BUFORA Conference 2011 Newcastle 2nd July

[Matt Lyons]

Hello everyone,
Just to let you know about the forthcoming conference:

The British UFO Research Association will be holding a one day major conference on Saturday, 2nd July 2011.




Location: Newcastle upon Tyne




Venue: Victoria Room, The Royal Station Hotel

(adjoining Newcastle Central Station)

http://www.royalstationhotel.com/




All facilities in the hotel will be available and if delegates require overnight accommodation please contact Tracey Sewell at the hotel to reserve a room. In order to receive a discount on rooms please ensure that you make your reservations through Tracey and let her know you are attending the BUFORA Conference


Date: 2nd July 2011




Time: 10.30am – 7.00 pm




Tickets: £25.00 with a discount for early ticket booking.




The final details of the line-up of speakers and their specific presentations have yet to be formalised and updates will be added as conference details become more formalised. However, the following speakers are now confirmed.

Timothy Good: Worldwide research, interviewing key witnesses and discussing the subject with astronauts, military and intelligence specialists, pilots, politicians and scientists, has established Timothy Good as a leading authority on UFOs and the alien presence - the most highly classified subject on Earth.

Timothy Good has lectured at universities, schools, and at many organizations, including the Institute of Medical Laboratory Sciences, the Royal Canadian Military Institute, the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Naval Air Reserve Branch, the House of Lords All-Party UFO Study Group, and the Oxford and Cambridge Union societies. In January 1989, following the dissolution of the Soviet empire, he became the first UFO researcher from the West to be interviewed on Russian television. He was invited for discussions at the Pentagon in 1998, and at the headquarters of the French Air Force in 2002. He has also acted as consultant for several U.S. Congress investigations. He is known to millions through his numerous television appearances and has co-produced several documentaries on the subject.

Timothy Good's first book, Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up (1987) became an instant bestseller, and is regarded widely as the definitive work on the subject, together with the fully revised and updated book replacing it, Beyond Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Security Threat (1996), which remained for five weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list. Alien Liaison: The Ultimate Secret (1991) spent thirteen weeks on the same bestseller list. Alien Base: Earth's Encounters with Extraterrestrials (1998) went to No.4 on the Guardian bestseller list. His book, Unearthly Disclosure: Conflicting Interests in the Control of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (2000) was serialized in the Daily Mail. He has also edited a number of books on the subject, including the bestselling Alien Update (1993). Four of these books have a foreword by Admiral of the Fleet The Lord Hill-Norton, former Chief of the Defence Staff and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee. His latest book is Need to Know: UFOs, the Military and Intelligence, now published in paperback in the U.K. (July 2007) and in the U.S. and Canada (September 2007).

Presentation: To be Announced soon.

Nick Pope: Author, journalist and TV personality Nick Pope used to run the British Government's UFO project at the Ministry of Defence. Initially sceptical, his research and investigation into the UFO phenomenon and access to classified government files on the subject soon convinced him that the phenomenon raised important defence and national security issues, especially when the witnesses were military pilots, or where UFOs were tracked on radar. While working on the MoD's UFO project Nick Pope also looked into alien abductions, crop circles, animal mutilations, remote viewing and ghosts. He is now recognised as a leading authority on UFOs, the unexplained and conspiracy theories. He does extensive media work, lectures all around the world and has acted as presenter, consultant or contributor on numerous TV and radio shows.

Presentation: In 2010 the Royal Society held two discussion meetings on extraterrestrial life. The first meeting considered some of the societal consequences of discovering alien life, addressing issues such as whether people would panic and what the implications might be for religious belief. The second meeting debated whether - if an alien signal was detected - we should reply and if we do, what we should say and who should send the message. Nick Pope attended both these meetings and reported on them in the media, in his capacity as a freelance journalist. In this presentation, Nick Pope will tell the inside story of these fascinating and controversial discussions.

Andy Roberts: Andy Roberts is the author or co-author of eleven books on a wide variety of subjects. He has a particular interest in contemporary folklore and the study of UFOs. His book, Albion Dreaming was the first book to deal with the social history of LSD use in Britain and his most recent book, UFO Down, investigates the alleged crash of an alien spacecraft in the Berwyn Mountains of North Wales.

Andy Roberts’ extensive research over his many years involved in the subject of UFOs is controversial and sometimes provocative, but always objective, and articulated within a structured and well-reasoned logic.

Presentation: On 23 January 1974 an event occurred in North Wales' Berwyn Mountains that made national news and left witnesses baffled. Some said they had seen a UFO crashing into the mountain side, others said they felt a huge explosion shake the ground. From these events a legend has grown into how a spacecraft crashed and alien bodies were retrieved, and of a massive government conspiracy hiding the truth of this incident.

Sceptical UFO researcher Andy Roberts examines this modern mystery and finds the truth may be stranger than the fiction.


Mark Pilkington: Mark Pilkington has written for Fortean Times, The Guardian, Sight & Sound, The Wire, Frieze, The Anomalist and a host of other magazines and journals. His book 'Mirage Men: An Adventure into Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs was published in July 2010. Mark also runs Strange Attractor Press, editing and publishing its occasional Journal, organising events and exhibitions and broadcasting on Resonance FM. When not squinting at words, Mark can be found playing synthesisers and electronic gizmos with musical outfits including Disinformation, The Asterism, Raagnagrok and Urthona.

Presentation: The Abuses of Enchantment. In this audio-visual presentation Mark shows how military and intelligence operators have shaped and exploited beliefs in UFOs, ghosts, monsters, vampires, and elements from folklore and conspiracy theory to create an armoury of supernatural weapons of mass deception capable of manipulating consciousness on a grand scale. The inspiration for these toys, tools and techniques has come from a range of sources including fiction, cinema, stage magic, advertising and occultism and has, for many of its intended and unintended targets, altered their very perception and understanding of the world around us.



Tony Eccles: Tony Eccles has worked in the heritage sector for seventeen years and is employed as an ethnographer at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. He has been a member of BUFORA since the early 90s and is fascinated with the ideas surrounding the possibilities of contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence.

Tony was co-founder of the Merseyside Anomalies Research Association (MARA) in addition to hosting a programme on the UFO phenomenon on Radio Merseyside. His book A Different Sky documenting many strange sightings and experiences from Merseyside was published in 2003. He has conducted many years of wide-ranging research and investigation into UFOs and paranormal events.

Presentation: Touching Reality: Shamanism and the Close Encounter Witness. Tony looks at our understanding of shamanism and what this could mean for the Western world and for certain individuals who have historically been labelled as a 'contactee', 'abductee' even 'spiritualist medium.' Is it possible that their real roles might infer something more meaningful for Western society?

Tickets will be limited, with a venue of one hundred and eighty seats, so we would advise you to book early for a unique day, with speakers presenting their challenging and diverse views and thoughts on the nature and origin of UFOs.

The final details of the line-up of speakers and their specific presentations have yet to be formalised and updates will be added as conference details become more finalised. However, the following speakers are now confirmed.

Following each speaker’s presentation will be a period of audience participation and questions for the speakers.

Please feel free to contact BUFORA Enquiries enquiries@bufora.org.uk.
For early bird bookings there is a discount and until the new website is operational (the old one is still running) a cheque or postal order can be sent.
The new BUFORA website goes live in February and tickets will be then available for purchase directly from the site. The new website will show a dedicated conference banner and tab to click on.

[Matt Lyons]

The new BUFORA website is now active, you can now bookthe Newcastle conference listed above by cicking on the banner on the site.

Regards

Matt Lyons
Chairman

[Matt Lyons]

Hi everyone,
Just a reminder that the BUFORA conference is only one month away. Tim Good is not appearing now due to personal matters, I am delighted to let you know that John Hanson, author of Haunted Skies, has agreed to speak at the conference on July 2nd. As you know, John is very interested in the Rendlesham incident and this will be featured in the next of his book series, with volume 3 due for release soon.

If you wish to make a booking, please go to http://www.bufora.org.uk

regards

Matt Lyons

Chairman

[Matt Lyons]

Thanks to everyone for supporting the event.
The conference went well and there will be a DVD produced shortly.
The next one will be our 50th Anniversary in London in September 2012.

Kind Regards,

Matt Lyons