Having just typed a belated to a Filipina who happened to join our ranks while I was on holiday, it prompts me to resurrect a question that has cropped up from time to time throughout the years I've been a member.

Of course, I realise the 's been mooted several times in the past to no avail ... not least for reasons of the diverse impracticalites involved in bringing together people from virtually all parts of the UK. And, there again, a goodly number of our friends are still - as yet - living in the Philippines.

But, for folk who've not long set foot on the somewhat [recently]-dampened soil of 'England's "green" and pleasant land' - and may-well be missing all that has hitherto been familiar to them - it COULD just prove to be the kind of "pick-me-up" needed to alleviate feelings of homesickness.

Since the vast majority of those who have settled here already are domiciled either in the Midlands or around London & the Home Counties, it'd make sense to choose a suitable venue somewhere in deepest England ... and I for one, would be perfectly happy with such an arrangement.

Going back to 1993, for example ... following the death of an uncle of mine on my mother's side ... my brother suggested the surviving nephews and nieces of our generation might like to hold some form of social gathering. As a fair few of our cousins had, over the years, migrated south, we plumped for a "central" location ... and, in the end, chose Blackpool.

So ... does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?