Dave and Jean Angus started a new Group for Stanford - le - Hope and District u3a called “Couples Lunch” over 2 years ago now and is still going strong. We meet monthly for Couples who are Members of Stanford - le - Hope and District u3a limiting the Group to 20 Couples, all of whom need to be on email and have their own transport as no transport is provided, it all has worked OK to date.

We book a different restaurant in the Thurrock area or “just over the borders” into other areas of Essex on the last Thursday of each month for 1pm. Dave and Jean aim to be at the chosen restaurant at 12.45pm so that we can all meet for a drink and a chat before our meals. Details of the chosen restaurant are sent via email to all of the Couples in the Group who then need to indicate if they will be attending the next Couples Lunch or not so that Dave and Jean can book numbers accordingly. Couples pay on the day and sometimes Restaurants send us their menu via email that we forward as appropriate for Couples to pre-order their meals. As we are a large Group this saves time on the day and hopefully ensures that Members get what they would like to eat from the menu and caters for any special dietary requirements. Dave and Jean do not hold any payments as they are made direct to the restaurant at each monthly lunch meeting. Sometimes we are asked for a small deposit by the restaurant, which is taken off the cost on the day, we always pay direct to the restaurant as individual Couples.

Dave and Jean’s original thought was that this would be an opportunity for Members who are Couples to meet each other informally and have a chat and a laugh while enjoying a nice meal and that is exactly what has happened. Often people on other tables look over at us having a laugh and give the impression they would like to join us. We ask Members of our Group to let us know of any restaurants they would like to recommend trying and this has worked out well too.

If any Stanford-le-Hope and District u3a Couples who are both Members would like to join and have their details added to the list, please email Dave and Jean Angus by clicking on the coloured text.