First ECSG meeting: preliminary announcement

[From Bill Powers (930430.1000)]

Marcos Rodrigues, of the University of Wales at Aberystwyth, has
agreed to host the first meeting of the ECSG -- the European
Control Systems Group. He has obtained agreement from his
department to hold the meeting on campus, and for the University
to produce a Proceedings of the conference at cost. The meeting
will be held in late May or early June of 1994. This early
announcement is meant to find out how many people from the
European community (and of course, anywhere else) will make a
firm committment to attend, so that Marcos can decide whether
such a meeting is feasible.

Mary and I had already decided to take a vacation next year in
England, which led to my raising with Marcos the possibility of a
meeting. Marcos agreed without any arm-twisting whatsoever.

Here are excerpts from a post from Marcos:

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... the venue for the meeting will be in the main university
campus of the Univ. of Wales at Aberystwyth.

The Campus is situated on a pleasantly landscaped site
overlooking Cardigan Bay and the town of Aberystwyth where the
peace and beauty of the countryside can be combined with the
attractions of the coastal resort of Aberystwyth (!!!).
Aberystwyth is a town of some 12,000 people and serves a local
population of about 25,000 (including 5,000+ students).

The town is located on the beautiful shores of Cardigan Bay on
the west coast of Wales. Wales is known as the country of
castles, and visits can be organised to some spectacular
medieval castles, from Caernarvon Castle (where the Prince of
Wales was crowned) to early medieval castles in Cardiff (the
capital of Wales) to iron-age and neolithic fortifications
(there is one in Aberystwyth, 6000 BC!).

The Roman Empire ruled Britain for over 350 years (from 43 to 401
AD), and the remains of towns and buildings of this period can
be seen in a vast number of sites kept by English Heritage. Two
magnificent examples of these sites are within easy reach of
Aberystwyth. The sites include the Roman forum and basilica (a
civic centre containing the law courts, the local senate-house,
the record-office, assembly rooms, and other organs of the local
administration), and other buildings such as the baths,
theatres, and amphitheatres.

They seem to name islands and bodies of water in the British
Isles after cows and sweaters, but other than that I'm sure one
could easily get used to this venue. I've given Marcos a long
dissertation on the way we run CSG meetings in the US, but the
format of the meeting will be entirely his to decide, as he is
doing all the work. I trust that he will be favoring us with more
details in the next few weeks -- such as costs for lodging and
meals, and conference fees. Considering the attractions of
Aberystwyth, Marcos, I hope it will be possible for attendees to
stay before or after the meeting in low-cost quarters for at
least a few days! If ECSG meetings are anything like CSG
meetings, there won't be a lot of spare time for sightseeing
during the meeting itself.

By the way, when I want to ask the way to your town, how do I
pronounce Aberystwyth?

I would appreciate hearing directly from all those who can be
pretty sure they will attend. powers_w%flc@vaxf.colorado.edu.
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Best to all,

Bill P.