Philofaxy Manchester Meet Up - 9 March 2013

My first meet up of 2013 was in Manchester. 

Saturday saw me getting up early and catching the 7:30 train from a sleepy Kent railway station up to London before joining a Virgin Trains express train to Manchester. Trains have advanced somewhat in the last 10-15 years since I last used them on a regular basis.

Photo Credit: Train Spotting Again Blogger
http://trainspottingagain.blogspot.co.uk’

By 11:30 I had arrived in the centre of Manchester to be met by the lovely Alice, who I think was also new to Manchester... The last time I was there was when I was in short trousers and I don't recall a lot of that visit, let alone the geography of the street layout. But by cheating by using Google Street View we found our way to the restaurant where Alison and Tony were waiting outside for us.

We went in out of the rain and the waiter showed us to our table. Our numbers gradually increased until all ten of us had arrived.

In between ordering food and drinks out came the Filofax organisers and they were being passed around, being admired, looked at and 'sniffed' ! It was good to see that this custom/tradition also took place in Manchester as it seems to do every time in London and elsewhere.

There was lots of discussions going on around the table and I tried to get around to chat with everyone.

I was put under some pressure to reveal the details of the 'new 2013 range' but I managed to maintain the secret, but gave them notice to watch the blog on Sunday.... which as you know now was the first in a series of posts about the 2013 range. 

After we had exhausted our pangs for food and drink and discussion we took to the streets of Manchester and Tony and Alison guided us to Paperchase, I've never been in one quite this size before... spread over three floors and there were lots of people buying lots of paper things and art and craft items, so much for the world going all electronic... They had a small display of Filofax organisers and inserts but none of us were tempted.

We did take a closer look at the Paperchase own brand organisers. Some of them are labelled as 'leather' hmmm... PU leather may be not not 'real leather'

The A5 model is made of bonded leather and for £28 I thought it was quite good value for money. They also have quite a good range of their own brand inserts available too. So it was good to see those in a store.

Eventually we all had to say our good byes and made our way to the different departure points. Alice and I walked back to Manchester Piccadilly where I caught the 18:15 back to London, I got back to Kent just after 22:00, so it had been a long but a very enjoyable day.

I hope the 'Manchester Group' can continue to flourish in future with or without me attending. It was great to see so many familiar names and faces for the first time.

And finally the pictures of the meal part of the meet-up.

Susan, Helen

Alice, Lucy, Alison

Roslyn, Carol, Andrew, Susan, Helen, Tony

Susan, Helen, Tony, Alice, Lucy, Alison, Roslyn, Carol

Alison, Roslyn, Carol, Andrew

Helen, Tony

Alison, Alice, Lucy

Lucy, Alison, Roslyn

The Stack!

Thank you to everyone who came along and supported a great event, lots of laughter and great memories of the day.

So next week..... London!