I know its a way off but just booked trains for our group of 7. Came in at £44 each. This figure will only rise from here on in. I think price rise comes into effect 1st Jan.
Cheapest route we found was Totton-Reading. Reading - Banbury, Banbury - Smethwick Galton Bridge. This is a 13 minute walk to The Vine pub with the indoor Tandoori BBQ.
Took me about 2 hours to figure all that out so thought i would pass it on to anyone who is interested.