| Prices | Bursaries | Registration |
Wordsworth Summer Conference 2024
5th-15th August
Information for Participants
Arrival for part one on Monday 5th August
We suggest travelling to Windermere station. You can get to Windermere station by travelling to Oxenholme and then changing. (Windermere is one stop away from Oxenholme and most changes will be from the same platform).
The following trains are suggested options:
Euston to Oxenholme 11.30–14.09 [direct]
Manchester Airport to Oxenholme 12.04 –13.29, 13.04 –14.34 [direct]
Glasgow Central to Oxenholme 12.40 – 14.06 [direct]
Once at Oxenholme you can simply hop on a train to Windermere:
Oxenholme to Windermere 14.39–14.56; 15.37–15.56; 16.32–16.52 [all direct]
From Windermere to Rydal Hall, you can take a very easy and scenic 25 minute bus! There are two options: the 555 and the 559, both pick you up right outside the station and drop you right outside the hall.
The 555 to Rydal leaves Windermere Station at 9 and 39 minutes past the hour (the bus stop is right next the station, adjacent to the little Booths supermarket).
The 599 to Rydal bus leaves from the same stop every twenty minutes. Taxis are also available at the station.
The return journey after part 2 on August 15th
Transport to Windermere Railway Station for trains as follows:
Windermere to Oxenholme 10.57–11. 16 [direct]
Oxenholme to Euston 11.26 –14.13 [direct]
to Manchester Airport 11.26–13.15 [one change]
to Glasgow Central 11.28–14.02 [direct]
At the end of part 2, we will be running a minibus transfer to Windermere stations.
Spaces are limited to 16 - please book your space on this by 1st August if you wish to get a lift!
POWERPOINT: There will be a projector linked to the WSC computer. If you have a presentation for your lecture / paper, please send it in PowerPoint format to:
wordsworthconferenceppt@gmail.
Please ensure that you:
1) include your name and paper title in the email's subject line;
2) send it at least 24 hours before your presentation, so that the program runs smoothly.
If you wish to connect your own computer to the projector, please bring your own adaptor. No adaptors will be provided. The projector has both an HDMI port and a RGB Input jack.
We will be in touch with programme information in the coming weeks.
Key Features
- The conference is in two parts, of five nights each
- Either 4 or 9 full days in Rydal
- Fell-walks, Excursions, Local Walks
- Keynote Lectures and Conference Papers
Registration: Opening in April
Proposal Deadline: Monday 29th April, noon (UK time)
The 2024 Wordsworth Summer Conference at the elegant Rydal Hall will continue in the format pioneered by Richard, mingling lectures, papers and lively academic debate with energetic fell walking, picturesque rambles, and excursions to places of Wordsworthian and Romantic interest. There will be an opportunity to explore the treasures of the Wordsworth Trust’s collections with the curator Jeff Cowton, and an evening visit to Wordsworth's Rydal Mount and garden with a glass of wine. In 2024 our excursions are likely to include an all-day visit to Malham Cove and Gordale Scar - two sublime landscapes repeatedly visited by William and Dorothy Wordsworth. High points for energetic fell walkers will include ascents of celebrated peaks in the Lake District, such as Helvellyn and Fairfield.
Format and Costs
The conference is in two parts of 4 full days each, with a changeover day on Saturday 10th August. Because the conference has a unique culture of conversation and participation, those wishing to present a paper must register for at least one full part, and many register for the whole event. Charges will be finalised in Spring.
Proposals
We will invite proposals for twenty-minute papers on all aspects of William Wordsworth, his contemporaries and the Romantic period. Proposals should be no more than 200-words for papers of no more than 2750 words. Please include a brief autobiographical paragraph. Proposals should be unformatted and should occupy no more than 1 side of A4. Please do include your name, institution and e-mail address on the abstract. Please do not send it as a PDF, as proposals will be copied into a composite file.
The deadline will be in Spring, the exact date of which will be announced soon.
Proposals will be emailed to: proposal.wsc@gmail.com
All proposals will be considered for acceptance as soon as received. Please tell us if you have a deadline for funding.
Accommodation:
Full Board is available at Rydal Hall Diocesan Conference Centre at prices from £1220 for ten nights and from £540 for five nights. At the adjacent Rydal Hall Youth Centre we have accommodation from £615 for ten nights and £320 for five nights. These figures replace any previously issued.
Youth Centre Bursars are expected to be resident during the conference in the Rydal Hall
Youth Centre and to attend all lectures, papers, and conference events: acceptance of a Bursary implies your undertaking to do so. Please note that by applying for a Youth Centre Bursary, you have
indicated your agreement to be accommodated in the Youth Centre for the full period of the Summer Conference. It is not possible for Bursars to be accommodated in Rydal
Hall.
Enquiries are to be emailed to:
wordsworthsummerconference@gmail.com
Last Year’s Programme
The full programme from last year can be viewed below.
Call for Papers
DEADLINE NOW PASSED
Proposal Deadline: Monday 29 April 2024
To be sent to: proposal.wsc@gmail.com
We invite proposals for twenty-minute papers on all aspects of William Wordsworth, his contemporaries and the Romantic period. Papers should not be longer than 2750 words.
Format:
200-word proposals for papers of no more than 2750 words, together with a brief autobiographical
paragraph, unformatted, should occupy no more than 1 side of A4 in MS Word format. Please remember to include your name, institution and e-mail address on the abstract. Please do not send proposals as a PDF file as they will be copied into a composite MS Word document.
Bursaries
This year, 12 bursaries of £450 are available.
Bursary applicants:
Your application should be in the form of a Word attachment
(not PDF) containing a paper proposal of 200 words, together with a short unformatted cv in the same file, the entire application being not more than two sides of A4 (the file will be copied and
pasted into a composite file, so please avoid elaborate formatting). Applicants should also arrange for a short message of academic recommendation to be sent independently to the same email
address (see above) verifying the applicant’s academic status and country of residence. Candidates need not specify which bursary they are applying for. They will automatically be considered for any
bursary for which they are eligible. Please be sure to identify your application as a ‘Bursary Application’ in the subject of the email.
Please note that we may award a bursary without having space to include the proposed paper on the
conference programme: such papers may, however, be ‘taken as read’, that is, made available in print form at the conference, if the proposer so chooses.
Print 