A Tale of Two Cities

The Arena and Convention Centre (ACC) Liverpool hosted their annual London showcase at the Ironmongers' Hall yesterday. The evening was under the motto 'A Tale of Two Cities'. After drinks and canapes, Charles Dickens gave a penny reading. To be honest I had never heard of penny readings before. Apparently, it's a tradition made famous by Dickens where he travelled across the North West and offered the general public access to readings for just a penny.

I think I mentioned this before - when it comes to listening, my attention span equals that of a toddler... I just can't listen to anyone for very long. So, I have no idea what he read about - readings are really not my thing!

The reps from the ACC then gave a presentation about the past, present and future of the ACC. The ACC is located on the Liverpool waterfront. It combines the BT Convention Centre (the main auditorium holds 1,350 seats) and the Echo Arena with an 11,000 capacity. Since opening in 2008, they have hosted a number of very impressive events, including the X-factor boot camp and the MTV Europe Music Awards. Even though, the ACC was only completed in 2008, they are already planning the next extension which will be started next year and should be completed in 2015.

And the evening ended with more (bowl) food and a fabulous goody bag:

A bottle of red, a candle, a candle snuffer, a copy of Dickens' A Tale of Two
Cities, a cafetiere, espresso beans and a box of chocolates