Following this year’s successful Annual Gathering in Hereford, the 2025 event will take place in Torquay, Devon. Originally scheduled for 25-27 April, it has since been changed to 4-6 April, in order to accommodate more members for more nights. The Gathering hotel, where meals, entertainment and the AGM will take place is Livermead House Hotel, Torbay Rd, Torquay TQ2 6QJ (website: https://www.livermead.com/) and booking is now open. Phone 01803 294361 and ask to speak to Jess, mentioning the Malcolm Saville Society.

Over recent years, more and more members have been extending their stay to include the Thursday and / or Sunday nights either side of the Annual Gathering weekend, and when negotiating the original booking with hotels we have specified this.

However, we are aware that people already booking at the Livermead for the 2025 event have not been able to include the Sunday night, 27th April. This is because the hotel has booked in another large group for Sunday night even though we thought we had made it clear in our reservation that Sunday and Thursday should be included.

We were only made aware of this late on the afternoon of Sunday 7th April, after the end of this year’s AGM, and so were unable to advise you of it then; it is too late to find another suitable venue in Torquay.

This issue only affects those of you who want to add the Sunday night to your 2025 booking. Those who want to book the Friday or Saturday nights (25th or 26th April) or those who wish to book these nights and add the Thursday night (24th April) are unaffected.

As of Monday, 8th April, the hotel had managed to free up a limited number of additional rooms for the Sunday night and were contacting those who had tried to book that night in the order in which they received the booking. Hopefully this means that most if not all of those who have already contacted the hotel will be able to stay there on the Sunday night too.

For people who have not yet contacted the hotel but intend to book there, it looks like you will not be able to add the Sunday night to your booking. This leaves two options. The first is to book the Friday and Saturday – and Thursday if you wish – at Livermead House Hotel, and then somewhere else to stay for the Sunday night. This means you will be part of the “Saville family” for the formal part of the weekend (the Sunday afternoon and evening events being, strictly, not part of the official programme) but we recognise that it is a nuisance. The other option is to find alternative accommodation for the (Thursday, if you wish), Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Thankfully, if you go with this option, Torquay has lots of nearby alternatives to choose from.

We are really sorry that this has arisen but we hope that it will not put you off joining us for what will be another enjoyable and entertaining weekend.

Wesley Harcourt & Pam Kirkland
(joint chairs)