Diary 5th And 6th April 2026 – Iridescence Birmingham Eastercon
- arthurpeterchappell
- Apr 14
- 4 min read
Diary Monday 6th April 2026 – Iridescence Birmingham Eastercon - The Final Day
Noon – Writing And Creating Audio Drama Emily Inkpen A lovely solo presentation on how Emily created a popular radio drama-podcast show, professionally auditioning her cast, acy script books gDex Lewriting, etc. Her first season was written episode by episode which she found quite stressful, creating an episode even while the one before it was airing. The second season was fully penned before recording which was more relaxed and stronger too. Emily passed round copies of the complete books of her scripts. She briefly touched on funding and securing studios for the recordings which could become a very big expenditure but worth it if up to Emily’s standards.
3pm Closing Ceremony An opportunity for the hard working committee to thanks guests of honour, volunteers, gophers, tech crews, the hotel staff, etc for their hard work over what for many is a gruelling weekend. There was a hand-over to the committee for the 2027 Eastercon in Glasgow which I plan to attend. Additional
Evening Food – As the food trucks had left, I got a perfectly decent, if over-priced pizza from the bar food service. My con badge did still grant me a modest discount though which was handy.
Dead Dead Dog – There has been less and less post-convention Dead Dog activity over the years and this year remaining fans just made the best of being free to use the hotel bars, just as any paid hotel guest could do. Dead Dog isn’t a convention programme event as such, but a chance for fans not travelling home right after the closing ceremony, but the next day, to mingle, chat and have fun. At some dead dogs there have been treats like food, and drink left over for gophers & volunteers, etc, games being put out on tables (I remember playing Jenga way into the early hours with fans at some Eastercons),and even film and video screenings. This year, the bar was open, as it would have been anyway.
Diary Tuesday 7th April 2026 – Iridescence Birmingham Eastercon Travelling Home
Up, final packing and checking round the hotel room to be sure I haven’t left anything behind, and down to breakfast one lsast time. Seeing fewer con attendees now as msany had left on Monday but lovely to say goodbye to some dear friends
I returned to my rubbish room (See https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186402-d211158-r1055734018-Hilton_Birmingham_Metropole-Birmingham_West_Midlands) to get my luggage out and headed to the reception for what was a very easy check out. I walked to the train station in the NEC and checked trains were running OK for Preston (as there were reports of heavy delays and cancellations due to engineering works, but my line was not affected.
I already had a return ticket from BirminBgham New Street to Preston, but I’d travelled to the NEC by bus. My single fare ticket got me to the main city station quickly and I had a 25 minute wait for my train to my home city, which was on , the marvellous cast of my Deity time. With a taxi from Preston station, I was home for about 1.30pm.
Thank You’s – The staff of The Old Crown in Digbeth, waiters, bar staff and cleaners at the Hilton Metropole. The Convention committee, the marvellous cast of my Deity Of The Day play, including, in order of appearance) Allen Stroud, Smuzz, White Clanger and Farah Mendelssohn, plus the tech crew and our terrific audience as well. Various people in Birmingham, Digbeth and Coventry, my friends in the FONT SF group from Manchester, the folk who I went for a Vietnamese meal with, various fans, fellow poets and lots of lovely book traders, plus many I have undoubtedly forgotten to list here.
Closing Summary Overall a good convention, though programming was a little spartan at times. I was surprised at how little I got to (understandable on the Saturday as the day was dominated by preparations for my Deity Of The Day Play), but many events were over by 10pm most days, with even the disco and karaoke nights wrapping up soon after midnight. The absence of Dead Dog was also apparent. My only heavy criticisms were of the hotel staff who mishandled my check in and gave me appsuch appalling, pointless (and in one case, highly aggressive) treatment when I raised Oliver Twist-more gruel-like) objections to the absence of clothing drawers in my hotel room. The lukewarm breakfasts could be disappointing too. The absence of printed programmes and Read me’s (already a big issue at the Belfast Worldcon) was a nuisance, and though I was able to get one eventually in request, the assumption that all fans have quality tech on phones and laptops and the dexterity to bring up the data that way, meant many fans struggled to know what was on and where to go next for lack of a simple easily perused booklet. The excellent newsletters showed that print outs were possible at the con, so read me’s and programmes should have been easy to produce too. Event sign up sheets, as opposed to complex online booking for events with limited room should also be re-introduced.
All this is outweighed by the positives, great friends, a sense of annual school reunion, a lovely city, (two, if you count my trip to Coventry), the amazing support for my play presentation, by the cast, tech crew and audience. Pre-con ill-health meant I was taking a sabbatical from alcohol, and this was my first dry con, but I still enjoyed it a great deal.
Photos taken by me.
Arthur Chappell
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