Don’t you hate it when everyone else seems to know where they’re going and what’s going on, but you somehow missed the memo and are left in the dark? It can be a particular problem at conferences held in unfamiliar cities, so we’ve decided to pull together a guide to the plans for the forthcoming conference in York to help make sure there is more time spent discussing interesting developments in natural science collections and less time discussing where everybody else has vanished to.

For the directionally challenged we’ve included this interactive map that highlights some of the more useful places to know about. Red pin for the Yorkshire Museum, where the main meeting is happening during the day on Thursday and Friday; blue pins for places we will be meeting on Wednesday evening;  green pins for places we’ll be going on Thursday evening and yellow pins for handy landmarks – you can click on the pins for more details.  Hopefully this potted plan for the conference will help make sure you’ll end up where you want to be.

Wednesday 27th February

In the early evening there will be a committee meeting in the (pretty small) Three-legged Mare on High Petergate, everyone else would be better off in the Guy Fawkes Inn, which is also on High Petergate. If you are standing at the cross-roads in front of the Minster you can see both these pubs but you have to look both ways down High Petergate. The committee will join everyone in the Guy Fawkes once the meeting is over.

Thursday 28th February

During the day we will be at the Yorkshire Museum for the sessions, after which  it’s back at the Guy Fawkes if you fancy pre-dinner drinks, as it’s two minutes from ‘Ask’ on Blake Street where we’re having dinner. After dinner we will head to the large Old White Swan on Goodramgate, after running the gauntlet of smaller pubs on Stonegate (which we probably won’t fit in en masse). Of these Clare recommends The Yorkshire Terrier, Ye Olde Starre Inne, Evil Eye Lounge (yes really) and The House of Trembling Madness.

Friday 1st March

Once again the day will be spent at the Yorkshire Museum, unless you are planning to take the tour to the off-site venue in the afternoon, but more details about that will be made available on the day.

For further information about what’s happening (and to keep up with the talks and discussions) you can check Twitter under the hashtag #NatSCA2013 and follow the NatSCA twitter account @Nat_SCA

We hope you find this useful and we look forward to seeing you in York!

N.B. If you want to print the map and are having trouble, here is a link to a printable version.