About The Gorilla Club

Welcome to The Gorilla Club™ (TGC), a cool urban network that meets for lunch or a drink from time to time, but also has a global presence.

However you discovered us, there are four ways to join TGC: via email capture on this site; via our Facebook or Linkedin TGC Groups; or on Skype at "socialnetworker". This web page tells you what the Club is for and how to join, and the tags and events sections give you some idea of what we get up to. The site is designed for optimum communication and low frustration, which is why it is Flash-free and needs a minimum of clicks to navigate to where you want to be.

The Gorilla Club™ seeks to restore the correct use of the primate brain, a social instrument properly exploited these days only by that gentle social ape cousin of ours, the (disappearing) gorilla. Set up in September 2005 out of the social networking ideas of Web 2.0, TGC is a London UK thing, born of the high-octane life of this city and designed to give us all a rest from being so endlessly purposeful. Members are currently drawn mainly from the cultural field but this is accidental and not exclusive.

The Gorilla Club™ has few rules (R) and some essential values (V):

R1. An informal network for ideas exchange where Members (many of whom are in responsible management) are offered temporary respite from being pitched at, TGC events Shall Have No Outcomes.
R2. You will not be defined by what you do at a Gorilla event: TGC etiquette declares that the third most asked question in human exchange - "And what do you do?" - should never be asked; business cards are exchanged by mutual consent and only on the way out; ideas pitching is definitely off-limits.

V1. TGC revives our permission to play by offering an escape into other parts of ourselves.
V2. Inspired by the better parts of the English Enlightenment, TGC members respect our core values of good listening, tolerance and conviviality. Good listeners do not name drop.
V3. TGC seeks to end the current ethical lassitude by an act of human solidarity that will refresh the network as we introduce your network to those of many others.

TGC members enjoy several benefits (B):

B1. Membership is free and you will only occur costs if you attend a TGC event. London members currently enjoy group social events.
B2. If you live elsewhere, then email via the contacts page silverback@thegorillaclub.co.uk about our Blackback programme (see under Events) which is designed to help you to convert your own events into Gorilla occasions. The Silverback may even attend...
B3. There is even a Gorilla Contras group who meet and deliberately break the rules - well, every group has its lunatic fringe (sigh). Ask the Silverback for more details.
B4. This website, as well as our TGC groups on Facebook, Skype and Linkedin, offer all members a unique conversation with a world-wide community of contemporary ideas.
B5. TGC recognises that people have different ways of networking. When you join, your details will be placed on the directory here and a password allocated. You will also enjoy the opportunity to develop your own unique profile online for other members to browse on this or via our other online groups. Email alerts about TGC events will be sent via whichever support you have chosen to use.
B6. Club insignia exist and can be sent by snail-mail to anyone requesting them (membership card and stickers)

Finally, as one member has put it, we all want access eventually to the Queen Bee. To gain a full understanding of the dynamic of the Gorilla Club™, and to experience the magic, I do hope that one day you will be able to attend an event in London UK.

The Silverback

The above Tags indicate some of the most popular topics of discussion by members at this time. The Community Blog is for The Gorilla Club members only. more

The Gorilla Club™ organises regular social events in London (all advertised on here), including the Gorilla Lunch and the Gorilla Lounge, but the Gorilla Moment and the Lost Afternoon are also emerging as fun things to do! If you have an event in London or elsewhere that you would like to open to other TGC members, then please let the Silverback know via any support or the contacts page on here.

Members outside of London should apply to join the Blackback Programme so as to introduce their own social events to the Gorilla Club webwide community. The Blackback is younger and challenges the authority of the Silverback, hoping to replace him one day maybe (in TGC, Blackbacks are female as well as male and of all ages). Our hope is that one day, as we travel from city to city, we shall thus encounter kindred spirits at a local Gorilla Club™ event, organised along simple Gorilla Club™ values, that will open us all up to yet more communities of ideas. more

Join The Gorilla Club™ for free by registering by email here, or join via our online presence on Skype, Facebook or Linkedin. These various social networking sites allow you to exchange between members, get information on events and create your own personal profile. Contrary to what it says currently on the joining page, there is NO FEE to join and members will only incur expense when physically attending a Club event. So please ignore any Paypal buttons you might come across while we take them down.

In order to maintain the quality of experience for all our members, and in accordance with TGC custom, new memberships go through a simple vetting process. If joining via this site, just fill in the application form and a password will be sent to you after your request has been reviewed. On Skype add "socialnetworker" and on Facebook and Linkedin just join the group. Whatever the method you will eventually receive a message from the Silverback and so get started.

Thanks for your interest. Enjoy! more