Meetings

 

2025 Meetings

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STOURBRIDGE MEETING

Date: Saturday 5th April 2025.


Venue:
​   Green Duck Brewery, Gainsborough trading estate, Rufford Road, Stourbridge. DY9 7ND.

Details:  Held in the Green Duck Brewery Taproom. The meeting this time starts at 12. Plenty of parking on the roads on the industrial estate – be careful not to block access to anyone.
Shop down the road for food. The Taproom will have at least half a dozen of their excellent beers on tap, both cask & keg

Doors open at 12

If you can help by picking up new mats from your local breweries or can donate any mats for an auction (new or old) please let us know.

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STCKPORT MEETING

Date: Saturday 31st May 2025.


Venue:
​   Nursery Inn, 258 Green Lane, Heaton Norris, Stockport, SK4 2NA

Details:  

It’s a Hydes pub, real ale, dog friendly, food for sale around noon. Venue is in an estate off Wellington Road North, A6, just north of town centre.

Doors open at 11

If arriving by train Stockport station is about a 25 minute walk away. Go down to station approach onto Wellington Rd South then down the road to Mersey Square. Continue up Wellington Rd North towards Manchester over the motorway. Going up the hill there’s a huge black building on left mentioning ‘Storage’ in yellow letters. Turn left at first road past this building, Bowerfold Lane, then over railway line, through the concrete bollards which prevent vehicle access & you enter the estate. Just follow Bowerfold Lane & in distance is a large tree on left side of road. Nursery is on right hand side in a cobbled street.

Also the frequent 192 bus between Hazel Grove & Manchester & return stops on Wellington Rd North outside the station & at side of the black storage building.

By car if coming from the south go up Wellington Road North continue through the traffic lights at the storage building. At next lights, just before a Ford car dealership, turn left down Heaton Road. Follow this road which becomes Alexandra Road until you see a sign for Green Lane. Road forks left & right so go left, slowly, down the narrow cobbled street. Nursery is 50 yards on your right & car park is next to the pub.

If further information is required please contact the organiser, Tom Corner, 18 Mount View, Uppermill, Oldham, Lancs OL3 6DB. Phone 01457872022. Email cornertj@hotmail.com

If you can help by picking up new mats from your local breweries or can donate any mats for an auction (new or old) please let us know.

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2025 NATIONAL MEETING – Burton on Trent

Date:  Friday 5th September 2025

Time: 09.30pm onwards (with break for lunch)

Venue: Burton on Trent Town Hall

Details: Our annual meeting with new issues a plenty, much swapping and a large auction list of old and new mats

Futher details will appear shortly.

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LONDON CHARITY MEETING (Not a BBCS Meeting)

Date:  to be confirmed but aiming at mid-late August 2025

Time: 12.30pm onwards

Venue: The Old King’s Head, King’s Head Yard, Borough High Street, London SE1 1NA

 

Details: Open to anyone, this is the main meeting for anyone interested is collecting beermats. A chance to pick up
brand new issues, swap mats with like-minded people and also bid in the auction for rarer mats. All monies collected from
the meeting go to local charities.

Futher details will appear once announced.

The Society organises several meetings across the country each year, along with it’s main “National Meeting” which usually takes place at a different venue each September. Any member can organise a local meeting and the Society will support you by providing any brand new and recent issues it has received along with a selection of mats to be used in an auction. If you are interested in organising and holding a local meeting the contact us via the contacts form. We will get back to you and liaise with you about your needs and how we can support you.

So what happens at a meeting ? Well, usually the organiser will find a suitable venue, often a pub or a club that has enough room for c30-50 members along with space to spread “new issue” mats out on tables. Members usually arrive well before the start time and a signing-in list is maintained with members signing in as soon as they arrive. Nearly every member brings a bag of spare mats that they don’t want and a “drop-out” area is created where members just put all these mats. Anyone can delve through this growing pile anytime during the meeting and freely take anything they want – it’s a great way for newcomers to build up a collection.

Lots of intense swapping takes place between members and if you find yourself with a mat that other members are looking for you’ll soon find yourself with lots of swap offers. Members chat and swap and talk all things beermats throughout the meeting…..it’s all very informal.

The only formal parts are when someone announces the new issues are ready and members go up and pick through all the mats they want – at this stage, usually due to the extremely limited numbers of each copy, members can have 1 of each of the mats. Members go and choose in the order they signed in, the earliest members getting the first pick – often useful if there’s only a very small number of some of the mats !! Once every signed in member has had their turn, if there’s any left any member wanting extra copies can go and get some more.

Once the new issues has finished, someone will run an auction of the older and rarer mats that have been supplied by the Society. There’s usually a list available giving details of the mats and their respective catalogue number. Members get the opportunity to openly bid for any mat that they want – some go for pence……some go for pounds. More often than not there’s a raffle ticket sale ongoing throughout the day, usually beer related prizes with all monies going to a local charity of the venue.

All in all, meetings are well worth going to – you’ll be made very welcome as a new member and if you let the organiser know you’re coming they’ll probably give you lots of mats that remain at the end of the drop-out. You’ll meet lots of like-minded collectors, local contacts and often friends for life.