What we’re about
Welcome to North East Culture & Conversation! 👋
This is a new social group for meeting and mingling with potential new friends in lovely locations, and bonding over shared interests. It’s aimed at the 20s, 30s and 40s age range.
Here you’ll find coffee gatherings, board game meets, dinners, a cake club offering convivial chatter for those with a sweet tooth, and some fun days out too. From time to time, we may offer some cocktail events and parties to bring everyone together, as well 🍸🍷🥳.
Our Adventures in Art 🖼️ events centre around not just visiting museums and galleries, but also trying out new creative skills such as life drawing and pottery painting. There are other cultural activities to try out too, such as theatre trips and live music events. For those who enjoy cross-stitch, crochet or knitting with a side of chitchat, come and join our Stitch and B*tch🪡🧵😉 …
We host two book clubs - one for fiction and one for non-fiction - take your pick or try both! We also offer film club events from time to time, which skew towards foreign, cult and indie movies. It’s great if you want to engage in thought provoking discussion! 📚🎬
Sometimes we attend talks and lectures too, on various subjects: science, history, psychology, classics and more! It’s a great opportunity to learn something new and explore ideas together 🤓.
Our events are primarily based in Newcastle and the surrounding areas, but sometimes we’ll venture a little further afield for day trips and some special adventures! If you’re interested in helping out with hosting in Durham, Sunderland or Northumberland, let us know as we’d love to branch out to offer events for young people there as well. If you have any ideas for new events, too, we are certainly open to suggestions ☺️.
We do ask that members use their first name rather than an initial on their profile, and recommend using a recognisable photo of themselves. We are all here to meet with new people face to face! Clarity about who you are when you show up helps both the organisers and the members 😊.
The group is fuelled on the values of friendliness, kindness and mutual respect. We are all adults, so let’s act like it 😉! Bigotry, harassment and abusive behaviour won’t be tolerated. We aim to foster a pro-social environment, so try to be considerate of your fellow members.
Now let’s have some fun 🤩!
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Stitch and Bitch: Sewing Club 🧶🧵🪡The Exchange, Newcastle upon Tyne
Are you a Queen of the Knits or a ‘happy hooker’ who loves crochet? Do you enjoy cross-stitch and embroidery or like to make and mend your own clothes? If so, we have a new club for you! Don’t worry, though: no experience is required if you’re curious to try out a new skill or just want to come along for the chat 🗣️💬.
Host Chris can crochet a little; there are others amongst our ranks who are knowledgeable in knitting and sewing, so they can show you the ropes if needs be. Host Alex hasn’t crafted since her school days and is certainly more skilled at bitching than stitching, so will be facilitating chatter whilst attempting to learn cross stitch herself 🧐🧵🪡 …
The Exchange is a quiet and spacious, centrally located, underground speakeasy lounge. It’s just off Northumberland Street and slightly hidden away from the hordes; think comfort, velvet and a slightly luxe vintage vibe. Look out for the magic telephone box entry door ☎️ 😉!
Click here for a quick walkthrough guide to finding the venue.
The bar sometimes offers food until 8pm if you’re feeling peckish (it’s a little unpredictable 🤔😆 …), but you may wish to eat beforehand or bring some snacks with you. They have a range of cocktails and mocktails on the menu, as well as the usual soft drinks 🍹🍸.
Please bring along your own supplies and be sure to tidy up nicely and take them home with you when you leave! And don’t worry if you’re running a little late - just drop in when you’re able and join the conversation. All are welcome! 🧶✂️
Let’s get crafty, chatty and creative together! ☺️
- Discovery Nights: Party at the Museum! 👗🍄🍕Discovery Museum, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Join us for the first ever Discovery Nights event! Let’s enjoy the Discovery Museum together after hours, and embrace the vibe of sustainable living in their theme for the evening: The Good Life 💚🌎!
Activities we’ll explore include:
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Taking an expert-led, behind the scenes tour of the museum’s costume stores, and learning about repairing and repurposing clothing 👗
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Learning about foraging 🍄🟫
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Hearing storytelling about the rich history of cotton via the museum’s dress collection; try a clothes swap if you dare! 👕
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Creating our own skincare with the help of Goodness Gracious Green 🧴
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Shopping the local makers’ fair for handmade sustainable jewellery and candles 💍🕯️
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Experimenting with mindful crafting using clay and quilled paper 🤲
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Watching demos of solar energy involving interactive experiments with fruit-based solar cells - ‘Berry Cells’ 🍓☀️
Experienced engineer Kevin Urquhart will also be on hand to answer any questions about the museum’s new Steam to Green exhibition, which focuses on the history of energy in the North East, travelling all the way back to the Industrial Revolution and then shifting back to the future with green technologies and renewable sources ♻️
There’ll be pizza to eat, beer from local microbrewery StuBrew to drink (plus other drinks besides), and a DJ on the decks throughout the adventure 🍕🍻🎵
Meet us at The Tipsy Cow opposite the museum between 6pm and 6.30pm to gather together as a group before heading in. We can head back out for drinks and a chat once the museum closes at 9pm, to discuss what we’ve seen and get to know one another better!
Tickets are £8 🎟️ and available to buy here
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- Film Club 🎬: The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (1964) ☔🎵🎄🇫🇷Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne
One of the most visually resplendent romances ever committed to film, Jacques Demy’s beautifully sad musical tells the story of Guy (Nino Catelnuovo), a young car mechanic who is about to be shipped off to the Algerian War, and Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve), who works as an assistant in Guy’s mother’s umbrella shop.
A truly original recitative musical where every line of dialogue is sung-through, The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg was winner of the Palme d'Or, and nominated for 4 Oscars! Its influence can be seen in modern classics such as La La Land and Barbie!
Check out the trailer here
We will meet at the Tyneside Cinema Bar Café from 12:30pm onwards, with the film starting at 13:00.
Afterwards we can pop to a nearby bar for chilled out discussion and general chatter, and a glass of wine or a nice warm drink 🍷☕
Tickets 🎟 are £13.75, and can be purchased here on the cinema website
- Parsing the Past: History Club 👑📜Blackfriars, Newcastle upon Tyne
Welcome to Parsing the Past, North East Culture & Conversation’s new History Club!
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We’ll meet each month to discuss an exciting era and some intriguing figures from ye old days of yore, hopefully learning a thing or two from one another, in the wonderfully historic Blackfriars parlour bar.
Blackfriars is a beautiful former mediaeval monastery; located right in the heart of Newcastle city centre, it should make for an atmospheric setting as we dive deeply into the past!
If you get hungry whilst we’re chatting, the bar serves mediaeval trencher charcuterie boards, and bar bait such as cheesy truffle fries. They also offer wine and cheese pairings, and delightful dessert wines expertly matched with sweet treats if you fancy! 🧀🍷🍮
This time, we’ll be exploring The Wars of the Roses 🌹🤍⚔️: a tumultuous time of civil war in Britain, which pitted brother against brother and cousin against cousin - the House of Lancaster vs the House of York. Eventually, it culminated in the descent of the Plantagenets and the rise of the Tudor dynasty. It served as inspiration for George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series and Game of Thrones 📺👑!
Some notable figures to look into prior to our meeting would be:
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‘Mad king’ Henry VI and his indomitable wife Margaret of Anjou
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Charming warrior-womaniser Edward IV and his scandalously unroyal ‘roadside queen’ Elizabeth Woodville
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Car park king Richard III and his sickly wife Anne Neville
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George, Duke of Clarence, who died by drowning in a barrel of wine
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‘The Kingmaker’: Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick
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The mysterious disappearing Princes in the Tower
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Sanctimonious zealot Margaret Beaufort and her son Henry VII, Battle of Bosworth winner and the first Tudor king, who married Elizabeth of York and thusly brought peace to England!
Feel free to research as much or as little as you like - just come prepared for a chat!
We suggest browsing the web for articles and exploring YouTube for videos (there are so many on this era!). Amazon Prime has a couple of documentaries you can take a look at: The White Queen and Her Rivals and Richard III: The King in the Car Park.
In terms of books, Dan Jones’s The Hollow Crown, Sarah Gristwood’s Blood Sisters, and Alison Weir’s Lancaster and York and Richard III & The Princes in the Tower could prove useful, but there is certainly no obligation to read through all of them! The books are suggested for your own curiosity, as a jumping off point. Pick and choose what suits you 🤓!
If you come across any other interesting source materials, feel free to examine those instead and share your findings with us! And if all else fails and you’re short on time but still want to come along for the chat and the chips, there’s always Wikipedia 😉!
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