31st January 2026
Because of various clashing crossword events, I would like to change the date for the Birthday Bash by a week. I hope no one has booked anything yet, and this change can work for you all. Please shout up if there are any problems
The Blog will be celebrating its seventeenth birthday next January 28th 2026.
I have started the ball rolling with The Bridge House and reserved the bar area we have used in the past for Saturday, the 31st January, from noon onwards.
I hope that those who came last year enjoyed it and it should be just as good again, however, I don’t think Mama Bee will be able to cope with a weekend in London again. I expect she will spend a weekend with my sister “babysitting”.
Last year, Smylers provided a quiz, Prolixic a couple of puzzles, Elgar a double toughie and Rahmat Ali contributed too. I am also hoping that as well as Bloggers and Setters, anyone who comments will feel as welcome as I did the first time I came. There is not a lot to do in the way of organising, but an assistant to welcome attendees/manage name tags and Teams links would be great – a volunteer is worth ten pressed men.
Big Dave was very keen on explaining crosswords, and “Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English” remains in our banner as his mission statement. Rookie Corner is one of the finest things he initiated, and it has introduced many people who have gone on to set puzzles for The Telegraph and other national newspapers. I invite anyone to consider setting a puzzle for the Birthday Bash, even if they are mainly completed on the train home. My fellow bloggers, and maybe Rossophile and Deansleigh (who cut their blogging teeth on the Telegraph Centenary puzzles), could help with an explanatory blog.
If you would like to see what we have got up to in the past have a look at the gallery here
The nearest Saturday to the actual date is 31st January 2026. I have spoken to (well emailed) the venue we have used in the past, The Bridge House in Little Venice, and they are happy to reserve us the same area in the pub as before.
In the past, several attendees have used the Paddington Novotel, I have booked already through Hotels.com / Trivago. Whether to stay there is up to you, and other hotels and booking apps are available.
The main event of the get-together will be at The Bridge House in Little Venice during the day. There is a wide-ranging menu here. Although Sue is forgoing sugar now, I or one of our other keen bakers may wish to bring a cake or other sweetmeats to celebrate our 17th Birthday. Transporting the Macaron “cake” was probably the biggest challenge last year, but I will probably be doing something similar, if less ambitious, this time.
A few people got through on the Teams link (Kiwis and Steve C, amongst others), even if communicating over a noisy bar was difficult, I will endeavour to do the same again if you wish.
I am not looking for commitment yet but please use the comments to suggest anything you would like to see, or volunteer to help with the administration. I was a bit lax at taking photos and delivering nametags so I would appreciate a bit of help. All comments will be directed to me, but replies, if needed, may be a bit delayed during the week.
SJB, the 30th January 2026 is a Friday!
Many thanks for that RD, I could claim it was a deliberate error to get a response, but just a bit of confusion between dates of hotels, trains etc.
Thanks again and hope to see you there.
I have already booked so will have to see if I can move things around.
I hope so, The Bridge House, my own hotel and trains were very accommodating so I hope you find it the same.
28th is the actual date that Big Dave started the blog.
PS the prize cryptic today is a tricky blighter – or maybe my concentration is awry.
Ah, thanks, John. I have just managed to change the date of my accommodation – the travel should not be a problem.
I agree about today’s prize puzzle, it’s a stinker.
Why is 28th mentioned, John? That’s a Wednesday. (I tried to say this in an edit to my former post but it didn’t save so apologies if it eventually appears as they can do).
I desperately want to attend again. But 31st is George’s 93rd birthday and it seems a bit rotten to desert him. I will have to chew on that one. Hopefully I can do my cabaret turn with the splits!
Bring George, I am sure he has been as much help as fellows here and it would be great to meet him too.
You know you have to be there.
It would be splendid to see The Gee Dog, too.
93 divides by 31. It’s soooooo meant to be!
After a slow start with the brilliant 1a I managed to pick up speed with 19a as my favourite. Thank you compiler and CS
I think this comment belongs in t’other blog, but someone with more experience will need to do it.
Nevertheless your assessment of the puzzle is totally in agreement with how I found it too.
I am a relative newcomer to the Big Dave forum and thoroughly enjoy the comments and feel a connection to many of the contributors. Is the meeting at The Bridge House in Little Venice for invitees only ? I can imagine it must be because you will have limited space available. Only asking as I would love to put my head round the door and say a quick “ Hello”.
Most definitely not just for invitees, although the bar area is quite cosy, there is more than enough room for anyone to come.
It would be great to meet in person, and all would be more than welcome.
The main event is in The Bridge House from noon to early evening, and even after that, the hardiest souls have gone on to a local Chinese restaurant.
I am going to try to attend this year. I saw reference to the “blog email” but I can’t see how to sign up. Searching around mentioned the sidebar but I don’t see that on my phone. Also when I tick the boxes on a particular blog for follow up emails, it doesn’t work on my phone or Mac Studio so maybe it’s my end. But if there’s any other advice to sign up for a generic “blog email” or pointer in the right direction, I’d be very grateful.
It would be great to see you.
D you get email whenever new blogs are posted or just check the blog?
Either way below where you post there should be two tick Boxes
Notify me of follow up comments by email.
And
Notify me of new posts by email.
The second one should put you on the list for new blogs, the first will get you an email every time someone replies to you.
Thanks SJB. No I do t receive anything and I do tick those boxes and it doesn’t work. Must be security settings in my browsers. I’ll investigate further.
Check spam filter too, they can go there as they come from WordPress
Nothing in spam but you’ve got me thinking. My email is fronted via a vanity domain and in the past I’ve had certain senders get blocked within the provider’s link to the site that actually hosts the email. So for this reply, I’m bypassing the vanity by providing the true final target email.
Hope that works, it recognised you as a new email so I have approved that and hopefully solved the problem.
Hmmm, got my original email address wrong! So trying again, sorry for the trouble.
OK, so now my ‘direct to Outlook’ is working and it’s created a new WordPress account. Now I’ve recovered my account using the vanity email address so trying to get that working again!
I am sure the technology that Steve Jobs is demonstrating in the Toughie wasn’t as complicated as today’s
Turns out that my vanity email is associated with a WordPress account but that account did not and would not add subscriptions initiated by the buttons on BigDave44. However, I could add BigDave44 as a subscription in the WordPress Account settings and now all is working and I can go delete the extra account created under the wonderful randomly generated name of: ‘impossiblysharkef95c3b875’!
Thanks so much for your help, John. My first email notifications were for posts by yourself and Daisygirl – what a privilege!!!
I’m going to revert this post to my vanity email address.
As usual, Mrs YS and I will be in the Caribbean celebrating my birthday and escaping a couple of weeks of the British winter. If the cost of travel insurance keeps escalating I may well be coming to future events. Have fun everyone.
Thanks, I hope you enjoy your birthday and will save a seat for you in future years.
Thank you for the invitation. We would love to meet the people whose helpful comments we read each week but unfortunately we go on holiday very early the next morning. Hope you have a great get together.
Thanks for that, maybe next year
I’ve managed to sort travel out so, God willing, I will be there.
Great news, I am looking forward already.
It will be good to see you again, John and to meet up with others.
Is there an official “sign-up form” that we need to complete in advance, or do we just turn up? (I am certainly hoping to come, but some looming family issues mean that I can’t yet confirm my attendance) …
No just turn up, I will be doing another post around Christmas looking for a guide to numbers, but part of the fun is meeting people for the first time. It certainly was when I first came.
I’m intending on coming and am currently sorting out logistics. The change of date makes some things easier but also means we clash again with King’s Cross being closed on the Saturday and Sunday — unluckily, they’ve gone a week later as well!
I hope you manage to sort things out. It would be good to see you again.
I booked through Grand Central, York/KX, and although I did book a specific return on the Sunday, closer inspection of the conditions means I either travel KX to Peterborough on a bus or join a scrum at St Pancras for trains north like last year. I am glad that I won’t have to wheel Mama Bee about this time.
I’m planning to attend the Birthday Bash as normal! I think I’ve been to most of them. Looking forward to seeing the usual suspects and some new ones. As currently feeling pretty ancient will look forward to seeing some young blood. I’ve rarely commented for ages. Two reasons one health related and the other brain related. Christine
I’m intending to come to the Bridge House. It will be good to see everyone again. I’ve not been for a few years.
Great, I look forward to meeting you