Eastercon in Brum

[Who's Wee Dug]

It's not looking good for it to continue, I've just requested a refund on my hotel booking as I've decided not to go with all the transport hassle and at least one of my other mates has done the same, shame as I was looking forward to it.
Things may have calmed down by the time DWCon comes around the hotel booking goes live on 23rd of this month I will hang back on that for now to maybe save hassle later on with flight bookings etc.

 

[Tonyblack]

Yeah, I think it's inevitable that such meetings will be postponed.

 

[RathDarkblade]

Um - I'm not au fait with the background of all this. What happened?

 

[Dotsie]

Waits for penny to drop....

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Kerching!!!!

 

[RathDarkblade]

*googles Eastercon* Ah ...

Eastercon is the common name for the British national science fiction convention. From 1948 until the 1960s, the convention was held over the three-day Whitsun bank holiday at the end of May. It has taken place over the four-day Easter holiday weekend ever since then.

Fair enough, then. Please bear in mind that I've never been to any cons (much less ones in the UK), so ...

Of course it's disappointing that it should be cancelled, but it was more or less inevitable, given the hysteria over a certain illness.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

It!s not officially cancelled yet Rath there legal implications that even if no one turned up the covention the hotel would still have to be paid for by the Con, it will take a statement by the government to ban large gatherings before they could legally cancel. This below may help to clarify it taken in part from the website.

(We have discussed if there would be any possibility of a change in their stance on this matter. We have been advised that the only time at which there would be a change would be if running the convention would be either impossible or illegal due to requirements put in place either from the Government or from an authorised public body such as Public Health England or the World Health Organisation.)

 

[Catch-up]

I think you're making the right move Dug. I know it's really disappointing though. I'm pretty much in the same boat with the UK DWcon. I hadn't booked a flight before all this hit, and it seems foolish to book one now. It's possible this will pass by August, but it still makes it almost impossible to plan for.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Yes I know Catch-up, I'm registered for DWcon and the hotel booking goes live in four days but as there is enough rooms for all I will hang back on booking a room or making flight bookings as the way things are being closed down the Government may produce a ‘force majeure’ ruling yet. We are indeed living in interesting times. I was about to register for Octacon in Dublin in October for their 30th Anniversary to catch up with old friends, that for now has gone out the window, just goes to show how one virus can screw up everyone's life big time in such a short space of time.

 

[Ghost]

welp the refund that might be happening will be a pleasant surprise
I was going but due to a little credit card debt I had decided to use the spending money I saved to pay off the worse of the debt and not go to the con and call it a loss

Dear Member,
Further to our last communication, we along with the hotel have been closely monitoring the PHE and UK Government guidelines as they have evolved over the past week. As we know, the situation with regard to COVID-19 changes on an hourly basis.
We have now taken the hard decision in conjunction with the hotel to cancel Concentric 2020 for the health and safety of all of our members. This is not a decision we have taken lightly as there has been a lot of hard work put into the planning thus far, however the committee and the hotel feel that this is the right thing to do. The recent mandate to close restaurants and bars made it impossible for the hotel to continue to use their meeting and conference space.
As you can imagine it will take time to unwind all of the preparations for the convention. We will be in touch with you regarding membership refunds and also about some of the traditional Eastercon business such as bid sessions, award ceremonies, etc. We ask that you bear with us as we work our way through this. We will continue to communicate with you as we have information to share.
The Hilton will be in touch with those members who booked with them in regard to those room bookings.
We realise that some of you may receive multiple copies of this. We apologise for this but we want to ensure we reach all of our members.
In the meantime, please look after yourselves and each other and we look forward to seeing you at Eastercon next year wherever that may be.
We would appreciate it if you could keep this confidential until Sunday 22nd March to allow us time to announce it to the general public.
Thank you for your support,
Vanessa and John,
Co-chairs, Concentric 2020

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Eastercon - ConFusion in 2021 in back in the Hilton in Brum just been on a zoom vid event to vote for it, Dan Abnett is the GOH room rates 20%off website not fully functioning in as yet but test site confusion2021.uk. concessions available which is £40 for membership.

 

[Catch-up]

I'm shooting for the Irish DW con in Oct. 2021.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

I'm shooting for the Irish DW con in Oct. 2021.

I've been to that one missed it last year as I left it too late to book and it sold out, good hotel and literary a five minutes walk from the airport from to the back door through the carpark, (turn left out of the airport walk up the ramp to the road and the rear of the hotel faces you. I'm intending of going next year depending what flights I can get from here as the one I used to fly there with has gone out of business.