The Day’s Programme

8.45 – 9.30 a.m.                      Registration

9.30 – 9.40 a.m.                      Introduction – John Shapcott

9.40 – 10.30 a.m.                    Panel Session: "Nevertheless....the future could not be as the past"

                                                Chair: Morag Jones

                                                John Toft (University of Keele, novelist, poet)

                                                Writing in Bennett’s shadow

                                                John Shapcott (Arnold Bennett Society Chairman) Beginners,

                                                Overture, Curtain.  Bennett's Own Programme Notes for The

                                                Old Wives' Tale

10.30 – 11.00 a.m.                  Coffee/Tea

11.00 – 11.50 a.m.                  Panel Session “Oh! Have you been to Paris?”

                                                Chair: Linda Shapcott

                                                Alan Pedley (AB Society Newsletter Editor):

                                                The French Connection

                                                Fiona Tomkinson (Yeditepe University, Istanbul)

                                                Constance/Sophia and Constance/Livia: a trace of The Old Wives’ Tale

                                                in Lawrence Durrell’s The Avignon Quintet.

 12.00 – 12.45 p.m.                 Documentary Film Premiere – Tim Brearley (ITV Producer): Bennett in France.

 12.45 -    1.45 p.m.                 Lunch

   1.45 –    2.45 p.m.                Keynote Address: Peter Preston (University of Nottingham)

                                                "The Old Wives’ Tale and the Fiction of 1908"

 2.45 –    3.35 p.m.                  Panel Session:  “Well, that is what life is!”

                                                Chair: Fred Hughes

                                                Elizabeth Negus (Barking College): A Look at Social Realism and Cultural Relativism in

                                                Arnold Bennett’s The Old Wives’ Tale.

                                                Lynn Hapgood (Nottingham Trent University): “Everyone dies nowadays,”

                                                she thought”: some reflections on time and intensity in Arnold Bennett’s

                                                The Old Wives’ Tale. 

3.35 – 4.00 p.m.                     Tea/Coffee

4.00 – 4.40 p.m.                     Lez Cooke (Manchester Metropolitan University): Screening the Novel: Two Television

                                                Adaptations of The Old Wives’ Tale.

4.40 – 5.00 p.m.                     Plenary Session: Conference Review

                                                Margaret Drabble, Deborah Moggach, Peter Preston,

                                                Lynne Hapgood, Tim Brearley, John Shapcott.

7.00 p.m.                                 Dinner at Denry’s, St John’s Square, Burslem.

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery

Stoke-on-Trent is located in the heart of the UK, halfway between Manchester and Birmingham. It offers easy access to both the M6 and the M1 - via the A50 link road.  The A500 is the main route through the city, joining Junction 15 and 16 of the M6 motorway. Stoke-on-Trent intercity trains run to and from London, Birmingham and Manchester and many other major cities in the UK.

We have 40 Pay and Display car parks in the city, which are patrolled on a regular basis.  If you have a Blue Badge, otherwise known as disabled parking badge, you may park free of charge in a number of places. 

The main intercity train services are operated by Virgin Trains as follows:

Manchester - Stoke: every 15 minutes  (approx 40 minutes journey time)

Birmingham - Stoke: every 30 minutes (approx 55 minutes journey time)

London - Stoke: every 30 minutes (approx 90 minutes journey time)

There is an hourly local train service running from Crewe to Stoke.  You can use this service to connect to Manchester Airport from Crewe station and Nottingham East Midlands airport via regular bus shuttle service from Derby station.

More information can be obtained from The National Rail Enquiry Line

08457 48 49 50 or visit the National Rail website journey planner