Darwin Conference Suite

Suzanne Iwai

Tucked away inside a very large university campus, near the Tizzard Centre, is this wonderful conference space, with pleasant trees and sculptures in the landscaping. It’s only lost a star because you have to cross the main coldish atrium reception area to access the toilets which to be frank need a radical upgrade with more powerful hand driers, and modern sanitary ware to match the facilities provided in the meeting rooms. The conference space has folding room dividers, plenty of choice for table and chair configurations, adjustable air con, French doors, curtain screens, projectors, P.A. and hanging PowerPoint displays. The hospitality is pretty good though my usual gripe about large tea cups v coffee cups applies. Bring your own drinks flasks or containers. Continuous supply of cakes, biscuits and snacks with gluten free, vegan varieties widely available. Border biscuits and clipper tea is always a plus in my books. A little irritated by the savoury food not being adequately labelled. It is a legal requirement to state all potential allergens, nuts, celery, seeds, fish etc. Yes all the food was vegetarian but may well have been prepared in nut, seeded, fish, or meat preparation areas. I find many conference spaces b ing lax on this. I have bell pepper sensitivities so l need to know which sandwiches contain them. I always alert venues and l resent being dumbed down to a plate of one variety ( eg cheese or tomato or egg n cress ) just because they include peppers alongside tomatoes in some of the buffet. Why not make a large mixed plate of allergen free sandwiches/ buffet in the middle of the serving area so those of us with special digestive pre requests can find them. Thanks to my fellow attendees at my Social Care summit who helped me find safe options.

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