Today we’re announcing that our venue is Telford, in the West Midlands. We’ll be using the Telford International Centre and intend to combine this with five nearby hotels to run a great Eastercon should people vote for us; you can find out more about the venue here.
Rather than replicating all that information, we want to outline a few key reasons that we chose Telford in this blog post.
Firstly, accessibility. Our aim with our venue search was to find a location which was as accessible as it could be for the Eastercon community, and we’re glad that we’ve been able to achieve that goal with a modern, accessible conference centre. We’ll be able to ensure that the majority of the programme is within easy reach of both places like the art show and dealers’ room, but also the convention’s social space.
Secondly, geography. we’re mindful that the Eastercons in 2019 and 2022 were both in London, and that the Worldcon in 2024 will be in Glasgow. As such we wanted to select a destination which was easy for people outside London and Scotland to reach; the Midlands was the perfect location for that goal.
Thirdly, tourism. Telford is a great place to spend the Easter weekend, especially as a first-time Eastercon location. It’s home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the form of Ironbridge Gorge, and it’s located in beautiful countryside with a lot of heritage both in the town and in its neighbours such as Shrewsbury.
We looked at several venues before we decided on Telford and the committee are all excited by the opportunities that Telford can bring to Eastercon should we win the right to run it in 2024. We have a breadth of experience and energy on the committee which will allow us to make the most of that!