Loving Men+ at New Year 23
29th Dec – 2nd Jan 2024
Yarnfield Park, Staffordshire
Access details below
We are delighted to announce that we will be returning to Yarnfield Park in Staffordshire for a four-day event over the 2023/24 New Year holidays.
Loving Men+ at New Year is an extravaganza! There’ll be the usual Loving Men+ mix of fun, connection, depth and diverse community. And lots of workshops and activities to help you connect with yourself and others, stretch your comfort zone, be in good company and reflect on your life and where you are going.
We call our events 'Adventures in Intimacy' because they give you opportunities to try out new things, make connections, step outside of your comfort zone and probably laugh harder than you have for a long time. We hope you find our events supportive, challenging, stimulating and inspiring. That's all part of the adventure.
Loving Men+ is a trans and non-binary inclusive and welcoming space.
All the details are below! We look forward to welcoming you to LMNY23!
Bookings close on Thursday 14th December
email us to check availability after that date
Booking your ticket and accommodation:
This year we are operating a two-stage booking system.
Stage 1 First, you buy your ticket for the event through the LM+ website.
| Ticket | Earlybird (before 1st October) | Standard (from 1st October) |
| 4-day Pass | £315 (plus accom costs, see below) | £365 (plus accom costs, see below) |
| Concessionary Ticket (for people on low income) | £165 (plus accom costs, see below) | £195 (plus accom costs, see below) |
To apply for a discount code for a Concessionary Ticket, we ask you to briefly explain your financial situation and why you need a Concessionary ticket.
Being a member of the Crew involves helping out with various tasks over the event and gives you £200 off your ticket.
If you wish to apply to join the Crew or for a Concessionary Ticket, please use this form.
Stage 2 Second, you book your accommodation directly with Yarnfield Park. (You will receive a link and a code when you have completed Stage 1.)
| Accommodation | Standard |
| Standard Twin | £295 |
| Premium Twin | £375 |
| Premium Single | £455 |
| Premium Double | £750 |
Your booking isn’t complete until you have completed both stages. Importantly, our full cancellation terms only apply once you have completed both stages.
Low Cost Options As usual we have a range of low cost options to help people on low incomes participate in the event. These include: paying by instalments (follow the booking procedure in Outsavvy and this option will be offered), joining the crew, concessionary tickets for people on low income, and applying for more assistance through the Bursary Fund. See our website for more information.
Paying by Instalments If you are paying on the Outsavvy payment plan you are responsible for paying the full fee you have agreed to pay. If you do not complete all your payments you may forfeit your place and the money you have paid. The cancellation policy applies to the full fee you have agreed to pay. If you cancel, you will only receive a refund if you have paid funds over and above what is due, according to the cancellation policy.
For more information please click on any of these links:
We are looking forward to a great event! Please help us spread the word!
Best wishes
The Loving Men+ Team
We welcome gay and bi men, trans men and gender non-binary people, from all walks of life who want to develop their capacity to love men. We particularly encourage participation from black and ethnic minority men, HIV positive and negative men, young and older men, trans men and disabled men.
LMNY23: Accessibility Information
These notes have been compiled by Loving Men+ community member, Ben Evans, who is acting as our Access Coordinator for LMNY 2023. If you have any questions, requests or concerns, do please email Ben directly.
Ben will be taking part in LMNY23, and will be on hand before, during and after, to discuss your experiences, any needs you have, and how we can support access for this event and for future events. Please do get in touch!
Download a Word version of this page
Ben's personal reflections
Over the last 7 years that I have been involved in Loving Men activities I have noticed that the community as a whole, led by the organising team, really embrace the idea of making Loving Men events more accessible to d/Deaf, disabled, neurodiverse and chronically ill community members. As someone living with Chronic Fatigue I have been grateful for the flexibility of the team and community in supporting my needs. But we can always improve, and accessibility is an ongoing process – never something that we can tick off the list and not think about again.
With that in mind, we would encourage any community members, or those thinking about joining one of the events, to get in touch and discuss any access needs you may have. We may not be able to offer solutions immediately, we may reply with a proposed compromise or intermediate solution, or we may have to think about how future events can be organised differently. Nevertheless, we genuinely want an active conversation about how our growing (and aging) community can better support all its members and potential members. So please do keep talking with us.
For Loving Men 2022, I am delighted to say that long before I was involved the team made the decision to move to a new venue: Yarnfield Park. True, we don’t have the rolling hills of the Peak District, nor will we have the Victorian or Edwardian grandeur of previous venues. But many of the access issues previously raised by the community will be either solved or improved hugely by the move to this venue. Thanks to the LMNY team for making this bold decision early on.
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1. Information relevant to all
- Yarnfield Park is a purpose-built modern conference and retreat centre.
- There are two separate buildings: The Central Conference Centre (where all of our events, meetings, workshops, meals will be situated), and the accommodation blocks. The accommodation blocks are about 100 metres away reached via covered walkway.
- The Conference centre is on two floors. There are stairs, a lift, and a dedicated accessible lift between floors.
- All accommodation is in double or Twin Rooms: gone are the days of 8-person dormitories! More information below about accessible accommodation
- The car park is 100 metres away from the main entrance. There is flat-level access from the car park to the venue and accommodation.
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3. Flat Level access for wheelchair users and those with impaired mobility
- The conference centre is on two floors. There are stairs, a lift, and a dedicated accessible lift between floors.
- The larger, accessible lift has doors with a width of 91 cm, and maximum load of 400kg.
- The smaller lift for use by any guest can support a heavier load (600kg), but has a narrower doorway.
- All rooms and spaces on the two floors of the conference centre have flat level access.
- Floor plans can be found at the bottom of this document. However, the choreography of workshop spaces for the event will not be completed until December.
- If you have any observations about use of spaces, please get in touch.
- Each of the two floors has an accessible toilet.
- The Accessible Lift is situated in the Foyer, across from the main entrance to the ground floor
- The interior of the Accessible Lift, showing the handbar and easy-to-reach operating buttons
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4. Noise, quiet spaces, anxiety and neurodiversity
- The experience of people who like quiet spaces will be an improvement at Yarnfield Park on previous venues due to the lack of dormitory rooms, and the ability for members to retire to the accommodation block to the quiet of private double or twin rooms.
- Yarnfield Park is a large conference centre that can host many guests. Loving Men has exclusive use of the centre, which means we will have a lot more space than previous venues to ensure we interact as much or as little as we want with others.
- We will create a Quiet Space in the conference centre building– a dedicated room with soft seating and away from the hustle and bustle of the venue: to support those who would benefit from a quiet moment or two during the day without having to head back to the accommodation block. We will create and manage the rules of this space as a community.
- The dining area is well organised with soft furnishings and room dividers and will be a much more comfortable space to eat in than other venues we have used. There is space to establish a Quiet Eating Zone for meals if needed. This will be adjacent to the main restaurant, but will be specifically dedicated as a space for quiet meals. We will create and manage the rules of this space as a community.
- The large number of breakout spaces (small rooms) in the conference centre means that at most times participants can also find a completely empty room to sit, lie down and take some time for themselves.
- LM@NY can be quite an overwhelming experience – more than a hundred participants gathering together at a time of celebration. Some of us are very tactile people who express our love for each other by going in for that hug or embrace; some of us prefer to limit our physical interactions before we know people well; and some of us may display as quite introverted whilst craving that physical interaction.
At LM@NY22 we will trial the use of a visual indicator of how open participants are to physical touch. These colour & shape–coded badges will help us all navigate our boundaries – including as they may change during the event. We will introduce these at the start of the event.
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5. Information for those who are d/Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing.
In the past the facilitator team has collaborated with Sign Language Interpreters to support attendance by BSL users at events.
Regular provision of BSL is a longer-term project for Loving Men.
However, if you would like to attend LMNY 22 and would need Sign Language interpretation do please get in touch and we can discuss if there is any way to support you in attending.
- As a purpose-built conference centre, Yarnfield Park poses fewer barriers for those with hearing loss than some of our previous venues: for example there are no cacophonous halls and the space is carpeted and has ceiling tiles to deaden the random sound.
- The experience of people who like quiet spaces will be an improvement at Yarnfield Park on previous venues due to the lack of dormitory rooms, and the ability for members to retire to the accommodation block to the quiet of private double or twin rooms.
- The dining area is well organised with soft furnishings and room dividers and will be a much more comfortable space to eat in than other venues we have used. There is space to establish a Quiet Eating Zone for meals if needed. This will be adjacent to the main restaurant, but will be specifically dedicated as a space for quiet meals. We will create and manage the rules of this space as a community.
- Loving Men will bring microphones and amplifiers in case needed when working together in the full group. These have not been needed in the past, but we are aware that different spaces have difference acoustics, and we acknowledge that some people may benefit from amplification of the conversation – especially in large rooms and large groups. We will manage participant’s preferences regarding amplification during the meeting and as a community.
- As part of our longer journey towards greater accessibility we may choose to experiment with the venue’s Hearing Loop equipment. We have mixed feelings about the value of Hearing Loops in our events, and so before investing in our own equipment, we may use LMNY 22 to trial the use of the venue’s hearing loop on a few occasions. We will be open to feedback during and after the event.
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6. Accessible Accommodation
- There are four rooms at Yarnfield Park identified as Accessible bedrooms.
- Each of these rooms has an accessible bathroom.
- The bathrooms come in two configurations:
- 2 rooms have wet-room set-ups, including wall-mounted drop-down seat and the option of a separate free-standing shower seat.
- 2 rooms have step-in showers with a small step to the shower tray, and the option of a free-standing shower seat.
- None of the accessible rooms or bathrooms has a hoist.
Please tell us which configuration you would prefer
- One of the accessible bedrooms
A large amount of floor space is visible around a double bed. A desk and chair are in the corner.
- Accessible Bathroom: Option 1
Wet-room set-up, including wall-mounted drop-down seat and the option of a separate free-standing shower seat
- Accessible Bathroom: Option 2
Step-in shower with a small step to the shower tray, and the option of a free-standing shower seat-
7. Access for those with visual impairment
- As a purpose-built conference centre Yarnfield Park offers fewer challenges for those with Visual Impairment than previous venues: no indistinguishable polished stairs, no rooms with poor lighting, no wonky floors to surprise.
- If any existing participant or new participant would like a conversation about how we can support your experience at LMNY please do get in touch.
Possibilities could include: - The Loving Men Team improving any signage we find unhelpful at the venue
- Clearly visible lanyards or labels for the LM@NY organising team
- Additional visual signifiers such as high contrast tape in any areas of the building where these may be helpful
- Workshop leaders and participants sharing visual descriptions at the start of workshops
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8. Other access needs and personal assistance
As on previous events, the LM@NY22 organisers are happy to help match community members who may need a little support to help them navigate the event with the events team member and with other community members. If you have concerns about attending the event independently, please do get in touch for an open conversation about what we think the community could provide.
We are keen to hear from you think your access needs may not be covered by the above. Please do get in touch with Ben Evans, our Access Coordinator, via his dedicated email address: access@lovingmen.org
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9. Conference Centre Floor Plans
- GROUND FLOOR
- FIRST FLOOR
- I have highlighted in Pink the location of the Accessible Lift
LMNY23: Cancellation Policy
Full Booking Cancellation Terms for LMNY23 tickets – if you have completed both stages 1 & 2 of the booking process
| If you cancel your booking: | We will refund you: |
| More than 12 weeks before the event | Your full fee minus £25 admin fee |
| 12 – 9 weeks before the event | 50% of the fee you paid (or are due to pay, if on a payment plan) |
| 5 – 8 weeks before the event | 25% of the fee you paid (or are due to pay, if on a payment plan) |
| 0 – 4 weeks before the event | No Refund |
| If you cancel your booking: | We will refund you: |
| More than 12 weeks before the event | 50% of the fee you paid (or are due to pay, if on a payment plan) |
| 12 – 9 weeks before the event | 25% of the fee you paid (or are due to pay, if on a payment plan) |
| 0 – 8 weeks before the event | No Refund |
Paying by Instalments If you are paying on the Outsavvy payment plan you are responsible for paying the full fee you have agreed to pay. If you do not complete all your payments you may forfeit your place and the money you have paid. The cancellation policy applies to the full fee you have agreed to pay. If you cancel, you will only receive a refund if you have paid funds over and above what is due, according to the cancellation policy.
Insurance We always recommend taking out travel insurance to cover you in the event of illness or disrupted travel plans.
LMNY23: Covid Policy
Currently, there are no restrictions in place for events of this nature. However, our safety as a community is a high priority for us, so we may put measures in place if there are good reasons for doing so nearer the time.
LMNY23: Last year's Programme
LMNY23: Diversity Statement
Loving Men+ is a diverse community. Diversity and inclusion are central to who we are. We have been building an inclusive, diverse and welcoming community for 20 years. It is important to us that bi, queer and trans men, and gender non-binary people who are attracted to men, as well as gay men feel welcome, included and safe enough to participate in our events.
We particularly encourage participation from those within an ethnic minority group, including people who are Black, African and Asian, and people who are HIV positive and negative, younger and older, and disabled, as well as trans men and non-binary people who are attracted to men.
We believe that connecting across differences and dismantling oppressive structures is as much the work of intimacy as learning to listen or share your feelings with another person. If you only want to be with people just like you, our events are not the right place for you. We work hard towards creating a space that is free from bigotry and prejudice and where there is support and challenge to address racism, classism, ableism, ageism, transphobia, biphobia, femme-shaming, HIV prejudice and body-shaming, among other things.
We appreciate that some people know less about these issues and principles, and that others of us may have differing views and feelings about what can be complex and emotional territory. We are up for a discussion and to learn together in a respectful dialogue. If you book a place on our events, we ask you to commit to joining us in this endeavour.
LMNY23: Low-cost Options
Paying by instalments
If you need to pay by instalments rather than all-in-one-go please choose this option when you checkout. You need to be all paid up by 6 weeks before the event. Failure to pay any instalments by the dates agreed may result in you forfeiting your place or monies already paid.
Join the crew
There is a limited number of crew places available at the event. In exchange for various kinds of assistance each day during the event, we will give you £200 off your ticket price.
Examples are:- admin and practical input before the event
- moving furniture and equipment during the event
- setting up audio and video equipment
- tidying up the space
- supporting workshop facilitators or workshop event participants
If you would like to apply to join the Crew, please use this form, telling us about yourself and what kinds of help you could provide.
Apply for a Concessionary ticket
Concessionary tickets are funded by the Loving Men+ Bursary Fund with the intention of supporting people on low incomes and increasing diversity at Loving Men+ events.
A concessionary ticket gives you £150 off the price of your ticket.
Please only apply if you cannot afford a full-price ticket.
If you want to apply, complete and submit this form. We will respond as soon as we can to your application.
If successful, we will send you a discount code you can use when booking your place.
Apply to the Loving Men+ Bursary Fund
It is possible to apply for further help from the Bursary Fund (where funds allow) if you cannot afford the event on a Concessionary ticket alone. Please see the Bursary Fund page and apply using the form on that page.