AIVC Conference 2011
8 - 10th April 2011
The Location
The City of Stoke-on-Trent is in North Staffordshire, roughly half way between Birmingham and Manchester and is currently celebrating it's centenary.
It is world renowned for it's ceramic industry and is probably just as well known as ‘The Potteries'. While most of the iconic bottle kilns have now disappeared, there is still a strong heritage of the ‘Pot Banks' and on arriving at the hotel you will be greeted by the statue of Josiah Wedgwood.
The Venue
The North Stafford Hotel is situated in Winton Square, Stoke-on-Trent, directly opposite Stoke-on-Trent railway station.
It is a three star hotel which was built in a Jacobean style and opened in 1849, shortly after the railway station.
We have provisionally reserved all but a handful of the hotel's 88 bedrooms which the hotel will hold until the end of January, other accommodation may also be available within a ten minute drive, but early booking is to be advised.
Travel
Travel to the conference by train couldn't be easier, Stoke-on-Trent is on the Stafford to Manchester branch of the West Coast mainline and is at the junction of the East Midlands mainline from Grantham and Derby.
The hotel is quite literally across the road from the station (when the hotel was first built there was a tunnel which went under the road to allow guests to reach the station without having to chance the weather!).
For those wishing to drive, Junction 15 of the M6 motorway is about 10 minutes away and the A50 half that. The hotel has it's own car park which is obviously, free to guests.
Itinerary
The conference weekend will follow the usual format with a meet and greet from around 2pm on Friday afternoon and continue in the evening with a quiz followed by a cold buffet, available from 7pm ‘til around 10pm. A DJ has been booked and the bar will be open until 12.30am.
Conference and workshops will begin after breakfast on Saturday morning and continue with a couple of breaks for refreshments and a buffet lunch prior to the afternoon events.
On Saturday evening the conference ballroom will be rearranged for a ‘Forties-style' Gala Dinner-Dance - think de-mob suits, land-army girls, military uniforms and drawn-on stocking seams! There will again be a disco, licensed bar a possibly a live band.
Following breakfast on Sunday morning the workshops and conference matters will conclude, with refreshments and lunch as on Saturday, with a short walk or the like for those not having to travel too early.
Proposed activities for Saturday afternoon are:
- A visit to the Gladstone Pottery Museum a Victorian pottery factory with its cobbled yard and traditional bottle kilns.
- An afternoon at the Trentham Gardens Monkey Forest where 140 Barbary macaques roam free in 60 acres of English woodlands.
- The City Museum and Art Gallery with the famous Staffordshire Hoard, the largest Anglo-Saxon find ever unearthed.
- A 4 -5 mile walk through the park and along the canal from the hotel to the Etruria Marina and back past the Flint Mill.
- A little retail therapy at the Trentham Gardens Outlet Village with maybe a walk around the lake and gardens.
Along with the events above, non-delegates may also fancy a trip to Alton Towers, a coach leaves from outside the hotel every morning. Unfortunately, there is so much to do at Alton Towers, an afternoon visit would not be worthwhile for the delegates.
These are provisional ideas and others may be added closer to time.