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Frequently Asked Questions

Why Loughborough?

As you can see from our venue page, Loughborough is a delightful town located in the Heart of England with a university that has excellent facilities. Furthermore, with excellent connections to Manchester, Birmingham and London we felt this was the perfect place for those travelling from across the world.

What does my Registration buy me?

The registration fee covers the costs of running the Return of the Ring. All the event room hire and other event expenses are met from the registration fee: Return of the Ring is a not-for-profit event and the Tolkien Society is a registered educational charity. The committee running ROTR are all volunteers and donate their time free and have to pay their own registrations, accommodations and meals.

Are there other events on the Friday?

Yes! The Postgraduate Symposium is fully booked for 40 attendees, but, don't worry, there is still a normal full day of events on the Friday including a talk from Tom Shippey and a performance from Charlie Ross ‘One Man LOTR’.

How much is..?

All costs - meals, accommodation and registration - are oulined on this page. Please visit it!

What do I get if I book accommodation through the Bookings Officer?

The Bookings Officer takes bookings for the University student accommodation only. This is either basic, with a shared toilet and washroom facilities, or ensuite. All rooms are single and most are arranged in blocks with shared kitchen facilities. These are very limited, and no equipment is provided. It does include breakfast, but no other meals.

I’m coming by myself and not sure if I will feel welcomed.

Don’t worry if this is your first time: as The Return of the Ring is a one-off event it’s the first time for everyone! The committee will be very welcoming (many of whom will be coming by themselves) and would recommend that a good way to get to know people at the event would be to do a little volunteering. We are planning on running an event on the Thursday evening to welcome those attendees coming by themselves, especially ones from the other side of the world!

What other accommodation is available?

We are very lucky with Loughborough as it has a range of hotel accommodation on site. For more information contact Imago at www.welcometoimago.com or 01509 861135. The code for the luxury campus hotel, Burleigh Court, is 83981 and for the budget Travelodge-style off campus hotel, The Link Hotel, is 119163. Quoting the codes will ensure that Loughborough University knows you are attending as part of The Return of the Ring event.

If you are looking for alternative accommodation, please see our off-site accommodation page.

What other facilities are there on campus – do I have to book meals in advance?

We do advise that you book meals in advance – they can be added at any point to your booking up to a few weeks before the event. As it is outside term time the full range of facilities will not be available. The campus shop will be open and is located in one of our main buildings. This shop has a limited range of snacks and necessities. Similarly there is a bar in that building offering good quality bar meals (and other refreshments) on a cash basis. The hotels do a full menu in their restaurants but they are several minutes’ walk from the day time events and may be more expensive. Booking meals in advance ensures that you can take part in all the mealtime camaraderie that is so typical of Tolkfolk!

What will be on offer during the Return of the Ring for children?

There will be activities suitable for families with children each day but children must be accompanied by their responsible adult at all times - check out our events page for more information about activities for children. We will not be running any crèche facilities.

What is the timetable?

The timetable is jam-packed with up to four simultaneous streams on any one day but with proper breaks and with the biggest events having no other programming planned against them. At docs.php you will find the Progress Reports and these will provide the most recent information.

I’m a dealer - I would like some more information

Please see our Dealers’ Room page for everything you need to know about being a dealer at The Return of the Ring.

I have a problem/question. Who should I contact?

See the contact us page to find the appropriate person to contact - it lists all the committee members as well as the general queries email address (queries@returnofthering.org).

Will it be worth it?

Those of you, like us, who attended our previous conferences in 1992 and 2005 (it takes the committee a decade or so to recover) already know that the answer to that is a hearty ‘yes’!