Hotel Based Events

We have had a meeting with Old English Inns about basing some steampunk gatherings in some of their character hotels.

We have negotiated excellent rates which work out at around £75 per person for two night's bed and breakfast based on two people sharing. The food is first class (the chain also owns Loch Fyne restaurants) and three course dinners are £17.50 with lots of cheaper options. Extending a weekend to include the Sunday night too would be around £30 thus you could have three nights in the hotel for around £105 each.

We would be looking to charge around £45-£50 per head for the weekend to allow us a budget to put things on etc. Our primary idea is that this should incorporate a dinner on the Saturday night.

The hotels generally have around 30 rooms so there is space for about 60 resident participants. There are often other hotels in the vicinity or people could attend as day visitors if they live locally. NOTE - we intend to run several of these events at different hotels in the chain thus moving around the country.

We will use different hotels around the country. We have had some ideas about what we want to offer over these weekends but also invite your comments and input. As ever please remember to be polite and to keep your input realistic. We are a voluntary organisation and do not have fulltime paid staff to work at setting these events up.

Well done Tinker and Elsie for coming up with this idea.

Looking at the Old English Inns website a couple of hotels grabbed my attention:

Ye Old Talbot, Worcester. Main advantages of a Worcester meet are its reasonably central, with good communications and Mary (She of the Pointy Stick) lives there, so you will ave a local contact. I've not stayed at the hotel (yet) but recommend its bar and food. It came recommended to me by Mary when I stopped over in Worcester on business and I'll give the hotel a go next time I'm back there for work.

Castle and Ball, Marlborough. Easy access from the M4 Swindon and in a nice town with some antique shops. If the event was later in the spring (April onwards) this location could also be used for trips out to see:

Crofton Beam Engines : http://www.croftonbeamengines.org/intro.html - re-opens 2nd April, try to coincide event wiith a 'steaming' weekend.

Thanks for the input and you can see why we like the idea of Old English Inns. (They all serve the same food by the way and the quality of the ingredients is excellent.)

We are considering the Roebuck which is near the Bluebell Line as a pilot event.

Ye Olde Talbot unfortunately does not have a car park nor does it have a dedicated function room although you can book some of the normal space they would not like to offer us dedicated space for a whole weekend.

The Castle and Ball has parking space but the function room available is too small to accomodate more than 40 people. There is no way therefore to allow for "day visitors" nor even the whole residential group if we manage to fill it. It may be suitable for a small meet.

The Marketing manager has recommended that we would be best suited by:

The Bull (Suffolk)
The Manor (Somerset)
The Riverside Hotel (Staffordshire)
Rothley Court (Leicestershire)
Saracens Head (Northants)
The Royal (Herefordshire)
Red Lion (Hampshire)
Royal George (Gloucestershire)
St Leonards Hotel (Dorset)
Cedars (Devon)
The Roebuck (East Sussex)

For the three local-ish hotels to me, I'm happy to assist with running of events.

St Leonards Hotel (Dorset) :
I know where this hotel is and would be happy to help run an event/be your local contact here.
For trips out, the only site in the immediate vicinity of Victorian interest is the Russel Coates Museum (I would recommend a Sunday for this. to avoid traffic getting into and out of Bourenmouth). Early arrivals could also consider a trip to Boscombe/Pokesdown for antique shops on the Friday afternooon.
The main problem with this location is that it is well out of the way for most people.

Red Lion (Hampshire) :
This one has a lot of potential. With good communication via M3 or A3 onto M27. Could combine this with a trip to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to see the Warrior or, if we get our timings right, to catch a local steam-related event (especially if the dockyard runs a steam fair again next year (I will keep an eye out on their 2010 diary).

The Manor (Somerset) :
Don't know much about this site - I'm happy to dig around for local attractions of interest if required

Have worked with Rothley Court a few times and it is a lovely hotel, really comfortable surrounds and great food!

The "Great Food" is one of the reasons why we plumped for Old English Inns. Lady E and I are both seafood fanatics and the fact that OEI also own Loch Fyne was a clincher.

Please don't see this as my being critical (as I love any opportunity for a gathering and dressup ), but I wouldn't particularly call these venues 'throughout the country'. Being a Yorkshire Lass, they all seem rather south to me.

Simply thinking of ensuring opportunities for all SP fans, regardless of geographical location, to get involved, is there an additional hotel chain that could be considered that's more northern? I'm thinking of Scottish SPs here aswell, as this is something I personally come up against on a regular basis when planning social events and activities for the UK Garrison... and have often come under critisism for it too - despite my attempts to consider everybody.

I don't profess to have any particular suggestions, as I don't tend to stay in any northern hotels (as I live up here), but I think it would be worth looking into.

Perhaps the NYE hotel would be an additional venue to consider perhaps?

We are looking at Newcastle in July and of course the Asylum in Lincoln (twice) plus involvement in Whitby. I honestly think the guys down south are having the rough deal at the moment particularly if you cover where population is actually based. (There are more people within the M25 than in Scotland for example.)

Admin wrote:We are looking at Newcastle in July and of course the Asylum in Lincoln (twice) plus involvement in Whitby. I honestly think the guys down south are having the rough deal at the moment particularly if you cover where population is actually based. (There are more people within the M25 than in Scotland for example.)

Of course, apologies as I was meaning the hotel events only

Newcastle in July sounds an interesting addition!

mmm Newcastle, bit of a drive but do-able I watch with interest

The Roebuck would be a good venue. Cannot wait for an event in my neck of the woods will be great.
If you need any help am from the area and can help.

The Roebuck is actually the first venue we are looking at using.

We are thinking of something along the lines of "A soiree for steampunk gentlefolk"

Friday night to Sunday afternoon.

Friday night, arrival and socialising.
Saturday daytime a programme of talks, workshops and presentations:

1. How to mix the perfect Martini
2. How to Waltz (Possibly some regency period dances too)
3. Etiquette and good manners
4. The language of the fan
5. Feminine clothing and fashion design

(Further ideas etc would be appreciated)

The evening would have a formal dinner followed by some of the dances practiced during the day.

Sunday is an informal relaxed day for leisurely rising, socialising and relaxing. The active may like to take a trip on the nearby Bluebell Line and we could book discounted tickets.

There would be around 50 residential places (based on couples sharing) at £120 per person. (2 nights bed and breakfast plus the programme above including dinner)

There is scope for up to 50 non residential places for local people or people using overspill hotels. (There is a Premier Inn just down the road for example) Non residential places would be £45 per person and would cover the programme of events and dinner.

Obviously this is subject to a suitable date. We have a few options. Comments are welcome.

that sounds a wonderfully refind weekend...I like this

Nice to see this gettigoff the ground. Any idea on dates yet for the first one?

We really would love to see a SP event in Newcastle. York would also be a great place.

Lord and Lady Harrington

I know it is close timewise to the easter event in Lincoln, but folks who cannot get to Newcastle on a day run might like to group together to go to one of the hotels there for the Maker Faire, which is March 13-14 2010:

http://www.makerfaire.com/newcastle/2010/

I have asked them if they would consider allocating a corner to steampunkery but in the end it is of course up to who ever fancies actually attending to put in an application for space. Should be fun whatever.

I am very keen on helping with the organisation of an event in Southampton/Hampshire, as is the wife

hello finally get on here...lol

Anyway i love the idea of little pub get togethers, the one in East Sussex might be the easiest one for myself and Chris to get to and help out at..but im sure some of the others will tempt me too!

How about looking into combining an event at the Red Lion (Hampshire) with a day trip to this event:

Celebration of Steam

At Portsmouth Historic Dockyard on 8th/9th May.

I've posted a new thread for the Celebration of Steam here:

https://thevss.forumotion.com/post.forum?mode=newtopic&f=1

Even if the idea of a hotel event doesn't work, I'm sure there will be some interest in attending this event on its own merits.