Birmingham Open Night

[Vicky]

And, hot on the heels of the Leeds ON, we have...

The Birmingham Open Night!

This will be September 15th 07 from 6.30pm onwards at the Cornerhouse, 110 Edmund Street/Newhall Street, B3 3PU.

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/12/12859/Corner_House/Birmingham gives some good info and maps.

Free to all, members and non-members.

Special guests!  We have the Write Fantastic, specifically: Stan Nicholls, Jessica Rydill, Juliet McKenna, Chaz Brenchley and Deborah Miller attending. 

In fact you will have two great opportunities to see them as they will be at the Britannia Hotel the night before - the 14th - talking to the Birmingham SF Group.  See www.bsfg.freeservers.com for full details on this.

State your interest here or send me an email at cook.vicky@yahoo.co.uk so I know some of you are coming :-)

See you there!  (and of course in Nottingham the following week).

Vicky

[LeeH]

Oh, now you're just copying!   

 

[Vicky]

Cheeky!  The more the merrier I think. 

To be honest I couldn't compete with your brewery-packed extravanganza, so had to settle for a quiet corner of a local pub. 

Ooh while I'm here, what do people think about the London do at the start of September - keep it or ditch it?  I have had a suggestion to cancel it due to FantasyCon later in the month and it might be easier on people's pursestrings, but has anyone got any thoughts on this?

Vicky

[LeeH]

Three in one month does seem quite a lot - even if they are hundreds of miles apart. If we have too many ONs we run the risk of attendance at each being lower, which defeats the purpose...

[ChrisT]

Well, I can't afford either ON in September - will be saving my dosh for FCon and October.

Personally, I reckon two ON's a month is a bit much.

[CarolineC]

Yes, I agree it might have been better to space them out a little more - I mean, time-wise, rather than distance!

But it's great to see that these out of London events are now being organised. Well done to everyone concerned, and thanks for listening BFS!

And, hot on the heels of the Leeds ON, we have...

By the way, York is some distance from Leeds ... 

[Vicky]

Whoops, sorry to all northerners for getting Leeds and York muddled!!

Another thought for the London ON - we could reschedule it to August so then it's just one ON a month...

Or just cancel the upstairs room and people who want to meet up can do so in the main bar...

Vicky

[Stephen Theaker]

I'm looking forward to the Birmingham Open Night, Vicky. Thanks for organising it!

Edit: For the people who can't make it, if you're running magazines or publishing books, maybe you could send an example or two of your work for people who come to look at? We could have a display table or something like that.

I'll bring along the recent issues I've bought, like Jupiter, Whispers of Wickedness and Midnight Street, and of course my own SAB stuff...

[Mike Chinn]

I'm sure you can count me among the number of attendees. Hell - I'll even be at the Brum Group on the 14th (probably). As I said before: my wife sees far too much of me

[Ian Whates]

I'll make this if I can.  Does anybody know what parking is like at or close to the pub? 

[Vicky]

oooh well, there is very limited on-street parking by the pub - VERY limited.  There's apparently a NCP thing down the road on the same street.  Trouble is, driving in Birmingham can be a nightmare - it might be easier to drive somewhere like Selly Oak station, somewhere reasonably close and park there and get the train in.  Or get public transport all the way - more drinking can be done then if that's your cup of tea :-)

If you want, I'll phone the pub and ask them - unless someone else obviously more knowledgeable than me posts here first.

Vicky

[Ian Whates]

Thanks Vicky.  Doesn't sound too promising 

'Public transport all the way' sounds like a great idea.  Who knows, maybe one day we'll have a public transport system that's sufficiently integrated, comprehensive and reliable to make such a thing possible... As it is, I'd have to travel into London and then out again... a three to three and a half hour journey each way.

Hmm... Maybe I'll skip this after all and wait until the next London get-together. 

[allybird]

Any hotels  close by that aren't too expensive?

[Vicky]

Hi Allyson

Try Googling hotels in Birmingham as there are a fair few.  http://www.city-visitor.com/birmingham/hotels.html has a list or there are several other sites.  It's right in the centre of the city so there's a fair load to choose from, but of course city centre might mean pricier.  A little further of a trek is Hagley Road on the outskirts of the city centre which has loads of guest houses and b&bs - buses go up and down this road, and of course there are plenty of taxis.

As for parking referring to a previous post, being a city centre, it's not brilliant for parking, but the manager says there is some on-road parking and there's NCPs fairly close, but public transport is prob best.

Vicky

[allybird]

Thanks Vicky!