Join the friends of the house
A free list of regulars who like a quiet word, an early look at the new menu and a Sunday afternoon at the long table.
A list, a lunch and a long table
The friends of the house began as the people who kept turning up on quiet Tuesdays and ended up knowing each other's orders. Denise wrote their names in the back of the booking book, and the list grew until it needed its own page. It has no cards, no badges and no fee, and it has never offered anything of value.
What it does offer is company. Once a month, on the first Sunday afternoon, Trevor makes a big pot of soup, someone brings the damper and the friends gather at the long table downstairs. There's tea, there's talk and sometimes there's a teaching table, where a patient regular shows a newcomer how to follow a hand of poker.
Everyone aged 18 and over is welcome to join, and you don't need to have visited more than once. Tell Olivia at the door or leave a note in the booking form, and she will add your name. You'll hear from us when the new menu starts and when the monthly lunch is on, and that's all.
How the friends work
No perks, only people
Membership gives you no priority seating, no special table and no say over the games. We think it's important that nobody is made to feel they are paying for a better seat, so there is no such thing. The only difference is that we know your name.
The Sunday lunch
The monthly lunch is a plain affair. Soup, damper, a cup of tea and a lamington are served in the dining room at about two, and the upstairs room stays closed until the evening. People bring photographs, plans for the next tournament and sometimes a neighbour who has never been. It's relaxed, and children cannot attend.
Leaving the list
If you'd like to come off the list, tell any of us or write to the address in the footer, and your name will be removed from the book. We keep nothing about you except what you gave us when you joined, and the details notice explains how long that is held.
Around the long table
