The team at Event Durham puts their heart and soul into delivering exceptional events and this has been recognised by a number of tourism awards over the years.

Most recently the team won the silver award in the Business Events Venue of the Year category at the 2024 North East England Tourism Awards. Congratulations!

Dialogue spoke to members of the team to find out more about their work and how they can help colleagues across the University to plan their events.

Tell us about Event Durham.

We are a proactive conference and event management team, offering bespoke packages for our clients. We cover all sorts of occasions, including residential conferences, training courses, weddings and private dinners, to name but a few. As event attendees come from around the world, we take care to highlight Durham’s historic backdrop and the University’s world-class facilities. We place a lot of emphasis on the degree of personalisation we can offer to make event planning and delivery seamless.

Who is part of the team?

We’re part of the Estates and Facilities Directorate, led by David Loudon. Our team is divided into four main areas – sales, customer relations, event management and corporate events.

We’re a friendly lot with a can-do approach and we’re all passionate about making events as superb as they can be. If you’ve held an event at the University, you may have come across one, or a few of us!

Here’s a quick run-down of the team:

• Andrea Cairns - Senior Events and Customer Services Manager
• Judith Williams - Event Durham Manager
• Sarah Harrington - Assistant Event Durham Manager
• Thomas Ludlow - Event Durham Coordinator (Event Management)
• Elaine Halliday - Event Durham Coordinator (Customer Relations)
• Polly Minnis - Event Durham Coordinator (Customer Relations)
• Jade Hutchinson - Event Durham Coordinator (Customer Relations)
• Verity Stewart - Event Durham Coordinator (Corporate)
• Jessica Stott - Event Durham Coordinator (Corporate)
• Hollie French - Event Durham Coordinator (Corporate)
• Lauren Miller - Event Durham Coordinator (Sales)
• Emma Wright - Event Durham Coordinator (Sales)
• Jade Allen - Events and Customer Services Assistant
• Stephen Dawson - Events and Customer Services Assistant

Meet the team in the video below. 

What is the most memorable event the team has worked on and why?

One that stands out was in February 2018 when His Royal Highness, King Charles III (at the time The Prince of Wales) visited Durham. As part of his visit to County Durham, he officially opened the ‘Open Treasure’ exhibition at Durham Cathedral and unveiled a plaque at St John’s College to commemorate his ancestor Dame Elizabeth Bowes. It was fascinating to be part of the organisational side of a royal visit and comply with protocol. We got to meet him too – members of the team were formally introduced to him on Palace Green.

How can Event Durham help staff across the University and where can colleagues find more information?

From the outset we consult closely with enquirers to find a venue and establish a programme which meets all requirements. Our event management team will help to plan, organise and oversee events from start to finish. Whether you’re looking at a day conference for 50, a residential event for 500, or a virtual/hybrid event, we’re happy to help.

There’s plenty more information on what we can assist with, event enquiry forms, catering menus, room booking information on our Event Durham SharePoint site.

You can also see more about our venues on our Event Durham webpages.