Family Weekend Conference

We are delighted to announce our plans to run another family weekend conference from Friday 11th – Monday 14th October 2013.

The event will begin with key social activities on Friday evening, a semi-formal conference on Saturday, whole family activities on Sunday, and the option to stay over to make a long-weekend of it until Monday.

The event will take place at Ribby Hall in Lancashire. The site offers an excellent range of accommodation types and facilities (a little like a mini Centerparcs for anyone familiar with that concept).

If you have any suggestions as to what you’d like to see at the conference please email them to conference@albinism.org.uk.

You can now book accommodation for the conference.

Accommodation is in a variety of different self-catering cottages on the village site.

For full details of the accommodation types available, see the Ribby Hall Website.

Ribby Hall has a wide range of facilities for families. You can find out more at www.ribbyhall.co.uk.

Note that although the cottages are all self-catering, several meals will be provided as part of the conference and there are also restaurants and bars on-site.

How to book accommodation

You can book accommodation by calling any member of the Ribby Hall Reservations team on 01772 671111.

You must state that you are calling to book a cottage held under Albinism Group or quote booking reference 7529 to make sure you receive the relevant discounts.

All that is required now is to pay a £75 deposit per cottage. The balance will be due 6 weeks prior to the event (approximately the end of August).

You must book at Ribby Hall by the end of April to guarantee accommodation. After this date the cottages currently reserved for Albinism Fellowship will be made available to the general public.

As we are still in the process of fundraising and putting together the programme, the final conference delegate rates will not be confirmed until June.
The highest they will be for Albinism Fellowship members is £80 per adult and £45 per child under 12.
The delegate fee will probably include 2 dinners, 1 lunch and a breakfast during the weekend as well as all conference sessions.
We are holding off confirmation until June to see how much we can fundraise to offset fees. There will be a range of fee types so the above is just for guidance at this stage.
AF members will have a lower fee than non-members, so please do consider joining.

• Does your employer support charities? Could they donate? Some companies match fund employees fundraising.
• Can you community fundraise for us? Raffles, runs, swims, coffee mornings, pub race nights and the like. Tell us what you can do.
• Would your school choose us as their charity of the term/year and fundraise for us?
• Do you know anyone connected with a charitable trust who may be able to support us? Applications to trusts can be more successful if someone has a connection with them.
• Do you know of or have a connection with a company that could sponsor the event? Examples include:
  • Crèche facility: £2,000
  • Welcome reception: £900
  • Refreshments: £250
  • Family activity workshop programme: £1,500 or single elements £500
• There are advertising and promotional opportunities for sponsors as a result of their support.
• Would you, a friend or family member be willing to make a direct donation to the AF?

If you can help or know who can do let us know via conference@albinism.org.uk now and keep an eye on the funding gauge above for current progress!