Showing posts with label Leland Carlson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leland Carlson. Show all posts

Friday, December 08, 2023

The Dull Men's Club Calendar 2024: Unique and Quirky Passions


The Dull Men's Club Calendar 2024: Unique and Quirky Passions

About the Dull Men's Club

The Dull Men's Club celebrates the ordinary and the life-changing magic of simple, everyday, run-of-the-mill things.

As can be seen by the featured 'dullards' for 2024 it's no just a club for men!

Visit the Dull Men's Club website for more information and to buy a copy of the calendar.


The Dull Men's Club Calendar

We featured in the club's calendar back in 2017 for our never-ending quest to visit and document every minigolf course in the UK.

Monday, October 17, 2022

A Dull Men's Club Event

A report from the COVID-delayed party for Anorak of the Year 2021.


The Sun Trevor pub in Llangollen
The Sun Trevor pub in Llangollen

We attended the first Dull Men's Club in-person event since before the coronavirus pandemic at the COVID-delayed party for the Anorak of the Year Award 2021 at The Sun Trevor pub in Llangollen, Wales on Saturday afternoon.

The Dull Men's Club Calendar for 2022
The Dull Men's Club Calendar for 2022

It was marvellous to meet up with fellow dullsters, including old friends as well as meeting some new characters.

Leland Carlson (Assistant Vice President) and Freddie (Apprentice Dullster) present at the Anorak of the Year awards
Leland Carlson (Assistant Vice President) and Freddie (Apprentice Dullster) present at the Anorak of the Year awards

In recent years the Dull Men's Club has presented an 'Anorak of the Year' award. For 2018 it was presented to Kevin Beresford from Redditch, founder of the Roundabout Appreciation Society. For 2019 to Archie Workman, a drainspotter in Cumbria.

Because of the pandemic no award was given for 2020, instead we won The Dull Men's Club Self-Isolators of the Year Award.

The latest recipient of the Anorak of the Year Award was Rachel Williamson from Rhyl who is a Yarnbomber.

It's always a pleasure getting together at a Dull Men's Club event and the gatherings are anything but boring. Hearing updates from people on their pursuits, interests, hobbies and collections is fun and interesting, and the events always spark conversation and areas of mutual interest - Miniature Golf Day and Telegraph Pole Appreciation Day are both on the 21st September each year for example.

Milk Bottle collector Steve Wheeler has 27,000 milk bottles. Here he holds two new additions to his collection and museum after they were donated by a local farmer
Milk Bottle collector Steve Wheeler has 27,000 milk bottles. Here he holds two new additions to his collection and museum after they were donated by a local farmer

There were a wide-range of dullsters at the event, including milk bottle collectors, park bench appreciators, hill measurers, yarnbombers, roundabout spotters, car park photographers, telegraph pole appreciators, brick collectors, paint inspectors and more.

The Dull Men's Club isn't all about watching paint dry
The Dull Men's Club isn't all about watching paint dry

Find out more on the Dull Men's Club website.

Friday, November 26, 2021

Dull Men's Club Calendar for 2022

The new Dull Men's Club Calendar is out now.


The Dull Men's Club's brand new calendar for 2022 arrived yesterday and we're looking forward to seeing what pursuits interest our fellow dullards over the coming year.

The Dull Men's Club Calendar for 2022
The Dull Men's Club Calendar for 2022

About the Dull Men's Club

The Dull Men's Club celebrates the ordinary and the life-changing magic of simple, everyday, run-of-the-mill things.

Visit the Dull Men's Club website for more information and to buy a copy of the calendar.


The Dull Men's Club Calendar

We featured in the club's calendar back in 2017 for our never-ending quest to visit and document every minigolf course in the UK.

There was an update on our adventures within last year's edition too.

Tuesday, December 08, 2020

Dull Men's Club Calendar for 2021

Looking ahead to next year. Now.


The Dull Men's Club's brand new calendar for 2021 arrived yesterday and we're looking forward to reading up about our fellow dullards as the year progresses.

Dull Men's Club Calendar for 2021
What does next year have in store?


You'll be able to find an update on our adventures within the 2021 edition too.

Dull events

This year has certainly been a strange one. While not completely dull, it has had its moments.

We had an enjoyable evening of mild excitement at the Dull Men's Club Anorak of the Year Award event in Manchester last November. I can't believe the world has changed so much since then.

I was also a speaker at the Dull Men's Club's 'Delightfully Dull, Brilliantly Boring Evening' at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston back in 2018.

I'm moderately excited about speaking at Dull Men's Club events again the future.

About the Dull Men's Club

The Dull Men's Club celebrates the ordinary and the life-changing magic of simple, everyday, run-of-the-mill things.

Visit the Dull Men's Club website for more information.


The Dull Men's Club Calendar for 2021 will be available from Amazon.

Friday, November 27, 2020

The Dull Men's Club 2021 Calendar

A look ahead to the Dull Men's Club Calendar for 2021.


The Dull Men's Club

The new Dull Men's Club Calendar will be available shortly.

The Dull Men's Club 2021 Calendar

We featured in the club's 2017 calendar for our relentless mission to visit and document every miniature golf course in the UK.

You'll be able to find us somewhere in the 2021 edition too.

The Dull Men's Club celebrates the ordinary and the life-changing magic of simple, everyday, run-of-the-mill things.

Check out the Dull Men's Club website for more information.

Wednesday, July 01, 2020

A look back at July 2017

A look back at the 2017 Dull Men's Club calendar.


2017 Dull Men's Club calendar

We featured in the Dull Men's Club calendar for 2017 where our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour was highlighted for the month of July.

2017 Dull Men's Club calendar
July 2017

What a year. Halcyon days.

2017 Dull Men's Club calendar
The dullest people in the UK in 2017

2017 Dull Men's Club calendar
The 2017 Dull Men’s Club calendar celebrated the men and women who were born to be mild

The Dull Men's Club is where dull men, and women who appreciate dull men, share thoughts and experiences about ordinary things. Visit the Dull Men's Club website for more information.

Check out the latest blog post on the Dull Men's Club website, it's about us and how we've been coping during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

I've spoken at Dull Men's Club conferences and events in Preston and Manchester.

Related blog posts:
- Calendar
- Dull Men's Club

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

A dull evening in Manchester

We had an enjoyable evening of mild excitement at the Dull Men's Club Anorak of the Year Award event in Manchester yesterday evening.


The Dull Men's Club celebrates the ordinary

It was good to catch-up with our fellow dullsters and see presentations on topics including roundabouts, boredom and drains.


The evening was topped off with the presentation of the 2019 Anorak of the Year Award which this year went to Archie Workman for his outstanding work in celebrating the ordinary in his passionate pursuit of drainspotting.


Dull Men's Club Anorak of the Year Award

Archie was presented with his certificate and a hi-vis waistcoat, rather than an actual anorak, by Leland Carlson Assistant Vice President of the Dull Men's Club and Kevin Beresford of the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society who was also the outgoing Anorak of the Year from last year.

I was delighted to be able to give a presentation to the group about the crazy world of minigolf, the history of the game, the sporting side and tournaments, equipment used and the wide-range of ephemera and collectibles related to miniature golf.



For more information visit the Dull Men's Club website.

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Swingers Crazy Golf in London's West End

A look at Swingers Crazy Golf in the West End of London.


Many thanks to Leland Carlson from the Dull Men's Club for sending me a snap of the A-board outside Swingers Crazy Golf that he spotted while having a wander round London's West End.

Swingers Crazy Golf. Photo by Leland Carlson 150618
Street Food and Crazy Golf - an increasingly popular combination

Check out the Swingers Crazy Golf course website for more info, opening times and prices.

On my last trip to London last year I played at the 'original' permanent Swingers course near The Gherkin. It's a superb venue.

Emily walked past the new Swingers course while it was under construction last November.

Back in September 2014 Emily and I played the Swingers pop-up course in Shoreditch.

Tuesday, November 01, 2016

The Dull Men's Club 2017 Calendar

Launch of the Dull Men's Club Calendar for 2017.

Dull Men's Club 2017 Calendar

For a number of years the Dull Men's Club has published a calendar to help people mark how they're celebrating the ordinary throughout the year. As longstanding members of the Dull Men's Club, Emily and I were selected to appear in the 2017 edition of the calendar for our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Dull Men's Club 2017 Calendar
The dullest people in the UK? You decide

The Dull Men’s Club is a place where dull men share thoughts and experiences, free from glitz and glamour, free from pressures to be in and trendy - free instead to enjoy simple, ordinary things. The club's mission statement is “It’s OK to be dull”.

The Dull Men's Club - where dull men, and women who appreciate dull men, share thoughts and experiences about ordinary things

Since we first found out there were so many miniature golf courses around the UK we've made it our mission to visit as many as possible on the 'tickable list'. Over the last ten years we've visited 716 courses - including some overseas - far exceeding the 600 or so there were initially believed to be in the country. With old courses left abandoned, or worse demolished, and new courses popping up all the time we don't quite know if we'll ever finally finish visiting all of them. But the journey we've had so far has been a lot of fun.

Enjoying a break from Crazy Golfing to have a nice sit down on a park bench at Canoe Lake in Southsea
Enjoying a break from Crazy Golfing to have a nice sit down on a park bench at Canoe Lake in Southsea - the seaside town was where our Mini Golf adventures began in September 2006

The Dull Men's Club 2017 calendar also features a pencil enthusiast, cutlery sculptor, tombstone traveller, prefabricated buildings fan, lost glove spotter, a bubbleologist, giant pumpkin growers, a barbed wire enthusiast, a brown sign follower, village pump spotter, a vintage radio collector, and a couple who built a life-size railway station in their back garden.

Dull Men's Club 2017 Calendar
The 2017 Dull Men’s Club calendar celebrates the men and women who were born to be mild

You can buy the Dull Men's Club 2017 Calendar from Stanford's website and shop for £9.99.

In advance of its publication the Dull Men's Club asked whether President Vladimir Putin's new calendar would be competing with its own and offered some comparisons - including me playing minigolf and Mr Putin enjoying some fishing.

Links:
- Dull Men's Club website
- Dull Men's Club Facebook Page
- Dull Men's Club Facebook Group
- Dull Men's Club on Twitter

Related blog posts:
- Dull Men's Club
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour List

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

Sunday, September 11, 2016

The Park Bench Appreciation Society

It's good to have a nice sit down.

We recently met up with Leland Carlson from the Dull Men's Club - Mission Statement: “It’s OK to be dull” - and had a nice day out in Stockport. Our first port of call was the Town Hall to visit a giant postcard fair, surprisingly the first Leland had visited.

It's quite possible he's now been hooked on collecting postcards as Emily managed to find a card depicting one of his areas of interest - park benches. In fact he ended up buying more than one.

Richard and Emily Gottfried having a nice sit down on a bench in Stockport. Photo by Leland Carlson
Having a nice sit down on a bench in Stockport. Photo by Leland Carlson

On our travels Emily and I have also had a sit on the Longest Bench in the world. It's in Littlehampton.

Earlier this year we also had the opportunity to see the new bench at the excellent Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing.

New bench at Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing
The new addition to Splash Point Mini Golf

Visit the Dull Men's Club website to find out more.