The launch day of my Lion Hotel book has finally arrived – and it has been a hectic last few days.
I was relieved to see a large lorry come with the books, all 10,000 of them, this week. The printers, Bookprint Creative Services in Sussex, promised to hit their deadline and they did so in style. The excellent high quality production has already been praised by owner Howard Astbury and staff at The Lion Hotel and local town dignitaries.
I was also reassured to receive an email from Gerald Dickens and Liz last night to say they were looking forward to the event and were travelling up from Oxfordshire.
The great, great grandson of author Charles Dickens travels all over the world giving lectures and one-man shows and I was pleased he could fit a weekend in Shrewsbury into his busy schedule.
Gerald will be announcing today that he will be returning to Shrewsbury and The Lion Hotel in 2012 when he will be hosting a weekend of Dickens events from February 3-5, the weekend nearest to the 200th anniversary of his great, great grandfather’s birth. It’s a real coup for the hotel and the town and will be a real tourism boost in what is normally a quiet month.
The media coverage has been superb with five newspapers covering the event and the story hitting the front page of five websites.
My email has been busy and I have already been asked to speak at meetings in Shropshire and Staffordshire about the book.
I have also been invited to sell the books at Shrewsbury Flower Show on Friday, August 12 and Saturday, August 13 and am speaking on Thursday, August 11 at Shrewsbury School to the Shropshire Society from London and the Freemen of the Borough of Shrewsbury. Then on Sunday, August 14, I am talking about the hotel’s history at the county lunch in the Flower Show marquee.
If you want me to speak to your group or organisation please email me on John@jbutterworth.plus.com
More than 60 guests have said they are coming to the Ballroom (pictured below by Richard Bishop) for the book launch from 11.45-12.30.
The Mayor of Shrewsbury, Cllr Tony Durnell, who has mentioned the book on his blog will be one of the VIP guests in the Ballroom and I am delighted that he is bringing two pupils from Belvidere School who are shadowing him as Mini Mayors to find out first hand what it is like to be the town’s first citizen. It will be a hectic but enjoyable day.
Incidentally, I have been so pleased by the success of this blog that I have started another one on my Albania book. Go to http://godssecretlistener.blogspot.com
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