Author name: The Catenians

The Wokingham Catenians organises regular events for our members, including the popular Bangla Night, which is held 4-5 times per year. Bangla Night is a unique social event that welcomes both members and non-members. In fact, we make a special effort to invite non-members and are always happy to add those to our contact list who express an interest. As a result, we have a good number of non-Catenians on our list who join us. It is an excellent opportunity to meet new friends and expand our circle of acquaintances. What does a Bangla Night look like? It’s not difficult, it’s not special to Wokingham, but it works! The evening begins with a meet-up in a local pub where everyone can chat and get to know each other over drinks. This is a great time to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. After some time at the pub, the group moves to a local Indian restaurant for a delicious curry – that’s where the ‘Bangla’ part of the name comes from! It happens on a Friday night (see the connection to the second part of the name?), so the pub and Curry House are always busy and that adds to the atmosphere of the evening. The pub setting where we mingle freely without the constraints of sitting at a table is a great start to talk to many people. Conversation ranges from friendly banter, updates on family and community matters to personal concerns – whatever people want to talk about. Oh, and sport in general with football and rugby receiving particular attention! In the Curry House things settle down a little but conversation is still lively and great fun! However, this might also be a better opportunity to talk one-to-one with your immediate neighbour at the table. A Curry is a Curry you might think, but we do seem to have a good choice of restaurants in Wokingham and typically everybody is really excited by the food itself, so that adds to the enjoyment of the night. And then there’s the Bangla… or whatever else is your tipple of choice…