GWF Annual Dinner/Conference

[AlanCurragh]

I have a worrying feeling that I'm going to regret this - but as you may have seen there has been discussion of a GWF get-together. To try and keep this simple to begin with, please would you "vote" in the polls above - even if you are not interested at all (in which case vote that way for each question), it would be useful if you could indicate that in the first question, to check that idea has some legs. Please bear in mind how much things are likely to cost for the various options - I would imagine that deposits would be required

Regarding location, I have added the only options I can really see as practical - and I'm not really sure if London or the Western Front are sensible choices. So apologies to anyone who'd like to meet in Belfast, Cardiff or Edinburgh

I've asked about preferred date - of course it's going to be very difficult for anyone to commit to this sort of idea many months ahead, so I suppose again it's just asking for an approximate preference. There is no way it will be possible to pick a date to suit everybody

If you have any other thoughts, please feel free to add them

Alan

[Brian Curragh]

My general thoughts:

- needs to be realistic if it's going to happen

- this suggests a 1 day do rather than a weekend

- location needs to be central to give the largest catchment area

- Birmingham looks best option (suggesting MK might show bias!)

- Birmingham also has the Centre for First World War Studies which might provide a venue & a pool of speakers

Brian

[Guest KevinEndon]

The moat house hotel in Stoke (half way between Manchester and Birmingham and half way between Glasgow and London) is a cracking venue, it will cater for upto 400. If the night goes on there are rooms to let for £49 inc breakfast. Please let me know if more info is required as I am meeting a member of the staff tomorrow to book the ball room for a special birthday for the darling wife.

Kevin

[Dragon]

Alan, the poll declines to accept the option 'Not interested in the idea'. It simply sends back a rather confused message saying: You did not choose a poll choice to vote against. Please go back and ensure you click on one of the radio buttons next to the choice you wish to vote for.

[AlanCurragh]

Ah - I am guessing that it requires each question to be answered - which is a little pointless if you've said "not interested" to the first question!

I've added "not interested" as an option on each question - which I accept is a bit of a nuisance.

Alan

[Dragon]

Thanks! That works.

Gwyn

[Nigel Marshall]

Hello Alan,

I think it is a great idea, although I have had to vote as not interested, simply because I have neither time nor money available for a crossing to the big island. One of the most attractive aspects of the GWF is that I can devote as much or as little time to it as I choose on the day and it is already paid for with our monthly broadband subs. That is a reason why although still a WFA member, I don't attend very many meetings and didn't get very involved in any of the discussions about opening a new Ireland branch even though I can see a need for one.

You might regret the decision not to have Belfast as a possible venue......Inst's front lawn is looking lovely in the sun today!

I hope this idea takes off though.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Ken Lees]

Would it be possible to be able to vote for more than one option in each section? Not being able to do so may skew the result. For example, in Section 1 I would like to vote for the Manchester area and the Western Front but voting for only one suggests that I have no interest in t'other.

On a less serious note, I'm happy to travel anywhere that's too far for John Hartley.

[AlanCurragh]

Ken - I've (hopefully) editted the poll options to allow multiple answers. I have refrained from adding the "wherever John Hartley isn't" option to locations!

[centurion]

If you keep it outside term time many Universities will do a reasonable deal on conference facilities plus accomodation and can lay on a dinner. I used to deal with Warwick univerity (a long time ago) who were very good at this.

[Ken Lees]

Ken - I've (hopefully) editted the poll options to allow multiple answers.

Thanks, but it only allows multiple answers on the first section.

[AlanCurragh]

You're right again, Ken, now fixed

Alan

[Rockdoc]

It may vary, Centurion, but, in my limited experience, many universities are looking for fully-commercial rates for conferences these days and where they were once a cheap alternative they can often be a very expensive one.

As this would be the first event, I think that a one-dayer would be a good way of testing the waters, even if a weekend one would be better value overall. I'm on the Committee of the Catfish Study Group, which runs a weekend conference at a hotel each year. It ran as a one-day event for quite a long time before moving to two days and it now starts with an opening dinner on Friday that's followed by a short talk by one of our members. With two full days it's possible to bring in speakers from abroad but I don't think I'd like to commit to anything like that until we'd run a couple and made sure the demand is consistently there.

The CSG Convention is very successful but it's an enormous amount of work and grief to make sure that it runs smoothly. Although some of the work can be delegated, it definitely needs someone at the focus to co-ordinate everything and that isn't something to be lightly undertaken. I'd love this to happen but not at the risk of burning out any of our merry band.

Keith

[gem22]

Alan

I've ticked three boxes as acceptable areas but would it not be better if we could indicate a numerical preference i.e. area A = 1 B=2 etc.

From experience I know that Birmingham University has a 'hotel' area that is used for conferences. Room and full board is available. I did a 2 day RAFA welfare officers course there recently. It isn't brilliant but is acceptable though I would suggest that people attending should sneak in their own supplies of alcohol.

Garth

[AlanCurragh]

Garth - I don't think it is possible to set a poll with numerical choices - my thought would be to see what the results are like in a few days time, then consider whether there is a clear winner, or another way is needed to come up with the location.

Alan

[bruce]

I hadn't even realised that catfish were so interesting as to take two days talking about them!

Bruce

[Rockdoc]

Humph! You can go off people, Bruce!

Keith

[Brian Curragh]

Bump

[bruce]

Humph! You can go off people, Bruce!

Keith

I know you took my comment in good part, but i wasn't taking the p*ss.

I really didn't realise that catfish could be that interesting......but I sit corrected.

Mind you, I like dogfish.....in batter.....sold as huss....yum.yum.

Bruce

(I am also aware, with a name like mine,that "fish are friends, not food!")

[Roxy]

Sorry folks, I had to vote for not interested. I found it difficult to determine why Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh were unsuitable, yet Manchester and the Midlands were suitable.

Nevertheless, I wish the venture every success.

Roxy

[AlanCurragh]

Sorry folks, I had to vote for not interested. I found it difficult to determine why Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh were unsuitable, yet Manchester and the Midlands were suitable.

Nevertheless, I wish the venture every success.

Roxy

Roxy - simply that Manchester and the Midlands are more central and thus easier to reach for most people. It'll be impossible to choose somewhere that will satisfy everyone. But I'm really making this up as I go along, and any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for your good wishes

Alan

[squirrel]

OK so I have voted for my preferences to fit with travelling, time off work and what is already diaried.

Would still depend on where and when the final venue is to be held though.

[AlanCurragh]

Totally understand, Squirrel - at this stage it is nothing more than seeing if enough people are interested in theory in the idea, and what their preferred format would be.

If it does take off, it is inevitable that the date, place or cost (whatever any of these might be) won't suit some people

Alan

[Andrew Hesketh]

As Alan said above, wherever and whenever it happens there's going to be a clutch of people who will be disappointed, and the chances are that it's those of us farthest from the main population centres of the UK. C'est la vie.

[Chris_Baker]

There's quite a difficult trade off. For those who live away from the main centres in UK, the event needs to justify the time and expense of getting there and taking part. ie a shorter event would be cheaper to offer but would probably only attract those within reasonable striking distance; a longer and more extensive event would be more expensive but might tempt pals from further away. Can't please everyone, I suppose.