The Hayes Conference Centre is a group of buildings in
Swanwick,
UK which are used for conferences and other functions. The building which now houses the centre's reception was built in the 1850s as a private residence and named Swanwick Hayes. Since the early 1910 however it has taken up its current usage, apart from the Second World War years when it was a
POW camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...
for German and Italian prisoners. It was the second camp to fail to hold the famous German escapee
Franz von Werra
Franz Xaver Baron von Werra (13 July 1914 – 25 October 1941) was a German World War II fighter pilot and flying ace who was shot down over Britain and captured. He was the only Axis prisoner of war to escape from Canadian custody and return ...
. The escape tunnel can still be seen at the conference centre.
The centre, which has had many additions to it since it opened, provides sleeping accommodation for up to 400 people in 274 rooms (11 of which are for disabled persons). Most rooms are
en-suite
A bathroom or washroom is a room, typically in a home or other residential building, that contains either a bathtub or a shower (or both). The inclusion of a wash basin is common. In some parts of the world e.g. India, a toilet is typically ...
though an ever decreasing number have shared washing and toilet facilities. There are two main
dining rooms and full-time catering staff work there alongside cleaners and other workers. There are 30 rooms designed to hold meetings in. The largest two hold 420 and 400 with two other large ones holding 150 and 140. Other facilities include a bar, five a side football pitches, a games room and a
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
with room for 350. There are
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
access points in many of the rooms.
Most of the clients using this estate are
Christian groups, as the centre has been run by the Christian Conference Trust since 1996. In addition, the centre is home to the
Swanwick writers' summer school
The Swanwick Writers' Summer School is an annual writers' conference held at The Hayes Conference Centre, near Swanwick, Derbyshire. Founded in 1948, and first held in the summer of 1949, it is believed to be the oldest independent writers' s ...
.
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Exhibition and conference centres in England
Country houses in Derbyshire