Welcoming each other - so no more drinking alone

One of the topics on RSA Networks is welcoming Fellows ... with a number of new Fellows saying they feel rather unwelcomed at present:

"As a new fellow I was not aware of what was expected of me."
"To be frank evidence of "fellowship" is simply not evident."
"I attended my first lecture today 16/1/08. It was also my first time at the house and my first act as a fellow. No-one was there to meet, greet and welcome me. Being shy, i made an effort to go the vault for drinks afterwards, no-one approached me, so i drank alone."

In the discussion RSA staff recognise the issue, say changes are planned, and recognise mentoring of new Fellows as a good idea. However, it sounds as if it will take time to introduce "official" procedures.
I've suggested on the site that we could make a start with some voluntary Fellow-to-Fellow support:

Meanwhile (and longer term too) I hope that Fellows could take a lead in welcoming and mentoring new Fellows. We could use this system for initial introductions and welcoming, then make some Fellow-to-Fellow mentor connections online and face-to-face. RSA staff have indicated that rooms can be made available for RSA projects.
Once we got together I'm sure we could come up with plenty of ideas for putting mentoring into practice.

This also ties into the wider re-inventing membership project on the site, also blogged here in more detail. It would also tie in well with other ideas including making better use of RSA lectures and events.
Would anyone else be interested in helping with some Fellow-to-Fellow mentoring? I think that this social activity would be good fun, lead to some really useful connections, and be a great complement to the project focus of RSA Networks.
I'm no expert in mentoring - so would really welcome ideas and support in this.
What lessons do people have from other mentoring processes? For example, should a key principle be that new Fellows should be able to choose their mentor?