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Princess Royal Visits Eastbourne

22 April 2009

Princess Anne meeting Eastbourne Theatres Manager

The Princess Royal visited Eastbourne today as part of the Royal British Legion Women's Section Conference being held in the town.

 

HRH Princess Anne made a lunchtime visit to Eastbourne's Devonshire Park Centre where the National Annual Conference, now in its 87th year, is being held. The princess, who is president of the Royal British Legion Women's Section, spent time addressing the 1,600 delegates at the event and presented awards to members from across the country.

 

Eastbourne Borough Council Cabinet Member for Tourism, Cllr Susan Morris said "Eastbourne is very pleased to be hosting this prestigious conference and welcome Princess Anne to our seaside resort. This is a brand new conference to Eastbourne; attracting such large delegate numbers and a visit from a Royal is fantastic news for the town's status as a premier conference destination."

 

Today is the first day of the two-day conference filling Devonshire Park Centre, where organisers had to increase delegate capacity after the lure of Eastbourne and the visit from Princess Anne attracted significant sign-up from delegates.

 

With Eastbourne's brand new art gallery, Towner, now open, and offering additional exhibition space for conferences, the Princess' visit comes at an exciting time for the Eastbourne Conference Bureau.

 

The Women's Section event is the first of two Royal British Legion Conferences taking place in Eastbourne in 2009, with the Royal British Legion Conference coming to the town next month from 15-17 May.

 

Both are brand new events for Eastbourne and come during the resort's best ever year for conferences. Between now and the end of May, delegates are booking up to 32,000 bednights in the town and the busy schedule is positive news for Eastbourne's accommodation providers during an unstable economic climate.

 

For more information on conferences in Eastbourne visit www.conferenceeastbourne.com or telephone 01323 415437.