East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham, NG7 2RJ
Residential attendees should please aim to arrive on Friday afternoon in time for tea at 4 to 5pm. Day attendees are very welcome to take tea even if not dining. After dinner we have no formal sessions, but hope all will join in an informal social get-together in the Orchard Hotel’s bar/lounge area.
Note that you may wish to arrive much earlier and to visit the BSS Library on Friday. You may park your car there even if rooms are not yet ready.
Chris will be there from 4pm to greet attendees. Exhibitors can set up from that time. Although no formal photographic competition is being held, all attendees are encouraged to bring prints that we can use to decorate the area. Could you please hand them to Chris as soon as possible.
Afternoon tea will be served from 4pm.
Cake Competition:
Following last year’s hugely successful sundial cake competition, all attendees are again invited to bring a cake or cakes. A sundial theme is, of course, expected. We plan to judge them on gnomonical qualities, refined appearance and taste on Saturday.
Directions to the venue:
From the south or west: The most direct route is to take M1 J25 (Nottingham North), follow A52 to Nottingham. At the third roundabout turn right, signposted to East Midlands Conference Centre and Nottingham University. At the next roundabout turn left into the campus. If stopped at the security barrier tell them you’re going to the conference centre. Follow the road to the centre on your right. Drive up its drive between the Conference Centre building on your right and the Hotel on your left. Don’t park in the first car park you see. Instead, go up the hill and park at the same level as the hotel. Note that Bing Maps and Google Maps do not show the hotel – it is too new.
From the south: Sundial-seeing route. If you take M1 J24 (Nottingham South) you can take in one old sundial at East Leake on the church (BSS Register 1368) (LE12 6PF is close). It is a large vertical slate dial canted out from the wall, easily spotted, but unfortunately very worn – almost no markings are visible from the ground. Inside the church is an interesting horn, used to call the faithful to prayer. Frankly, I don’t think many would rate this dial ‘worth a significant detour’. Wikipedia has a good photo of it. From here, use GPS or follow your nose north to Nottingham and pick up the instructions above.
Note that the Chris Daniel dial at British Gypsum in East Leake (BSS Register 2942) has been removed for repainting. The huge equatorial dial at Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station (BSS Register 3030) is not now accessible to the public. One of the vertical dials at privately owned Bunny Hall (BSS Register 5910) can be seen over the estate wall, but you just see a distant gnomon. Inside Bunny church is a large diamond-shaped dial which I have seen. It is not a sundial, as they seem to believe. It is a clock dial.
From the North: Take M1 J26, follow A610, then A6514 towards Nottingham. At the A52 junction turn right onto the A52 but immediately turn left into the campus. Fork right, blag your way past security, if necessary and turn right at the T junction. Take the next right onto Cripps Hill then follow your nose until you see the Conference Centre on your left, after some sports fields. Drive up its drive between the Conference Centre building on your right and the Hotel on your left. Don’t park in the first car park you see. Instead, go up the hill and park at the same level as the hotel.
From the East, e.g. Lincoln: Take A46. You may like to detour to Burton Joyce, 5 miles north of Nottingham, to see a fine equatorial dial in stainless steel, made for the millennium (BSS Register 4700) . It is on the main road and can’t be missed. I would have taken the coach tour there but there is nowhere for a coach to park.
From the Station: A taxi is easiest if you have luggage, but there are very frequent buses from the station, via Broadmarsh bus station, then the City Loop to Angel Row. I think these are free. From here take an Orange Line bus No. 35 or 36 to Wollaton Park Gates. These go every 5 minutes. At the bus stop (on the same side of the road) is a narrow footpath into the campus. Once inside turn right, follow the road a few hundred yards to the Conference Centre.
Nottingham’s bus services are outstandingly good. See the Web site at www.nctx.co.uk
From East Midlands Airport: The airport is near M1 J24. If you hire a car, take M1 north to J25. See above. There is a frequent (every 20 minutes) bus service from the airport: the Nottingham SkyLink. Get off at the Queen’s Medical Centre, next to the campus (shown on the campus map – see below). Then, I suggest a taxi for the final half mile.
Bus services to the city centre and the BSS Library in Bromley House
The librarian has made a reading room available to members who wish to visit the library on Friday. Note that, although we visit the building on Saturday, we will not have time for browsing or reading books or magazines. If you visit on Friday, I suggest you park at the Conference Centre and take a bus in. The library is open from 9:30 to 5pm.
Here is a map of the campus, also available from the Conference Centre reception. Due north of the conference centre, the Derby Road runs into town. There are bus stops shown on the map. Walk from the centre along Beeston Lane as it goes north, then east. Look out for UNSSC – the Sports and Social Club – on your left. Just past its entrance is a green rubbish bin! Just past that is an inconspicuous and unsignposted passage which takes you out to the Derby Road. There is a pedestrian crossing to your right. Cross and get on any Orange Line 35 or 36 bus. They are every 5 minutes (seriously!) and all terminate at Victoria Centre in 17 minutes. From here, take a free City Link shuttle bus or walk due south to a large square, then a little east to Angel Row – the road on your right. See the library opposite, at the east end of Angel Row. The on-line bus map is available here.
Bromley House, Angel Row
Bromley House, Angel Row
To get into the library, buzz and announce that you are a BSS member.
Please have something like a Bulletin to hand to prove it. Your membership card would be ideal, if you have it. The library is on the top floor. The reading room up there has been cleared for us to use on Friday.
The return buses go from Stop A4, a little further along Angel Row. Get any number 35 or 36 bus, or any variant such as 35A, get off at Wollaton Park Gates after 11 minutes, exactly opposite where you got on the first bus.
Incidentally, Wollaton Hall does not now have the sundial listed in the BSS Register, so is not worth visiting from a sundial perspective, but is a magnificent, and free, estate and mansion.
Any unanswered questions: Please feel free to ask me, Chris Lusby Taylor clusbytaylor@gmail.com 01635 33270.