Bringing in 2026 in Manchester's Rewind bar with Getsocial #meetup group
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— Matt Tuckey 🇬🇧 (@matttuckey.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Here we are. 2026. After a year and a half of running meetups… I had no one to go out with on New Years Eve. I didn’t get anything booked in with my own groups. What a clusterfuck.
GetSocial Meetup group ran a night in Rewind, so I got a ticket on the door at 9:30pm and found a few familiar faces, at least 4 of which I made a conscious effort to swerve. I’m pretty sure they did the same thing. Lookalikes on the night included Republican strategist Steve Bannon, Claes Bang (Filnjor off The Northman), Michael Sheen (Frost in Frost/Nixon), Karl off Die Hard (Alexander Godunov) and a gay version of Goose off Top Gun (Anthony Edwards). All fairly predictable. 75% guys. Cheesy pop. Polite chat with this person and that. Left not long after 12.
A lot of these middle-of-the-road meetups would do much better if they had a bit more structure: things happening, maybe a raffle, a limbo challenge or a dance-off or something. It needs to be more than just ‘people in a room.’
I also thought maybe the organisers could put up some topic signs like ‘music,’ fitness,’ ‘films,’ etc. that way if you’re into a particular thing, go hover around that sign and the likelihood is someone will want to talk to you about your interests.
At least my meetups are held in places where a lot of people would say,
‘no, actually, that’s not my thing.’ That way you can narrow down the
people you’d get on with best.
Veganuary holding steady. Trying different culinary things. Got an immediate headache Friday night after a vegan curry and have done no exercise all weekend. Probably dehydrated. Was fine by the middle of Saturday.
