Welcome to another week
and we have our PR hats on this week as Wednesday is the CIPR Northern
Conference in Newcastle, followed by the first PRCA DARE Awards in Leeds on Thursday and DARE Scotland in Edinburgh on Friday.
So busy busy busy and lots
of focus around the Public Relations and Communications Industry both this week
and next, when the DARE Programme continues in Slough, Bristol and Birmingham.
Whilst we are pretty much sorted
for all of the forthcoming events, you can see that it’s a whirlwind of travel,
trains, planes and motorways and even though we always love going to some of
these fabulous cities, we rarely get the time to enjoy anything more than a
perfunctory look out of a window.
We never really get to see
any sights other than the inside of a function room, which may be why this year
we have opted for several unusual venues and not the usual hotel banqueting
suites (which all start to look the same eventually!).
The CIPR Northern Conference Venue is the
fantastic Great North Museum which incorporates collections from the Hancock Museum and Newcastle University’s Museum of Antiquities, the Shefton Museum and the Hatton Gallery.
Highlights of the £26million museum include
a large-scale, interactive model of Hadrian's Wall,
major new displays showing the wonder and diversity of the animal kingdom,
spectacular objects from the Ancient Greeks and mummies from Ancient Egypt, a
planetarium and a life-size T-Rex dinosaur replica skeleton.
The Living Planet display houses
hundreds of creatures and by using a mixture of touch screen technology and
hands-on investigations, visitors can investigate these animals and find out
where they live and how they survive in such extreme places as the arctic and
desert.
Live animal tanks and aquaria are
integrated into this major display where visitors can see wolf fish, pythons
and lizards to name a few. Star objects include a full size model of an
elephant, a great white shark, a virtual aquarium, live animal displays, a
polar bear, a giraffe and moa skeleton.
So in addition to the
fantastic schedule at the CIPR Northern Conference, the delegates will
certainly have lots to look at!
With DARE North, the only
Hotel we have picked as part of the DARE Schedule, it’s the Queens Hotel in Leeds, which is a personal favourite of ours and steeped in history.
From there we are off to The Hub in Edinburgh. This historic, category A listed building forms
an integral part of the architectural fabric of Edinburgh. The Hub’s spire is the highest point in central Edinburgh.
It was constructed between 1842 and 1845
as the Victoria Hall to house the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
The architects were James Gillespie Graham and Augustus Welby Pugin. Curiously
the building was never consecrated as a Church. In 1929 the Church of Scotland
ceased to use the building and it became a temporary home for a variety of
congregations. It was named the Highland Tolbooth St John’s Church in 1956, before falling into disuse in the 1980s.
In 1999, the building was transformed into
The Hub, the offices and a performance space for the Edinburgh International
Festival. The building is a stunning combination of award winning contemporary
design and classic Victorian architecture.
The next week we are
resuming DARE firstly in Slough at the Spirit Conference Centre. The Centre
Conference Venue opened its doors to the businesses and people of Slough and the surrounding areas in1998, the vast number of meeting rooms, 12
in total, and the magnificent size of the main banqueting suites means it has
the capacity and flexibility that any one could need for their meetings,
conferences, training workshops and events. Perfect for DARE…
From there we move to Bristol and the iconic Engineers House, is a Grade II
listed conference centre in Clifton Down, a prestigious suburb of Bristol.It was built in 1831 by Charles Dyer, a
leading Bristol architect. The most famous owner of the house was
Charles Pinney, who was the Mayor of Bristol during the Bristol City Riots, and
although it is sometimes referred to as ‘The Mayor’s House’, it was actually
the private home of the Pinney family between 1835 and 1867.
The building has a 19th century elegance
and charm and the picturesque grounds overlook Westbury Park. Whilst the venue itself is steeped in history, the IT and conference
facilities are absolutely state-of-the-art. Engineers’ House is AIM accredited,
an indication of the quality of service and facilities you can expect to find.
To conclude the DARE tour
we are off to Birmingham and Birmingham City Football Club and the Jasper
Carrott Suite which is a fantastic space overlooking the football pitch.
Its fun and funky, a
little like the comedian in whose honour the suite is named after!
As some of our tour will
involve car travel, we pray for no traffic jams and no accidents that will
require a claim of any kind.
But should we have a
problem, we can always refer to some of the great Insurance Claim
Forms that Mr
Carrott often referred to in his act, just in case we need any inspiration :
"Going to work at 7am this morning I drove out of my drive straight into
a bus. The bus was 5 minutes early.." (Thanks N Bradley)
"I was driving along when I saw two
kangaroos copulating in the middle of the road causing me to ejaculate through
the sun roof." (from an Australian claim form - Thanks N Shepherd)
"I started to slow down but the
traffic was more stationary than I thought."
Q: Could either driver have done anything
to avoid the accident? A: Travelled by bus?
The claimant had collided with a cow. The
questions and answers on the claim form were - Q: What warning was given by
you? A: Horn. Q: What warning was given by the other party? A: Moo.
"I was going at about 70 or 80 mph
when my girlfriend on the pillion reached over and grabbed my testicles so I
lost control."
"I didn't think the speed limit
applied after midnight"
"I knew the dog was possessive about
the car but I would not have asked her to drive it if I had thought there was
any risk."
"First car stopped suddenly, second
car hit first car and a haggis ran into the rear of second car."
"Windscreen broken. Cause unknown.
Probably Voodoo."
"The car in front hit the pedestrian
but he got up so I hit him again"
"I pulled away from the side of the
road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment."
"I collided with a stationary truck
coming the other way"
"In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove
into a telephone pole."
"An invisible car came out of
nowhere, struck my car and vanished."
"I was thrown from the car as it left
the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows."
"Coming home I drove into the wrong
house and collided with a tree I don't have."
"I thought my window was down, but I
found it was up when I put my head through it."
"The guy was all over the road. I had
to swerve a number of times before I hit him."
"I had been driving for forty years
when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident."
"As I approached an intersection a
sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared
before."
"To avoid hitting the bumper of the
car in front I struck a pedestrian."
"My car was legally parked as it
backed into another vehicle."
"I told the police that I was not
injured, but on removing my hat found that I had a fractured skull."
"I was sure the old fellow would
never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him."
"The pedestrian had no idea which way
to run as I ran over him."
"I saw a slow moving, sad faced old
gentleman as he bounced off the roof of my car."
"The indirect cause of the accident
was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth."
"No one was to blame for the accident
but it would never have happened if the other driver had been alert."
"The pedestrian ran for the pavement,
but I got him."
"The accident was caused by me waving
to the man I hit last week."
"I knocked over a man; he admitted it
was his fault for he had been knocked down before."
Made you smile? It did us!
Enjoy your week.
Towards the end of this week though, we have the Bristol Media, Brand You Awards Deadline looming! Brand You, is produced by Bristol Media and Social Heads and supported by ourselves, and this year they are looking for individuals working right across the creative sectors in the South West. It doesn't matter whether you are just beginning your career or you have already established yourself in your field. 
As we all know, the credibility of any awards programme is measured by the calibre of the judges there is an excellent judging panel for each of the categories from length and breadth of the country. With a leading professional from the South West plus three or four additional judges from outside the region to add balance, you can be assured that the results will be completely fair and unbiased. 
