We knew the journey to Stoke was a bit of a trek, having travelled to Witchfest Midlands back in 2019. However on Friday it turned out to be a trek and a half - SIX hours, 2 service station stops and 200 miles later we arrived in Stoke. But, the sun was shining and 80's music played on the radio the entire way there.
The event is held in Staffordshire University, spread across three buildings. The University buildings are amazing, it would be a fabulous place to study.
The line up of speakers was fantastic and varied, the only problem being who to choose to go and watch. It is a bit of a dilemma as there are four speakers on at each time slot, so you have to make big decisions! There were also lots of very lovely stalls with amazing goodies to purchase.
I caught a really interesting talk on connecting with deity from Jenny Cartledge and spent some catch up time with the always fabulous Suzi Edwards Goose (The Ink Witch) and the beautiful Laura Daligan. Along with Jonathan Agento, Pete Jennings and Vikki Bramshaw (snagged a copy of Vikki's new book too). Hugged Barbara Meiklejohn-Free and Flavia Kate Peters and waved across a crowded room at Diane Narraway. I also caught Professor Ronald Hutton's talk and part of Kristoffer Hughes'.
It was a busy full on day with lots of people.
However, the best part of the day for me personally was meeting up with Kitchen Witch School students and some of the Friday Morning Chat gang. People that have become friends over the internet during the past few months/couple of years, that I have only ever chatted to online. To be able to meet them face to face was wonderful, there were hugs, multiple hugs and a lot of laughter. That for me was the icing on the cake, actually it was the icing, the filling and the cake itself ♥
Big thanks to those that sat for my talk on The Triple Goddess, it was very much appreciated. Note to self: Print off notes next time, don't rely on sticky tabs in a book - when using a microphone you only have one working hand.
Huge thanks to Dave, Cath, Elric and the Witchfest team for putting it all together, it takes a huge amount of time and effort to run it all and I would say it was a resounding success.
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