POSTPONED TO 2021 - WEEKEND IN TELFORD
Fri 11 Jun 2021 to Sun 13 Jun
Mercure Telford Centre Hotel Forge Gate Telford Centre TF3 4NA (Click for Map)

DUE TO THE COVID-19 SITUATION, THE AIVC COMMITTEE HAS RELUCTANTLY DECIDED TO POSTPONE THE AIVC CONFERENCE TO 11 - 13 JUNE 2021. THE AIVC COMMITTEE WILL DO ALL THEY CAN TO ENSURE THE PRICES FOR CONFERENCE BOOKINGS REMAIN UNCHANGED.

This is the Intervarsity Club event of the year. It is an opportunity to meet members from all over the country. In June, the Association of IVCs is visiting the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

Accommodation is reserved at the Mercure Telford Centre Hotel from Friday, 12th June to Sunday, 14th June 2020. The hotel is well equipped with restaurant, swimming pool and health club. On Saturday evening is the exclusive IVC Gala Dinner. The weekend coincides with the annual AIVC conference.

The hotel is 0.3 miles from the railway station and a similar distance from the bus station. It has a large free car park. The Telford Shopping Centre is nearby.

There are a tremendous number of attractions in Telford and nearby.

Attractions include

The World Heritage Site, Ironbridge Gorge Museums
Video
Blists Hill Victorian Town, Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, Furnace Kitchen, Iron Bridge Tollhouse, Jackfield Tile Museum, Darby Houses, Broseley pipeworks, Tar Tunnel, Coalport China Museum & Museum of The Gorge. Also, there is Ironbridge Town with the eponymous bridge with tollhouse, cafés, shops and restaurants.

The National Trust is at Benthall Hall, Morville Hall, Attingham Park, Wrightwick Manor, Dudmaston and Wilderhope Manor. English Heritage has Lilleshall Abbey, Buildwas Abby, Wenlock Priory, White Ladies Priory, Wroxeter Roman City and Boscobel House.

Walking areas include the Wrekin, Apley Woods, Granville Country Park, Dothill and Town Park. To the north is Long Mynd.

Other attractions include the Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford, The Exotic Zoo, Shropshire Raft Tours and the Telford Steam Railway. Telford Ice Rink, Telford Snowboard and Ski Centre.

Greatdays Holidays is administering bookings.

Option A - 2 Nights including 2 Breakfasts and 1 x Gala Dinner + Entertainment 

Twin/Double rooms £129 Per person 
Single rooms £179 Per person
 
Option B -Saturday 13th June 2020 - 1 night including 1 Breakfast and 1 x Gala Dinner Dance + Entertainment

Twin room £86 per person
Single room £114 per person

Option C - Saturday 13th June 2020 - Gala Night only – Includes Gala dinner + Entertainment + Welcome drink

£35 Per person - Single rooms (limited) – Early booking is highly recommended

Bookings are now live via the greatdays website –Just £25.00 Deposit to secure and guarantee your place.

To book your place, please use one of the following links:

To book your place at the conference including accommodation for Friday 12th June x 2 nights, click here: https://www.greatdaysholidays.co.uk/tour/AIVC-Conference-Shropshire2

To book your place at the conference including accommodation for Saturday 13th  June x 1 night, click here: https://www.greatdaysholidays.co.uk/tour/AIVC-Conference-Shropshire1

If you wish to attend the Gala dinner on Saturday 13th June but do not need accommodation, click here:  https://www.greatdaysholidays.co.uk/tour/AIVC-Gala-Dinner

 

Notice. This is an IVC National Event. You must be a full (paid up) member of an IVC to attend. If you are not, do not contact the organisers. Speak with your nearest branch of IVC. Clubs are listed at http://www.ivc.org.UK. Non-members risk losing money by accessing these facilities.

 

Mercure Telford Centre Hotel
Forge Gate
Telford Centre
TF3 4NA

 
MEETING:     Hotel Notice Board
CONTACT:     Nick Wilkinson AIVC National Development Officer

LLANGOLLEN CANAL FOR SEVEN NIGHTS
Sat 31 Jul 2021 to Sat 7 Aug
Middlewich to Llangollen, Return CW10 9BQ (Click for Map)

Llangollen Canal - Saturday, 31st July 2021 for Seven Nights

Join MIVC members for a week’s canal cruise starting and ending in Middlewich, Cheshire. On Saturday, 31st July 2021, the Fjord Viscount and Stavanger Fjord will depart and head towards Llangollen. They will travel out then return by the same route. In all, there will be seven nights afloat.

The cost is £550 (including a £100 deposit). The price is overstated, so that the trip is viable with less than full occupation. Merseyside IVC will take no profit. To book, first contact the organiser, Nick Wilkinson, and he will provide the club’s bank details. The last time that Merseyside rented a canal boat, the crew all received a cash refund on the first day.

(Note 06OCT20 - Nick’s email is locked until 06NOV20, so please contact him via Facebook or telephone.)

In the wake of 2020’s cancelled cruise, a virtual cruise was made on the Intervarsity Club Outdoors page on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/177780525916602
Don’t forget to read from the bottom going up. It is the template for 2021.

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Corona Virus

The holiday market continues to change. In earlier years the MIVC was able to book late in the year before and secure boats for May. It was intended to book for May 2021, but in August 2020 the first availability was for the end of July 2021, almost 12 months in the future. It appears that many other people have decided on canal holidays.

The price has increased considerably compared with previous years. The main reason is that we now renting in peak season.

It is impossible to know what the corona virus regulations will be in August 2021. Each crewmember will be prioritised based on the date of his or her deposit. Thus, if groups are limited in number, those who booked first will travel.

The future is uncertain and all that we are able to say is that Merseyside IVC will not profiteer. If Merseyside IVC says that you may not travel, you will receive a full refund. If required, crewmembers are to arrange their own cancellation insurance.

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http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/llangollen.htm

https://www.canalguide.co.uk/canals/llangollencanal.html

https://llangollen.org.uk/

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Copied from http://www.andersenboats.com

The Llangollen Canal is justifiably one of the more popular boating holiday canals in Britain. Most of its route is through unspoilt agricultural countryside, but with just enough locks and waterside villages to add interest. As the canal winds its way into Wales, it also features outstanding scenery and some world famous aqueducts. There are also has several short tunnels on this canal, to add to the excitement.

Through rural Cheshire towards Wales

Leaving Middlewich by way of an arm of the Shropshire Union Canal, the route has fine views over the valley of the River Weaver before making its way directly through an area full of Shropshire's 'black and white cows' to the main line of the canal. Here a short deviation would take you to the 'black and white buildings' of Nantwich.

Turning off at Hurleston Junction, the Llangollen Canal itself then ascends a short flight of locks and sets off across open country, winding its way through Wrenbury under quaint old wooden lift bridges. It is worth pausing at Marbury for a short walk up to its remarkable church. As a bonus, several of the locks on this section have good pubs adjacent. At Willeymoor you don't have to walk at all, because there's a delightful pub slap bang alongside the lock.

Gradually you have become used to locks, but at Grindley Brook half a dozen come all at once, the top three being telescoped together as a 'staircase' which can be something of a bottleneck in the summer season, especially on Thursdays when all the boats that have travelled towards Llangollen from the English end of the canal are busily heading back to base. Boaters have been in the habit of taking a taxi or catching the bus from Grindley Brook into nearby Whitchurch, but part of the old arm which once led right into the town has been restored to provide visitor moorings, and it is difficult to resist mooring up here and walking into this interesting old country town, famous as a centre of cheese-making. In the heyday of the canal a special cheese boat left here daily for Manchester, its hold covered with white canvas to keep the cheese as cool as possible. Beyond Whitchurch there are no more locks for many miles, though there are a number of lift bridges to be raised and lowered with the same windlass you use for operating locks. 

Ellesmere on the Llangollen Canal

Passing briefly in and out of Wales, and crossing the mysteriously remote 'mosses' the canal reaches Shropshire's 'Lake District', skirting several of the charming meres which were formed hereabouts the end of the Ice Age.

One of them, Blake Mere, is separated from the canal by the slenderest of margins, and makes a beautiful spot for a picnic.

A short tunnel preceeds Ellesmere, a timeless old town with some particularly good shops specialising in local produce.

The town arm provides pleasant moorings near to the canal company's original workshops, still used by British Waterways as a maintenance base, and the staff here welcome enquiries from passing boaters.

Amazing Sights

At New Marton you pass through the last pair of locks on your way to Wales. Soon the canal is running parallel to the London-Holyhead road. Then it turns a wooded corner and you are confronted with two huge stone bridges, an aqueduct and a viaduct, carrying the canal and a railway respectively, across the valley of the River Ceiriog, from UK into Wales.

Border crossings don't come much more dramatic than this, especially as, on reaching the far side of the aqueduct, the canal plunges almost immediately into a long tunnel. From moorings at either end of this tunnel it's a short walk into the little town of Chirk, useful for shopping and with a 14th century castle to visit as well. The mountains, which have been simply pale outlines on the horizon, become more tangible as the canal slips into Offa's Dyke country.

World Heritage Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

Winding through woodlands you come to the River Dee and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, the most astonishing feat of waterway engineering anywhere in the world. The 18 kilometres of canal from Chirk to Llangollen was awarded World Heritage site status by Unesco in 2009. A hundred and twenty feet above the river, in an iron trough no wider than the width of you boat, crossing the aqueduct is tantamount to flying through mid air!

You could be forgiven for thinking that the last lap into Llangollen would be an anti-climax. It is nothing of the sort, as on a high shelf above the Vale of Llangollen and surrounded by high limestone ridges, the canal makes for its terminal wharf.

Exploring Llangollen

Twenty six hours cruising away from Middlewich, should leave you with plenty of time to explore some of Llangollen's well known attractions. Take a ride further on along the Dee Valley by steam train; visit Plas Newydd, where the Ladies of Llangollen were the centre of gossip in the 18th century; climb up to the ruins of Castell Dinas Bran, over a thousand feet above sea level; visit the Canal Exhibition Centre; stroll along the last two unnavigable miles of the canal to the famous Horseshoe Falls; or just wander about the charming streets of the town, grateful that you haven't got to find a parking space!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llangollen_Canal

 

 
MEETING:     Andersen Boats, The Boatyard, Wych House Lane, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 9BQ
COST:     £550

A WEEK AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL
Sat 7 Aug 2021 to Sat 14 Aug
Location visible to members

Details visible to members  
 

MK IVC - ICELAND TRIP - IN LATE 2021 OR EARLY 2022
Mon 1 Nov 2021 to Thu 31 Mar
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Details visible to members