Springmoot 2023 will be held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Edinburgh City Centre in Edinburgh from Friday 31st March until Sunday 2nd April, with The Tolkien Society AGM and Annual Dinner on Saturday 1st April.
About the weekend
Springmoot is held each April on the weekend of The Tolkien Society’s Annual General Meeting. This year, it is being held in Edinburgh.
The weekend will begin with an Innmoot on the Friday evening from 19:00 at Deacon Brodies Tavern (435 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh EH1 2NT). You can check out their menu here – their pies come highly recommended.
The AGM itself will start at 15:00 on the Saturday afternoon, and may only be attended by members of The Tolkien Society either in-person or online via Zoom.
The semi-formal Annual Dinner will be held later that evening at 19:00. While there is no formal dress code for the Annual Dinner, many of the members attending chose to wear formal attire up to and including Black Tie.
Annual Dinner bookings
Bookings for the Annual Dinner are now closed.
For all booking queries, please contact the Bookings Officer.
By booking for the Annual Dinner you agreed to the events terms and conditions.
About Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and it is located in central eastern Scotland, near the Firth of Forth, close to the North Sea. Thanks to its spectacular rocks, rustic buildings and a huge collection of medieval and classic architecture, including numerous stone decorations, it is often considered one of the most lively cities in Europe. Scottish people called it Auld Reekie, Edina, Athens of the North and Britain’s Other Eye.
Edinburgh is a city of literature – it was the first city to be called the UNESCO city of Literature. There are various buildings dedicated to its literary heritage, including the National Library of Scotland, the Museum of Writers, the Scottish Center of Story Telling, the Library of Poetry and many other libraries. The list of famous Scottish authors is very long, just choose your favorite one and enjoy researching everything linked to that person: Arthur Conan Doyle, J.K. Rowling, Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Allan Ramsay, Alexander McCall Smith, Ian Rankin, Liz Lochhead, James Kelman, Alasdair Grey, Dorothy Dunnett, Muriel Spark, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Neil M. Gunn, John Buchan, Hugh MacDiarmid to name just a few.
Edinburgh is also not far from the University of St Andrews where Tolkien delivered his well-known Andrew Lang Lecture ‘On Fairy-stories’ on 8th March 1939. If you are driving, you may wish to pop over to St Andrews. Although busses and shuttle busses do exist, be prepared for a 1h 15m – 3h 30m one-way trip.
The venue
The Annual General Meeting and Annual Dinner will be held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Edinburgh City Centre, 80 High Street, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh, EH1 1TH.
Accommodation bookings should be made directly with the hotel via their own website, or using your favourite hotel booking app. Please use the promotional code TOLK31 when booking to receive the rate provided by the hotel. Alternatively, there is a range of alternative hotels, B&Bs, and AirBnBs in the heart of Edinburgh and Haymarket.
How to get there
By train
Exeter is mostly served by Lumo, London North Eastern Railway, Avanti West Coast and ScotRail.
For travelling from London and beyond, there are two options:
- London Euston to Edinburgh Waverley
- London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley
If you arrive into Edinburgh Waverley, go under the bridge on the south side, turn right onto Jeffrey Street, turn right onto High Street and keep walking; Radisson Blu Hotel will be on your right. Expected walking time: 5 minutes.
Train strikes
There are planned train strikes on Thursday 30th March and Saturday 1st April. Please ensure you factor these into your travel plans and consider how Friday 31st March and Sunday 2nd April may be impacted because of the strikes. The companies on strike are listed below:
- Avanti West Coast
- Chiltern
- CrossCountry
- c2c
- East Midlands
- Gatwick Express
- Greater Anglia
- Great Northern
- Great Western
- LNER
- Northern
- Southeastern
- Southern
- South Western
- Thameslink
- TransPennine Express
- West Midlands
By car
If driving, it is best to take the A1 into the city from the east or A702 from the south. Limited parking is available at the hotel, but there are plenty of other carparks in central Edinburgh including Waverley train station. The closest to the AGM venue are:
- Edinburgh Waverley Station Car Park, EH1 1BB
- New Street Car Park, EH8 8BG
You can also use https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/parking-spaces to find alternative parking spots.