Everything you need for the evening

The Moose Centre — Churchill Way E, Basingstoke RG21 7QU.

• Use the private car park immediately north of the building; the entrance is on the west side.
• Churchill Way is a dual carriageway — approach from the east, and turn left into the pull-in just after the shops/car-park underpass, past the end of Church Street. Miss it and it's once round the next roundabout — a lap of honour, if you like.
• The committee is on site from 6:30pm; there's a fridge waiting for your whites and fizz.

• 7:30pm prompt — the chairman welcomes the room, deals with club business in five minutes flat, and hands you the floor.
• ~8:15pm (after the fourth wine, usually) — a 20–25 minute finger-buffet break: pâté, cheese, bread, savouries.
• 9:30pm — glasses down.

That gives you about 105 minutes — for a flight of eight, roughly 13 minutes per wine to pour, describe, taste and let the room argue about it. Our advice, learned the hard way: introduce yourself while the first wine is already being poured. Terroir can wait; thirst can't.

• Theatre-style, tables of four or five set herringbone towards the speaker's table.
• Two ISO tasting glasses per attendee; bottled water, spittoons and crackers on every table.
• Well lit, high ceiling, honest-but-imperfect acoustics — stand up and speak up, and take the radio mic if in doubt.
• Two sets of numbered bottle wrappers (1–10) are available for blind rounds — ask ahead.

White projection screen in the room; digital projector, PA amplifier with speakers, and a clip-on radio microphone all available — ask a few days ahead so it's set up before you arrive.

• Plan for 25–35 attendees and 8–9 wines; the room shares a welcome glass (usually fizz) on arrival.
• The chairman lines up members as pourers, working two or three bottles around the room per flight.
• Region maps and promotional material are welcome at your option.

Members taste with our companion app open — they score each wine, tag flavours (watch the word cloud grow on the big screen), and order bottles on the spot. When the evening closes, the committee receives one collated, paid order — totals per wine plus who gets what — ready to pass to you for fulfilment. No clipboards, no deciphering.

Paper still welcome: if you prefer printed tasting notes bring ~32 copies, and order forms work fine alongside the app.

Dates, topics and details are agreed with the club chairman. Start with hello@nhws.co.uk — once an evening is pencilled in we'll share direct contact details for the run-up and the night itself.