Britcon 2021...

[Harry Faversham]

Plague permitting, does anyone know if this event will be taking place this autumn? I tried emailing their homepage a couple of weeks back, but got no reply.

[Dags]

Reading between the lines on their site I'd reckon it's a 'no' but the official line seems to be 'we don't know'

The current UK Government CV-19 roadmap will (in theory) see all Covid-related restrictions ending in mid June 2021, making the staging of Britcon at least a theoretical possibility in August 2021.

There are however a number of significant challenges the BHGS might, or already does face were we to press ahead and look to run Britcon this year.

Our venue at Manchester University is of course first and foremost an academic facility, and the onsite accommodation many of our players use are student halls of residence.  With the UK Government seemingly considering implementing changes to the academic year to allow students to "catch up" on their studies post-Covid, it is possible that any booking we made for  2021 could subsequently be overtaken and cancelled by changes to university term time.
The venue is also slated for permanent closure (and possible demolition) in July 2022, and has also been closed for all events for well over a year. At least some of the individuals at the venue we have worked with in the past also appear to have been laid off, and so we are unsure just how committed the venue is to opening for 3d party events this year.
Even with the Covid roadmap 'ending' in June 2021, it is still unclear whether "events and exhibitions" will continue to be  subject to additional restrictions after this date. Given the face-to-face nature of tabletop gaming - and the memorably poor ventilation in many of the gaming rooms at Britcon! - there is a real possibility we may still face restrictions in August which would make it problematic to stage the event.

These factors are all out of our control, and may well take some time to resolve themselves too - reducing the time available to plan what is our biggest (and most expensive to stage) event. After more than a year of some degree of lockdown it also seems possible that many of our players could find themselves prioritizing friends and family when restrictions are lifted this summer - challenging our ability to forecast and budget for the event as well.

We will continue to seek more clarity on all of these issues, and as such the door is certainly not (yet) closed to staging a "Britcon" in some shape or form later this Summer - however it is fair to say that the balance of probability is that we will not be able to stage Britcon this summer, and instead will look to return in 2022 - either a little earlier in the year back in Manchester University, or in another venue elsewhere in our more traditional dateline.

As soon as there are any updates on either front we will make sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Regards

The BHGS Britcon Team

[Dags]

It been cancelled