it does… you might not want it." – Survival isn’t just about staying alive — it’s about keeping your mind when everything else goes feral. 📅 **Date:** Wednesday, 12 February 2026 🕕 **Show Time:** 19:10 🧭 **Meeting Time:** 18:00 outside Cineworld Crawley to get a drink or dinner or 18:50 📍 **Cinema Address:** Unit 1, Crawley Leisure Park, Crawley, RH10 8LR (15 mins walk from Crawley Station) 🎬 **Screening Type:** 2D 🪑 **Screen:** 2 🎟 **My Seat:** R15 *** ### 🎬 About the Film: **SEND HELP** comes from **Sam Raimi — the legendary director of *Evil Dead* and *Drag Me to Hell***. That means one thing: beautifully controlled chaos. What begins like an ordinary situation mutates into a survival nightmare where panic, personality, and bad decisions collide. Raimi doesn’t just scare you — he makes you laugh at the exact moment you shouldn’t. Beneath the madness, the film teases some great questions: • Who are we when modern comfort disappears? • Are we capable in a crisis – or just people with low phone batteries? • When pressure hits, do we trust, betray, or turn everything into content? • And why, in true Raimi style, is disaster sometimes uncomfortably hilarious? Expect tension, dark humour, and that signature Raimi energy where horror and comedy wrestle for control. *** ### 🧭 Meeting Point: Let’s meet at **18:00 or 18:50 outside Cineworld Crawley** — quick hellos, snacks if needed, then we head in together before things get messy on screen. 🪑 I’m in **Seat R15, Screen 2** — feel free to book next to me 😀. *** ### 🎟 Booking Info: Book via Cineworld Crawley: https://www.cineworld.co.uk/films/send-help *** ### 💬 After the Movie: Optional drink nearby to unpack the madness: – Are we really as capable as we imagine, or just well-charged spectators of our own lives? – Does crisis reveal character — or create it? Relaxed chat, mixed views welcome, no deep film knowledge needed. 📱 Need to reach me? WhatsApp: 07830374629 *** Because some films don’t just entertain — they test you. Let’s press **Send Help** together.

The first session of Menus of Conversation in 2026 will be on Thursday 12th February from 7pm onwards. We will be in the bar section on the ground floor - when you arrive, if you are trying to figure out where exactly we are in the venue, just keep an eye out for the people enjoying themselves! I have started drawing event posters and will draw another poster for next month. I would love it if you would be so kind as to check them out now on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/menusofconversation/ **Price** The event is a pay what you can event. You can tip whatever you think has been a fair price for your event experience. The suggested tip is a minimum of £4-5. You can pay with cash or card on the night. PS, if you've been before, please take a minute to complete my survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NZSZD88 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/menusofconversation/ and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/New-Conversation-104308482323373 **Event Description** This is a social event where people have the chance to have a one-to-one conversation with someone they may or may not have met before using a 'conversation menu' (picture attached). A conversation menu is a list of pre-written conversation starter questions which participants use to have a conversation by discussing the different questions. The questions are generally about some of life's big questions and lead to some interesting conversations about important, fundamental topics which we certainly don't get the opportunity to discuss every day. Some might consider our events to be 'small-talk free zones'. The event brings people together and invites people to discuss topics and answer questions they don't get to discuss on a daily basis, especially with people they don't know. The idea is that the more we talk about topics we don't normally talk about, to people we don't normally talk to in our habitual social circles, the more opportunities, connections and possibilities we create for ourselves. If we discuss different topics with different people, then we achieve different results. Testimonials for the events held so far include: 'For me it was a brilliant success and hopefully it will be for many others. It is a simple idea simply executed, asking people to pair up and discuss a number of questions on a list. And it works! Although I vaguely knew my partner, the questions allowed us time to touch on areas that I think we would have been otherwise unlikely to ever discuss e.g. which parts of your life have been a waste of time?' 'Surprisingly good and thoroughly worthwhile. Suggested questions excellent.' ‘I can heartily recommend coming along to a conversation event. The questions were really thought provoking and led to some fascinating conversations. I really enjoyed the evening and I came away with feeling I’d learned a lot from my conversation partner.” ‘I thought it was a very interesting meeting. I thought it was interesting to try to answer personal questions and listen to the other person.’