The Imaginary Interview - Part 1
WHEN DID YOU FORM ?
Officially on Wednesday 19th January 1994 - (but we were running as the R.A.T.S. 'unofficially' for 6 months prior to this) - during a crawl of Hereford town centre and used to return there on each anniversary up to 1997.
Anniversary Venues ...
1994 ... It's official ... we've formed as the R.A.T.S. - Hereford town Crawl
1995 ... 1st Anniversary - Hereford Town Crawl
1996 ... 2nd Anniversary - Hereford Town Crawl
1997 ... 3rd Anniversary - Hereford Town Crawl
1998 ... 4th Anniversary - Ledbury crawl & a tour of the Ledbury Brewing Co.
1999 ... 5th Anniversary - Hereford again !
2000 ... 6th Anniversary - Bristol City centre crawl
2001 ... 7th Anniversary - 'Plough & Harrow' Monknash - 'Railway Inn' Upper Killay, Swansea
2002 ... 8th Anniversary - Pontyclun / Tyle Garw / Llantrisant local pubs
2003 ... 9th Anniversary - 'Boar's Head' in Tyle Garw, Pontyclun
2004 ... 10th Anniversary - 'Miner's Arms', Whitecroft Lydney
2005 ... 11th Anniversary - 'White Hart' pub & Coles Brewery - Llanddarog, Carms.
2006 ... 12th Anniversary - 'White Hart' & Coles Brewery - Llanddarog, Carms.
2007 ... 13th Anniversary - 'White Hart' & Coles Brewery - Llanddarog, Carms.
2008 ... 14th Anniversary - A 'crawl' of some of Birmingham's finest !
2009 ... 15th Anniversary - 'Boar's Head' in Tyle Garw, Nr. Pontyclun
2010 ... 16th Anniversary - 'Wheatsheaf', Llantrisant Old Town, Mid Glam. - (Tom Barlow)
2011 ... 17th Anniversary - 'Fagin's Ale & Chop House' - Glan y Llyn, Mid Glam.
2012 ... 18th Anniversary - 'Wheatsheaf' in Llantrisant Old Town, Mid Glam.
2013 ... 19th Anniversary - 'Boar's Head' - Tyle Garw - Pixie Spring / HopCraft brewery visit cancelled (snow)
2014 ... 20th Anniversary - 'City Arms' and 'Urban Tap House', Cardiff.
2015 ... 21st Anniversary - Gwynt y Ddraig Cider, Llantwit Fardre & 'Wheatsheaf Rooms', Llantrisant.
2016 ... 22nd Anniversary - A 'Crawl' around Bristol pubs (16th Jan)
2017 ... 23rd Anniversary - 'Wheatsheaf Hotel', Llantrisant, for a record breaking 64 R.A.T.S. !
2018 ... 24th Anniversary - 'Llanover Arms' / 'Bunch of Grapes' / 'Otley Arms' - Pontypridd area, Mid Glam.
2019 ... 25th (Silver) Anniversary - 'Fox & Hounds' Llanharry, & the 'Pipeworks', Pontyclun. 55 R.A.T.S. attended
2020 ... 26th Anniversary - A 'Crawl' around several Cardiff pubs (18th Jan)
2021 ... 27th Anniversary - Cancelled owing to the Corona Virus pandemic !!
2022 ... 28th Anniversary - Cancelled owing to the Corona Virus pandemic !!
2023 ... 29th Anniversary - 'Coach Brew Pub' / 'Little Bar on the Bridge', Bridgend
2024 ... 30th (Pearl) Anniversary - 'Coach Brew Pub' / 'Little Bar on the Bridge', Bridgend, 21 R.A.T.S. attended
2025 ... 31st (Aluminium or Tin) Anniversary - 'Coach Brew Pub', Bridgend
2026 ... 32nd (Bronze) Anniversary - 'Coach Brew Pub', Bridgend
WHY R.A.T.S. ?
Why not ?
It's as good a name as any and lets be honest now ... could you think of anything for A.A.R.D.V.A.R.K. or G.I.R.A.F.F.E. ? It's also easy to spell, and repeat, when we get lost after a 'few' pints, and we have been, on more than one occasion !
WHO NAMED THE SOCIETY ?
It was a JOINT effort by the six original people who were in Hereford that fateful day ! But, we have always looked upon Mike Peart as being the unofficial 'Chairman', (only 'cos he's older than us !), when he rolled his eyes skywards and uttered those immortal words . "Shurely - (Hic !) - we should form - (Brrrrrrp !) - shum short of a '(Parp !) - drinking shoshiety ? " To which several of us put our heads together, thought about it and announced in unison ... "Jeeeesus Mike, you bloody stink !"
WHO WERE THE 'ORIGINAL SIX' ?
MIKE ('Rat-Arse') PEART
Co-FOUNDER & CHIEF FARTER
Mike used to be a Team Leader at the Royal Mint - (where we all worked at the time of forming. Most of us took voluntary redundancy in 2002 / 03) - and he's more than willing to show you his testimonials, not a pretty sight by all accounts ! Why 'Rat-Arse' ? Because we're all convinced that there's a dead one up there, and from the stench emanating from his posterior, it's been up there for some time !!! This guy could FART for Wales !
KELVIN ('Zeb') WHITE
Co-FOUNDER
You know that Dr Who episode where the 'Angels of Death' statues move towards you if you blink ? Well 'Zeb' acquired the ability to do exactly the opposite. If you blink or look away for a second, he scatters his atoms to the four winds and disappears ! Excellent company when out with us, right up to the very moment he vanishes. Has a strong fetish for taxi rides and eats two spuds more than a pig - and the pig had better watch out too !
COLIN ('Caruso') ELLIOTT
Co-FOUNDER
A great guy who has tendencies to break into song ... unlike Mike who just breaks wind.
PAUL ('Swede') DOSTER
Co-FOUNDER.
Loves his Beer, Cider, and the 'Gee Gee's'.
DAVID E. JONES
Co-FOUNDER.
No, not me ... I'm the other one below ! Dave stopped attending for some reason during 1997-98 !!! (No ... he wasn't in jail). Started attending again in '99 ! He had to finish work due to a back injury/complaint and was medically retired from the Royal Mint in 2001. Sadly, only seen very rarely now ... and not for a Beer either !
DAVE (The Sec-RAT-ary) JONES
Co-FOUNDER, Sec-RAT-ary & 'JOKING' TREASURER
Title and job given to me for my ability to communicate with people and handle finances ... well, no ... not really, I was the only one with a computer & printer at the time, but I doo ave a gud nollidge ov spelin ! Unfit, fat, and just turned Seventy-two, is a very good description.
WHY 'JOKING' TREASURER ?
Because I do not handle subscriptions or membership fees - (there aren't any !) - only the money I collect for brewery visits, mini-bus fares, and meal deposits for our Social Evenings etc ... (Ha ! Remember those ???)
SO THERE'S NO 'MEMBERSHIP' FEE THEN ?
No, no fees whatsoever.
To become a R.A.T. you just turn up for 2 or 3 outings and prove you can behave yourself, and you're in ! The info I usually require is the 'basic' area of where you live - (i.e. not your home address) - your email address, with permission to send you info on Festivals and Days Out somewhere. There used to be a monthly newsletter, ('R.A.T. Tales'), but this ceased to be in 2014 after running for 13 years. All info is now up on the R.A.T.S. Google Calendar.
UPDATE : 2022, I started a very basic email newsletter, (the 'Brews Letter').
HOW DID PEOPLE KNOW WHERE YOU WERE GOING ?
Well, before we went online in 1998, I used to print out street maps / train times and all other relevant info, then mail it on to those who showed some interest on the previous occasion out. This was when I used to work at the Royal Mint.
HOW DOES A TYPICAL DAY START ?
If any rail travel took us from Cardiff Central, (and more often than not it did), we always tried to have a good breakfast to set us up for the day ... ( "Well at least until the train stops !" - Zeb ) ... and we used to, many moons ago, make our way to JOHN & KEN'S, "The Little Gourmet", in the Wyndham Arcade, Cardiff, sadly they're long, long gone as a cafe !
WHAT'S YOUR LARGEST ATTENDANCE NUMBER FOR AN EVENT ?
Our 15th Anniversary : 47 R.A.T.S. Supporters
Our 17th Anniversary : 50 R.A.T.S. Supporters
Our 23rd Anniversary : 64 R.A.T.S. Supporters
AND THE SMALLEST ?
Just me ... if you discount cancellations owing to inclement weather etc.
UPDATE : If you count the effects of the Covid pandemic, then our 27th & 28th Anniversary had 'ZERO' attendees, as they were cancelled !
HAVE YOU EVER HAD TROUBLE ON A DAY OUT ?
Yes, I'd be a liar to say otherwise ! We have a strict rule about it too. If a person causes trouble whether sober or by having 'one too many' - (under the affluence of (hic) incahol) - especially aggressive behaviour and extreme bad language, and it's "Bye Bye R.A.T.S." I'm afraid.
Since forming we have banned ...
3 x Visitors : for aggressive behaviour on a trip - (in the very early days of forming)
2 x R.A.T.S. : for aggressive & threatening behaviour / bad language / being right @rseholes. One of them held the record for joining & being banned in the shortest time !
We were going to bring in a choice of being ...
a) Banned - or
b) Being locked in a room with Mike, after he's had a curry (parp !) !
Everyone has voted to be banned for some strange reason !
ARE THERE FEMALE R.A.T.S. ?
Certainly. Our 1st Lady of the R.A.T.S. is none other than Mike's lovely wife, Olwen. She was voted in as such while we were on a long weekend away to Oostende in the 90's, and she's not backward in coming forward about trying different Real Ales. During the 'early years' on visits to the Bass / Hancock's brewery in Cardiff, we saw several women attending, and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves ... and why not ?
Officially on Wednesday 19th January 1994 - (but we were running as the R.A.T.S. 'unofficially' for 6 months prior to this) - during a crawl of Hereford town centre and used to return there on each anniversary up to 1997.
Anniversary Venues ...
1994 ... It's official ... we've formed as the R.A.T.S. - Hereford town Crawl
1995 ... 1st Anniversary - Hereford Town Crawl
1996 ... 2nd Anniversary - Hereford Town Crawl
1997 ... 3rd Anniversary - Hereford Town Crawl
1998 ... 4th Anniversary - Ledbury crawl & a tour of the Ledbury Brewing Co.
1999 ... 5th Anniversary - Hereford again !
2000 ... 6th Anniversary - Bristol City centre crawl
2001 ... 7th Anniversary - 'Plough & Harrow' Monknash - 'Railway Inn' Upper Killay, Swansea
2002 ... 8th Anniversary - Pontyclun / Tyle Garw / Llantrisant local pubs
2003 ... 9th Anniversary - 'Boar's Head' in Tyle Garw, Pontyclun
2004 ... 10th Anniversary - 'Miner's Arms', Whitecroft Lydney
2005 ... 11th Anniversary - 'White Hart' pub & Coles Brewery - Llanddarog, Carms.
2006 ... 12th Anniversary - 'White Hart' & Coles Brewery - Llanddarog, Carms.
2007 ... 13th Anniversary - 'White Hart' & Coles Brewery - Llanddarog, Carms.
2008 ... 14th Anniversary - A 'crawl' of some of Birmingham's finest !
2009 ... 15th Anniversary - 'Boar's Head' in Tyle Garw, Nr. Pontyclun
2010 ... 16th Anniversary - 'Wheatsheaf', Llantrisant Old Town, Mid Glam. - (Tom Barlow)
2011 ... 17th Anniversary - 'Fagin's Ale & Chop House' - Glan y Llyn, Mid Glam.
2012 ... 18th Anniversary - 'Wheatsheaf' in Llantrisant Old Town, Mid Glam.
2013 ... 19th Anniversary - 'Boar's Head' - Tyle Garw - Pixie Spring / HopCraft brewery visit cancelled (snow)
2014 ... 20th Anniversary - 'City Arms' and 'Urban Tap House', Cardiff.
2015 ... 21st Anniversary - Gwynt y Ddraig Cider, Llantwit Fardre & 'Wheatsheaf Rooms', Llantrisant.
2016 ... 22nd Anniversary - A 'Crawl' around Bristol pubs (16th Jan)
2017 ... 23rd Anniversary - 'Wheatsheaf Hotel', Llantrisant, for a record breaking 64 R.A.T.S. !
2018 ... 24th Anniversary - 'Llanover Arms' / 'Bunch of Grapes' / 'Otley Arms' - Pontypridd area, Mid Glam.
2019 ... 25th (Silver) Anniversary - 'Fox & Hounds' Llanharry, & the 'Pipeworks', Pontyclun. 55 R.A.T.S. attended
2020 ... 26th Anniversary - A 'Crawl' around several Cardiff pubs (18th Jan)
2021 ... 27th Anniversary - Cancelled owing to the Corona Virus pandemic !!
2022 ... 28th Anniversary - Cancelled owing to the Corona Virus pandemic !!
2023 ... 29th Anniversary - 'Coach Brew Pub' / 'Little Bar on the Bridge', Bridgend
2024 ... 30th (Pearl) Anniversary - 'Coach Brew Pub' / 'Little Bar on the Bridge', Bridgend, 21 R.A.T.S. attended
2025 ... 31st (Aluminium or Tin) Anniversary - 'Coach Brew Pub', Bridgend
2026 ... 32nd (Bronze) Anniversary - 'Coach Brew Pub', Bridgend
WHY R.A.T.S. ?
Why not ?
It's as good a name as any and lets be honest now ... could you think of anything for A.A.R.D.V.A.R.K. or G.I.R.A.F.F.E. ? It's also easy to spell, and repeat, when we get lost after a 'few' pints, and we have been, on more than one occasion !
WHO NAMED THE SOCIETY ?
It was a JOINT effort by the six original people who were in Hereford that fateful day ! But, we have always looked upon Mike Peart as being the unofficial 'Chairman', (only 'cos he's older than us !), when he rolled his eyes skywards and uttered those immortal words . "Shurely - (Hic !) - we should form - (Brrrrrrp !) - shum short of a '(Parp !) - drinking shoshiety ? " To which several of us put our heads together, thought about it and announced in unison ... "Jeeeesus Mike, you bloody stink !"
WHO WERE THE 'ORIGINAL SIX' ?
MIKE ('Rat-Arse') PEART
Co-FOUNDER & CHIEF FARTER
Mike used to be a Team Leader at the Royal Mint - (where we all worked at the time of forming. Most of us took voluntary redundancy in 2002 / 03) - and he's more than willing to show you his testimonials, not a pretty sight by all accounts ! Why 'Rat-Arse' ? Because we're all convinced that there's a dead one up there, and from the stench emanating from his posterior, it's been up there for some time !!! This guy could FART for Wales !
KELVIN ('Zeb') WHITE
Co-FOUNDER
You know that Dr Who episode where the 'Angels of Death' statues move towards you if you blink ? Well 'Zeb' acquired the ability to do exactly the opposite. If you blink or look away for a second, he scatters his atoms to the four winds and disappears ! Excellent company when out with us, right up to the very moment he vanishes. Has a strong fetish for taxi rides and eats two spuds more than a pig - and the pig had better watch out too !
COLIN ('Caruso') ELLIOTT
Co-FOUNDER
A great guy who has tendencies to break into song ... unlike Mike who just breaks wind.
PAUL ('Swede') DOSTER
Co-FOUNDER.
Loves his Beer, Cider, and the 'Gee Gee's'.
DAVID E. JONES
Co-FOUNDER.
No, not me ... I'm the other one below ! Dave stopped attending for some reason during 1997-98 !!! (No ... he wasn't in jail). Started attending again in '99 ! He had to finish work due to a back injury/complaint and was medically retired from the Royal Mint in 2001. Sadly, only seen very rarely now ... and not for a Beer either !
DAVE (The Sec-RAT-ary) JONES
Co-FOUNDER, Sec-RAT-ary & 'JOKING' TREASURER
Title and job given to me for my ability to communicate with people and handle finances ... well, no ... not really, I was the only one with a computer & printer at the time, but I doo ave a gud nollidge ov spelin ! Unfit, fat, and just turned Seventy-two, is a very good description.
WHY 'JOKING' TREASURER ?
Because I do not handle subscriptions or membership fees - (there aren't any !) - only the money I collect for brewery visits, mini-bus fares, and meal deposits for our Social Evenings etc ... (Ha ! Remember those ???)
SO THERE'S NO 'MEMBERSHIP' FEE THEN ?
No, no fees whatsoever.
To become a R.A.T. you just turn up for 2 or 3 outings and prove you can behave yourself, and you're in ! The info I usually require is the 'basic' area of where you live - (i.e. not your home address) - your email address, with permission to send you info on Festivals and Days Out somewhere. There used to be a monthly newsletter, ('R.A.T. Tales'), but this ceased to be in 2014 after running for 13 years. All info is now up on the R.A.T.S. Google Calendar.
UPDATE : 2022, I started a very basic email newsletter, (the 'Brews Letter').
HOW DID PEOPLE KNOW WHERE YOU WERE GOING ?
Well, before we went online in 1998, I used to print out street maps / train times and all other relevant info, then mail it on to those who showed some interest on the previous occasion out. This was when I used to work at the Royal Mint.
HOW DOES A TYPICAL DAY START ?
If any rail travel took us from Cardiff Central, (and more often than not it did), we always tried to have a good breakfast to set us up for the day ... ( "Well at least until the train stops !" - Zeb ) ... and we used to, many moons ago, make our way to JOHN & KEN'S, "The Little Gourmet", in the Wyndham Arcade, Cardiff, sadly they're long, long gone as a cafe !
WHAT'S YOUR LARGEST ATTENDANCE NUMBER FOR AN EVENT ?
Our 15th Anniversary : 47 R.A.T.S. Supporters
Our 17th Anniversary : 50 R.A.T.S. Supporters
Our 23rd Anniversary : 64 R.A.T.S. Supporters
AND THE SMALLEST ?
Just me ... if you discount cancellations owing to inclement weather etc.
UPDATE : If you count the effects of the Covid pandemic, then our 27th & 28th Anniversary had 'ZERO' attendees, as they were cancelled !
HAVE YOU EVER HAD TROUBLE ON A DAY OUT ?
Yes, I'd be a liar to say otherwise ! We have a strict rule about it too. If a person causes trouble whether sober or by having 'one too many' - (under the affluence of (hic) incahol) - especially aggressive behaviour and extreme bad language, and it's "Bye Bye R.A.T.S." I'm afraid.
Since forming we have banned ...
3 x Visitors : for aggressive behaviour on a trip - (in the very early days of forming)
2 x R.A.T.S. : for aggressive & threatening behaviour / bad language / being right @rseholes. One of them held the record for joining & being banned in the shortest time !
We were going to bring in a choice of being ...
a) Banned - or
b) Being locked in a room with Mike, after he's had a curry (parp !) !
Everyone has voted to be banned for some strange reason !
ARE THERE FEMALE R.A.T.S. ?
Certainly. Our 1st Lady of the R.A.T.S. is none other than Mike's lovely wife, Olwen. She was voted in as such while we were on a long weekend away to Oostende in the 90's, and she's not backward in coming forward about trying different Real Ales. During the 'early years' on visits to the Bass / Hancock's brewery in Cardiff, we saw several women attending, and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves ... and why not ?
Part Two of ... The Imaginary Interview
