Harmonizing Tech and Tradition: Our Coventry Conference Adventure

Hello friends!

I realize it has been a while since we have posted onto Farm and Finery. We continue to make improvements to the property with more pictures coming soon. John has also continued his hunting of native stone tools and his collection has grown to epic proportions (seriously – do we need all these flintknapped rocks?).

Heading to England

I was invited to present at a conference in Coventry, England in October 2023 with the European Union’s Business Incubator Tech Camp. Although I present at conferences often, most are in the US or Canada (with an exception being a keynote address I did in Brazil in August 2019). Since I would be going so far to present, John and I decided to make a trip of it and spent 16 days away from home.

We landed at Heathrow and immediately starting making our way northwest to Coventry. Coventry is a city in the West Midlands County in the UK on the River Sherbourne. It became a wealthy city in the Middle Ages and later became an important industrial center, becoming home to a large bicycle industry in the 19th century. In the 20th century, it became a major center of the British motor industry.

Jet-lagged or not, I had to lead a two hour workshop at Coventry University for 36 participants. The attendees came from all over Europe as well as several from the Middle East.

Between leading the training and attending events at the conference, John and I had a chance to do a little sightseeing in Coventry. The city has 3 universities: Coventry University in the city center where I did training during this trip, the University of Warwick on the southern outskirts, and a small private school, Arden University. The sessions at the conference were very focused on how entrepreneurs and business incubators could use new technology to improve efficiency.

A little history about Coventry

The home of Lady Godiva, she has a statue in the middle of a pedestrian mall that has a very young and urban vibe mixed in with the medieval buildings that somehow survived the German air blitzes of 1940-1942. Legend has it that Lady Godiva rode naked on horseback through the streets of Coventry to protest unjust taxes levied on the citizens by her husband, the Earl of Mercia.

During the Middle Ages Coventry hosted a national Parliament – in 1404 King Henry IV held Parliament in Coventry to raise money to fight a rebellion, which wealthy cities such as Coventry lent to him. During the War of the Roses, the Royal Court was moved by Margarat of Anjou, the wife of Henry VI. This, however, came to an end in 1461 when Edward IV (the White Rose) won.

St. Michael’s Cathedral

We also spent a lot of time touring St. Michael’s Cathedral. The 14th century church was largely destroyed in December 1940, leaving only the outer walls and spire. At 300 feet high, the spire is claimed to be the 3rd tallest cathedral spire in England (after Salisbury and Norwich).

It was very moving to walk around the remains of the church. The amount of stained glass remaining (above) in the bombed out windows was amazing and beautiful.

We also toured the new Cathedral, which was completed in 1962 and was featured in the 2009 film Nativity! John Lennon and Yoko Ono planted two acorns outside the new cathedral in June 1968. The charred cross inside the new cathedral was found in the rubble of the old cathedral and was taken as a sign of hope.

St. Mary’s Guildhall

On our last night in Coventry, we attended a final reception and dinner for the conference at St. Mary’s Guildhall. During the Medieval period the Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva founded a Benedictine monastery in 1043 dedicated to St. Mary. St. Mary’s Guildhall, dating from the 14th century is one of the more notable surviving medieval buildings still in Coventry.

We attended the event along with the conference hosts and some friends we had met along the way. Richard, wearing orange, was a local who taught at Coventry University.

One of the more remarkable things in the St. Mary Guildhall building is its tapestry. According to PBS-based TV show host Rick Steves, it is the oldest tapestry in England to be in situ – that is, it is still hanging where it was designed to be (rather than being taken down and displayed in a museum). The tapestry, woven between 1505 and 1515, has six different scenes on the tapestry, all protected by glass. The scenes line up perfectly with the stained glass above the tapestry.

A Little Night Music

The conference also had a two piece band perform on a small stage in front of the tapestry. The duo was playing standards, a favorite genre for me, so John went up to the musicians and asked if I could sing along. I think I’m a little sharp, but hey, I’m a professional trainer and coach – not a singer…

We enjoyed our last night with friends made over our several days in Coventry and will especially miss our local host, Richard – with whom I obviously had a lot of fun…

Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Coventry. Because of the bombing it sustained, it is not as well preserved a town as many others we saw, and some are critical of Coventry for that. But we felt it was a unique blend of old and new architecture with great and friendly people at every venue we attended.

Next, we head to Stratford-Upon-Avon…

Thanks for stopping by!
Libby