And finally

from the Gaskell Society Conference -  a few pictures of the place we stayed.

 

It's called Cober Hill and it's in a small village called Cloughton near Scarborough. It was weird. Sort of like  a cross between a Youth Hostel, a not very luxurious hotel and a WEA institute. Built by a well meaning Victorian for workers to go and get rested and refreshed and educated all at the same time, it's now run as a centre for group holidays and so on, and some of the original ethos lingers on sadly.

 

The reception staff all need to go on a course called 'How to greet guests and make them feel welcome 101' together with a supplementary lecture entitled 'These people are customers and pay your wages, they are not a total nuisance sent to interrupt your cosy chat'. Equally the night manager might well take notice of the fact that tips will not be forthcoming if he is not in evidence, except behind a glass window that is firmly shut and has a Closed sign on it, at the relatively early hour of 9.00 pm. every evening and only comes forth to enquire if everything is going smoothly on the morning of departure.

 

Also a word to the Catering Department on Restaurant Management wouldn't go amiss. For the Conference Dinner, which obviously really is meant to be the highlight of the weekend, certainly food wise, I was sitting at a table where several people didn't get their choice of first course because 'it had run out'. The same thing happened with the main course. The really unlucky ones didn't get their choice of either course. Is it really beyond the wit of man to circulate the choices the day before so that demand can be gauged? Or is it just too much trouble?

The grounds were lovely though and offered a view to the sea - also a walk to it, had we had time.

 

 

 

 

Finally  a very happy memory of Saturday night's entertainment. Two retired consultants, one a gynaecologist/obstetrician and one an anaesthetist giving us their cabaret. The obs/gynae man had been a speaker in the morning, talking about C19 improvements in medicine in general and obs and gynae in particular ( interesting, but one of those hours where you do a lot of clenching IYKWIM!) Their act, honed over many years, was brilliant. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much, we sat in rows with tears of laughter rolling down our cheeks. So good. So funny.