UK Fandom Weekend 2024?

[kat_lair]

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Hello everyone, but especially people in the UK or willing to travel there!

A long, long time ago, I can still remember
How that music fandom weekend used to make me smile...

*clears throat*

Anyway. Once upon a time there was Connotations, a fan con by fans for fans where I met some awesome people and drank questionable amounts of alcohol. Once upon a time I also hosted 'North-West Fen' meetings in Manchester, and then a 'Broadstairs Bacchanalia' fandom weekend in, you guessed it, Broadstairs. Then life, pandemic, etc.

Now... Possibility? Potential? A vaguest of plan... To maybe do something like that again. In person. In... Well, still considering the location (because sadly I no longer live in a house that can host more than max five people for group activities) because a lot depends on the numbers (though Manchester has been floated...). Next summer(ish) seems like a potentially solid time as well.

Anyway, I am posting this first in my journal but will consider setting up a separate community if there is enough interest. So, please can I ask everyone to

1) Share this post. Look, I made a very professional banner and everything. You could like post it and embed a link to this post and that would make my little heart swell with gratitude.



2) Fill this extremely professional poll.

Poll #29528 UK Fandom Weekend 2024

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 30

View Respondents

I'm able to/interested in attend/ing

View Answers

Yes
14 (50.0%)

No
0 (0.0%)

Depends on factors I will elaborate on in the comments
14 (50.0%)

Ideal time for such an event is... (tick all you think would work)

View Answers

March 2024
14 (48.3%)

April 2024
16 (55.2%)

May 2024
17 (58.6%)

June 2024
18 (62.1%)

July 2024
21 (72.4%)

August 2024
17 (58.6%)

September 2024
17 (58.6%)

October 2024
17 (58.6%)

Ideal location for such an event is...

View Answers

I already have ideas for activities which I will share now!

View Answers

Please feel free to elaborate and offer suggestions in the comments!

Thank you!

***

Comments

[smallhobbit]

I like the idea, but can't guarantee any particular time next year, due to possible changes...

[moth2fic]

I like the idea, especially in Manchester. No preferences re time of year - that will be more crucial for people with things like links to education, their own, their kids, or like you, their students! Thanks for the email link - you clearly know I'm lazy about checking DW!! Will try to spread the word.

[moth2fic]

Maybe use the link to spread the work to ushobwri? I know a lot of people are US based but probably not all.

[x003]

Hey! I know I'm just a random person, but this came up on my reading page and I'd like to say it sounds like a wonderful idea, and if it happened I'd be likely to attend--especially if it was outside of London. :) Thank you for putting this together! I'll drop the link to some of my non-DW using friends.

[kat_lair]

Timing is always the trickiest, since no time will be convenient for all! But got to start somewhere... And I have such good memories of Broadstairs Bacchanalia that I'd like to add to them :)

[kat_lair]

I'd really like to see if we can make it happen in a reasonable way! Location depends a lot on numbers. Somewhere with public transport connection is usually good (Connotations was great but it was a pain in the ass to get to).

Haha yeah, I knew you don't check DW that often but I've talked about this like at least the last two visits so it was time to do a post!

[kat_lair]

Hello random person! I pimped it on a bigger comm precisely to gather interest outside my immediate circle so great that's it worked :D London can be good for day things but it is too expensive and tricky for anything that's a bit longer, would require overnight stay so it's definitely likely to be outside it. And thanks for spreading the word. I don't really use other social media platforms much outside DW so that's appreciated :)

[trobadora]

I'd love to, but it depends completely on work next year, which is unpredictable this far ahead ... so best not to take me into account. *g* Manchester would be great, though!

[x003]

I'm glad you read my mind on the London front, haha! I live in Manchester, so that would actually work super well; all my fandomy UK friends also live north of Birmingham, so at least outside of the M25 would be very appreciated as and when that becomes relevant.

And my pleasure! :D I've only been to standard comic cons, so the idea of something outside of that would be wonderful. If anyone I send it onto has anything interesting to say/suggest, I'll be sure to drop you another comment here!!

[kat_lair]

I know I am starting the planning Very Early, but my memory of doing Broadstairs Bacchanalia which ended up being about 8 people so pretty modest, is that it still took quite a bit of work to pull together. Would be absolutely delightful if you could make it though! And noted on Manchester...

[kat_lair]

Quite a few of my fandom friends live in Manchester/NW too. I lived in MCR for several years myself before moving down south for work.

I've been to Comic Cons a couple of time which is fun for 2h and then exhausting because of the crowds. But the past events I mentioned went from maybe... 60 people or so (Connotations was relatively popular at the time) for like less than 10. It's a different vibe at the smaller gatherings where you can just like have conversations and do things like vid shows, fandom pimping, writing exercises or just generally chill and have fun with like-minded people.

[trobadora]

I love small group meetups, they're such fun! I really hope it works out. :)

[apiphile]

As always my "it depends" is "am I working that week", although if I get enough advance warning I can book time off :)

[turps]

What a blast from the past, back in the day Connotations was my very first slash con.

Most of my UK fannish friends will be travelling back from Camp Sparkle today but I'll share the post for them to see when they get back.

[kat_lair]

Hopefully early planning means early decision in time and place... 😊

[kat_lair]

Ikr! Like it's possible we were at connotations at the same time just never interacted.

Would be awesome if you could come and thank you very much for disseminating the call 💓

[verdande_mi]

I would be willing to travel to the UK for this! At least if it happened when I am off work. I don't have a location in mind, but I have never been to Manchster so that would be great.

[leanwellback]

I miss Connotations! I would love something similar to happen. The "it depends" is generally getting time off work and travel/accommodation costs if it's not local to me like Connotations was.

[hils]

I have an IRL friend who was involved with Connotations so this is exciting. I live in York which is the only reason I listed that. My sister lives in Manchester and I’m sure would let me crash at her place. Might even be able to drag her along.

Can I gently suggest some covid precautions be put in place. I’ve managed to avoid catching it so far so I’m still wary about big groups

[spikedluv]

That sounds like such fun!

(Could you create a text box with the image and a link to your post and any other info you'd like included?)

[cesy]

Love the idea, I have fond memories of Connotations and Nine Worlds as well as the UK filk con, I haven't made it to VidUKon in a while and can never do EasterCon due to dates. A small con sounds nice.

May Bank holiday could work for me. Manchester would be fine, or anywhere cheap with good trains.

[kat_lair]

Pooh it would be awesome if you could join us 😊 Manchester is one of my favourite cities and it seems to be relatively popular...

[kat_lair]

Yeah I just miss having occasional fandom meetings with more that three people. Yeah conscious that these things always come up with a cost attached, part of the reason for early thinking so people can eg advance tickets for trains and things like that.

[kat_lair]

Oh very cool. Yeah I'm not aiming for anything quite that big necessarily but sort of "let's see if we can make it happen"

Yes, good point. One would hope the "don't travel if you are ill" msg has been internalised but a reminder will be important, maybe also request to test prior? I'd be really happy to take suggestions here.

[kat_lair]

Gotta say I haven't even heard of EasterCon... Yeah, I'm avoiding 'con' to keep expectations realistic 😁

Noted on all of those. I don't drive so public transport links are high on my list of criteria.