Cookies

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Otherwise, we'll assume you're OK to continue.

Dialogue

College Knowledge

Stephenson College building

Queen's Campus

Stephenson College is proud to announce that the new social space, Stephenson Central, has been completed and handed over to the College. The new building contains TV, computer, games, and meeting rooms as well as the JCR offices and shop.

College staff and JCR Officers are organising an opening event for alumni on Saturday 11th September. This event will start with a drinks reception in the new building followed by dinner in the Waterside.

More information and photographs can be found on the College website: www.durham.ac.uk/stephenson

Botanic Garden News

We are absolutely delighted to share two pieces of good news with you about the Botanic Garden.

The first is that the Garden has achieved Visit England's VAQAS Accreditation (Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Scheme) for the second consecutive year. The inspector was very impressed and we passed with flying colours!

The second is that the Botanic Garden has been shortlisted in the 'Small Visitor Attraction' category of the North East England 2010 Tourism Awards. Stina Maynard, Event Durham, submitted the entry to One North East in June and we were notified we had been shortlisted "amidst fierce competition."

The next stage in the judging process was for a mystery assessment visit. The inspector absolutely loved the Garden, thought everything was very well tended and said, "Everyone who comes to Durham should visit it!". He was extremely complimentary about the welcome he received from the Café and Kiosk staff (Sandra, Beverley and Wendy) and thought the retail area was carefully laid out.

We will be notified some time in September whether we have made it to the final. It would be a fantastic opportunity to showcase the Garden at the Regional Tourism Awards Ceremony. However, to have been shortlisted from many other small visitor attractions across the North East of England is a great achievement on our first attempt. A very big thank you goes out to all the teams for their efforts so far.

Not only has the Botanic Garden been nominated for the Regional Tourism Awards but we are also pleased to advise that Lucy McEnaney from Event Durham has been nominated for the Outstanding Customer Service Award. The results will be out in mid-September.

Green Tourism Business Award updates

Following on from last month's announcement that the Botanic Garden had achieved a Silver level resulting from the recent Green Tourism visit, we can also confirm that both Ustinov and Josephine Butler Colleges have achieved Gold, and that Stephenson and John Snow Colleges have also been awarded Silver.

More information can be found at: www.green-business.co.uk

Feedback

"Booking the event was very easy and straightforward and we received regular updates - this was particularly appreciated as this time of year is so busy that I would have very little time to chase things up. If anything, Event Durham had to chase me up! But it was always done in a very friendly and courteous manner.

Many delegates commented on the atmosphere of the room! Having the event in the Castle was definitely a factor in attracting a hard to reach audience."

Dr Sarah Price, Learning Arc Conference, June 2010.

College of St Hild and St Bede

"The food on the day was second to none and all of the guests made positive comments on it. The staff were excellent, nothing was too much of a problem for them -they made the day for us. The pictures of the wedding say it all; everyone was blown away with the room."

Laura and Dean Corner
Wedding Reception, July 2010.