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Miscellaneous Events
This page is a record of past Society events which do not fall into the meetings or
trips categories, such as our Annual Dinners and social events.
Use the Archive links on the left to find details of our past
meetings and trips before 2007. For this year and last year use the dedicated
links under the Events link.
The Bram Stoker Birthday Dinner
Saturday 10th November 2007 Our annual night of
celebration, a formal evening of dinner, drinks and fine company, was this
year enhanced by two special guests. Carol Marsh, who played Lucy in the 1958
film version of Dracula was in attendance, reunited with the little
girl in the film who nearly fell victim to her blood lust, Tania, as played by
Janina Faye.
The weekend marked 50 years since the classic Hammer Horror first began
production, and we were fortunate to have both these actors in attendance.
Also in attendance was our Children
of the Night Award winner, John L. Probert, who after receiving
his award for
The Faculty of Terror, gave a hugely entertaining and enthusiastic
acceptance speech. The Hamilton Deane
Award winner, Guillermo del Toro, was unable to be with us in
person to accept his award for Pan's Labyrinth, but the award was
accepted on his behalf by our good Society friend, writer Alan Jones, who
later delivered the award to Guillermo, pictured with the award.
The evening was held at "The Lounge Bar" in Holborn, London, a short walk from
the tube station. This is our second year at this venue, which proved to be a
great success once again. Our private upstairs bar showed clips
from our special Society 30th anniversary DVD, and also from the 1958 Hammer
Dracula. The downstairs atmospheric restaurant had candlelit
tables, moody music, our portrait of Bram Stoker on the wall, and our famous
cloak, as worn by Christopher Lee in those classic Hammer films, on display.
Sunday Lunch at "Le Gothique" Restaurant
Sunday July 8th 2007
This Gothic pile, formerly an asylum for the
physically, rather than mentally ill, was the location in South London for an
addition to our calendar of events. Lunch was taken in the courtyard by a
large number of members who had gathered to imbibe the Victorian atmosphere
and splendour of this marvellous building. An excellent lunch was served on
this rare hot summers day.
The Bram Stoker Birthday Dinner
Saturday November 11th 2006 The Lounge Bar in Holborn provided the setting for the Dracula Society's Annual Dinner and very good it was too - excellent food, suitable lighting, a welcome drink at the door, friendly and attentive staff, and a lovely bar upstairs with a DVD screening showing footage of the Society's trip to Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland in 2001. Our guests included
Children of the Night Award winner Sarah Singleton
who received her award for Century and
Hamilton Deane Award winner Lesley Sharp
who received her award for
Afterlife.
Christmas Party
December 15th 2005 Our annual Christmas party was held at The Victoria on Thursday 15th Dec and featured all the usual fun of 'Santa's sack' and the caption competition. Once again, a highly enjoyable occasion for everyone. As one of our members commented, the Dracula Society's Christmas fest is her favourite party of the season!
The Dracula Society Convention
This was one of our most ambitious events ever, mounted to
celebrate the Society's 30th birthday!
The event, held at Halloween 2003, was a huge success.
See all the details here.
Elizabeth Miller at the Bram
Stoker Tavern Saturday 18th May 2002 This was another of our "extra" evenings, organised to present Dr. Miller with her award which she was unable to receive last year at our Bram Stoker Birthday Dinner. Elizabeth had just returned from Romania (presenting at the Annual Dracula Congress) and on her way back to Canada was stopping by between flights. All a bit busy for her, but members had a great chance to meet Elizabeth. She also conducted some interviews with members herself to establish what attracted us to the Dracula Society. She signed copies of her book
Dracula - Sense and Nonsense, for which she won our Children of the Night
award, and the evening was completed by dinner at a good local Polish restaurant. Elizabeth is one of the foremost authorities on the subject of vampire folklore and Gothic history.
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