The
Dinner Club is based in Sydney, NSW. Events are held each Friday
and Saturday night for people who like to visit nice restaurants,
make new friends, partake in intelligent conversation and/or find
someone for company or to become excited about.
Some venues
have dancing and many people come just to chat or get out of the
house and have a good night out or find a new mate to go out with
or for fun company.
Many
people come on their own but you are welcome to bring a friend.
This type of event is an alternative to the crowded noisy dance
parties which many find too loud and impersonal. It is also a more
comfortable way of meeting some one new over dinner than meeting
for a blind date.
Seating is alternate and there are two
moves per night, numbers permitting, so you are not stuck with the
same people all night. It is an opportunity to meet and converse
with 6 members of the opposite sex in one night.
Why people come...
-
to visit nice restaurants either with friends or to make new
friends,
- to get out of the house and do something different
or to eat something different,
- because they are new is Sydney
and want to make new fresh contacts,
- because a relationship
has ended and they are now ready to catch up on going out again
socially either to make new contacts or meet someone new,
-
because they are looking to meet someone special for friendship,
company or a relationship,
- to get a social life so life is
not all work,
- because they want events which have a focus on
conversing and flirting and interacting,
- because a dinner
night has a price structure and is word of mouth which is likely
to attract a different sort of person than what you would find in
a pub,
- to join a social network and make new friends and add
some spice to life. - to see and meet people in person and perhaps
find someone special by meeting first in person rather than via
the internet with all its time consuming speculative dating and
drawbacks.
BACKGROUND HISTORY TO THE DINNER CLUB
Dinner Club began with the first night at the Caprice in Double Bay in late October 1978 when I and Eva ran the first night. I had responded to an ad Eva had run in a paper to find a partner to run Dinner Parties with and she chose me. Eva found someone special after the third event and later got married and we lost contact. She had given me her list of 40 phone numbers, which with mine made a combined list of 80 on the telephone contact list.
Then we were all in our 20's and those who came along were all under 30. There was no advertising in the first few years and people came by word of mouth and it was a very good group with lots of parties.
Dinner Club was run by telephone ringaround with an event held every third Friday of the month. Eventually the telephone list grew to hundreds and there were 10 ringers who rang people advising of the next event. Events were held in restaurants with occasional dinner houseparties too.
Back in the 80's the singles scene was different to what it is
today. Now it is dominated by internet dating and dance parties,
then it was dominated by large singles social clubs with
membership fees and typically memberships around 1,500. Groups
such as the Phoenix, Rainbow and HarbourClubs no longer
exist.
Dinner Club never had a membership fee and hence we got
a more interesting and varied crowd of people coming along than
those who needed to pay a fee to get a social life.
In 1985 I joined forces with John Marr who first attended in 1982 who had a list of contacts and we switched to a free newsletter which went out every three months listing the events. He ran events with an older group than mine and I ran my own events and we shared the free newsletter which by 1990 had grown to over 3,000 on the mailing list. Numbers at the restaurant and house parties events were regularly over 100 and many interest evenings on topics and themes were held too. The newsletter listed the various events with a lot of other chit chat as well.
In 1990 due to the success of another business and due to other distractions I gave Dinner Club a rest and John continued running events and mailing the newsletter to the mailing list and he continued till 1992 when he ceased.
In 1993 I began again briefly but soon stopped again due to continuing distractions and business success.
In 1999 I recommenced Dinner Club as a hobby and for something to do on Friday and Saturday nights. One newsletter was sent out with good results.
In 2000 it was decided to utilize email and an internet web site which is the way it is run now. There is still no membership fee and it is free to be on the email list.
The weekly email allows information to go out and the website is be updated weekly and new people are coming on to the list all the time, many by word of mouth.
In 2003 due to a fire which destroyed the computer the entire email list was lost and I had to start again with a new group but many tracked me down and came back onto the free contact list. There are now over 1,400 people on the email list.
Events are now held 5 - 6 times per week and many new people attend at each event. People come as they did in earlier days for a variety of reasons, to make friends, find love, investigate different restaurants, get out of the house, to make a new start, catch up with friends, find a relationship or get over a relationship or because they are new to Sydney. Over the years many people have found lifelong partners from coming to the events.
Dinner Club is the oldest established, longest running group of its type in Sydney.
Privacy Policy. Due to the sensitive nature of our operation no information about the other members or their emails addresses is shared with any other members or outside organizations. Nobody gets their hands on our email list – it took years to build it up and nobody gets it.
Put yourself on the Email Notification List to receive regular news about future events
The Dinner Club © Copyright David Murphy 2002
Ph 9743 4357 , 0419 605 365