Eh Up, All Our Kids, It Were A Gradely Do! - EuroMeetUp Munich 2023 RECAP

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If you were on the Euro MeetUp Munich 2023 (and why weren’t you, it was so good?) you may well recognise some of the words from above.

It’s now a month since we all returned home from the wonderful long weekend organised essentially by the brilliant (and very hard working) @TorM (with a lot of help from @JanVanHaver ) and you can read many good recaps of the event and get a feel for the excitement, friendships renewed and made, the togetherness, sense of community, and positivity - as well as the general wonder of being able to explore Munich with the help of an insider’s view and being able to contribute our experiences back to Google Maps.

Some of the other RECAPS of the event:

JanVanHaver’s , LuigiZ’s , LudwigGermany’s , MortenCopenhagen’s ,

Sorry if I’ve missed any!

Caption: Picture showing all the gifts brought by many members of the EuroMeetUp 2023
Caption: Picture showing all the gifts brought by many members of the EuroMeetUp 20233024×4032 1.6 MB

One of the highlights for me was the exchange of small presents and gifts from many of the attendees - not because we were getting things for free, but because we were all able to share a flavour, sometimes literally, of our own little neck of the wide world’s woods. Sweets, savories, postcards, souvenirs, mementos and novelties, each bringing a special feeling of where their bringer comes from, and made me feel connected with places and communities I have heard of but never been, and the people who brought them. And I loved that each person from each represented country was able to say a bit about what they had brought - adding to the sense of the world wide community that Local Guides is.

My own gifts were some Manchester Bee Symbol Badges and fluffy toys (the bee is the symbol of workers and Manchester was the first city ever to be industrialised - the bee has been its symbol for centuries showing the hard work and industry of its inhabitants) - and some post cards of my home town, Clitheroe - and some postcards with phrases in Northern English dialect (still spoken regularly where I come from)…

'Ow do (Hello)

Eh Up, Our Kid (Hi there, brother or sister, or friend)

It were a gradely do…(It was an excellent event)…and it were a gradely do: the whole of the EuroMeetUp was excellent and thanks are due to all who organised it and all who attended.

Here’s to the EuroMeetUp 2024!

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Having attended “a few” local guides event by now @PeteMHW , I have collected quite a few of these types of souvenirs. So much indeed, that I can’t have all of them visibly on display in my “trophy chest”, but I can tell you which one has received a prime, visible location: the “Eh up” postcard :grin:

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Thank you @PeteMHW for this nice summary. Looking forward to European Meetup 2024 with you!!!

This long weekend was really amazing!

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I loved learning about the Northern English dialect through your postcards and stories, @PeteMHW . I’m a sucker for etymology and language history. :grin: Also, I feel better prepared for a visit to Manchester and the region now, thanks to you!

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Nice recap @PeteMHW !

Side note: if you’re wondering why it’s brief and of a particular topic, Peter and I discussed this, and we agreed to try to not repeat what others have covered in their recaps so that as a group, our various recaps will hopefully paint you a bigger, more colourful story of the event :sweat_smile:

By the way, I like these small souvenir exchanges! Especially so when folks bring local sweets :heart_eyes: . It’s really interesting to try them all; sometimes they are similar to what I can get in the UK/Malaysia, and sometimes they are completely different! It’s such a fun adventure for the taste buds!!

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Eh Up @PeteMHW , I missed this one … yeah yeah thank you for amazing time together, it was truly fantastic, oh I should say It was a gradely do :sunglasses: . To the next one :wink: !