Guest Post by Safe Hands
I’ve been looking at the forthcoming fixture list for when we can meet for a drink and for the first one of the season, I’m proposing it’s after our home game against Leicester on 15 August at The Black Lion in Plaistow. It’s not the biggest of venues but it has a large garden. However, if the weather looks dodgy, it will switch to The Miller’s Well so check back here as I’ll post a reminder the day before.
We did discuss on here about having another sleepover at the West Ham hotel as it was great to wake up to a view over the pitch although the service, facilities and attentiveness of those at the hotel was lacking to say the least. However, we thought we’d still go for it especially as BSB suggested we organise a WHTID Boleyn Farewell party for the evening. So, I identified some dates avoiding school holidays, Europa League, COC/FA Cup games, internationals etc etc, but none of them were available via booking.com or hotels.com. I rang the hotel and voilà … all the dates were available and with plenty of rooms. No doubt (understandably) they’ll want control the booking (with no discounts) but I was quoted prices about 30% more than when we stayed in May – a double B&B £117 and a single B&B £102. I’ve spoken to some of the others and as it’s a bit steep for what it is, we don’t want to stay there again, so I won’t be organising a WHTID sleepover.
But there’s nothing stopping us still having a WHTID Boleyn Farewell party and the best date where there aren’t any conflicts is after the game on 2 April against Crystal Palace. The only problem is if they move the game for TV but we’ll address that if it comes to it. BSB’s initial venue suggestion is the East Ham Working Men’s Club in Boleyn Road (parallel to Priory Road). You pay a £2 entrance fee – they do food, the bar’s good but understandably busy on a match day. If anyone else has any ideas of where else we can meet, please share below.
So, two dates for your diaries – 15 August and 2 April and, as usual, all are welcome :)