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The 2010 conference had yet another great line up and was once again held at the YMCA in St Annes although this was time it was held in the large hall downstairs. The weather produced a typical LAPIS heatwave which meant that shorts were the order of the day even at our annual post conference drunken beach party. We said at our last conference how we missed the long hot summer nights of the middle years of that decade but they certainly returned with a vengenace in 2010!

Sam Shearon was master of ceremonies and the speaker line up saw some old friends...we'll post some piccies of the event shortly!

THE SPEAKERS

ALAN MURDIE

Alan is a former chairman of the Ghost Club which is the oldest organisation in the world associated with psychical research. Alan also has a keen interest in UFOs and writes a long established column on paranormal and ufological matters for the highly respected Fortean Times magazine. He has also authored several critically acclaimed books on paranormal incidents in Southern England towns.

Alan will be lecturing on a world exclusive - Colombia's Roswell. In the 30th anniversary of "Britain's Roswell", hear about Alan's South American adventure to find the truth about the object that crashed in the Colombian jungle in 1968. Large chunks of metal were observed coming down and were retrieved by Colombia's security forces. News got out to the local press and they immediately dubbed it a crashed flying saucer. The wreckage was eventually taken away by US military personnel and was never seen again. Even more intriguing is the fact that during his research, Alan came across references to previous incidents of objects crashing in Colombia but which had been long forgotten.

PHILIP MANTLE

British author, publicist, lecturer, broadcaster, UFO researcher and former Director of Investigators with the British UFO Research Association.

Philip will talk about his recently updated book "Without Consent" (due for publication in April 2010). The book deals entirely with UFO abductions in the UK and includes a variety of case histories being published for the first time.

The book presents true life stories that involve ordinary British people who are caught up in extraordinary circumstances. They are people like you, living in typical neighbourhoods, with typical jobs and interests.

These are real people and to them their stories are equally real. Philip and his co-author have reconstructed events, as related to them in detail by people who claim to have been abducted by extraterrestrial beings.

LARRY WARREN

Larry was a member of the US Air Force Security Police stationed at a twin USAF base in Suffolk during Dec 1980 and is arguably the most important witness to the Rendlesham Forest Incident which has been dubbed "Britain's Roswell". Larry was the first witness to come forward and in the 30th anniversary year will talk about it from his personal viewpoint.

The whole incident recently took a dramatic turn when deputy base commander Col. Charles Halt (Ret) finally moved from the official line and made the following statement.

"I wish to make it perfectly clear that the UFOs I saw were structured machines moving under intelligent control and operating beyond the realm of anything I have ever seen before or since. I believe the objects that I saw at close quarter were extraterrestrial in origin and that the security services of both the United States and England were and have been complicit in trying to subvert the significance of what occurred at Rendlesham by use of well practiced methods of disinformation."

PAUL VELLA

Paul is an independent Forensic Computer Expert Witness by trade, specialising in criminal defence cases, but he also runs the world's most popular Bigfoot related web site - www.bigfootresearch.com and he is widely regarded as the most credible authority on the subject to be found this side of the Atlantic.

However, to fit in with this year's all UFO theme, Paul will be not be lecturing on bigfoot (although he will have a Bigfoot themed stall and is very eager to discuss Bigfoot between lectures). He has been researching the curious possibility of a correlation between the personas of aliens, either reported by witnesses or represented in the media, and the serving US president at the time.

For example, are they more aggressive and threatening when a warmongering president is in power but more friendly and placid at other times? Good alien, bad alien - it will be a fascinating lecture!

LAPIS UFO Conference 2010 Review
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 23/05/2010

On Saturday 22nd May I and my friend Chris drove up to St Annes from Birmingham to attend the LAPIS (Lancashire Anomalous Phenomena Investigation Society) UFO Conference for the first time. It was to be an absolutely fantastic day of listening to lectures and meeting up with old friends. The weather was absolutely stunning – one of the hottest days of the year so far. Clear blue skies and streaming sunlight made the journey to St Annes very pleasant indeed.

We arrived at 10.15am, 15 minutes before the first lecture ws due to start. The conference was held at a spacious sports hall in the YMCA (sing it) on St Albans Road. We immediately met up with Martin and John, two regular BUFOG members who had also made it to the conference. I then went to have a catch up with two of my friends from the UFO circuit – Larry Warren and Phil Mantle, who would both be speaking later in the day. For any of you who don’t know, Larry is one of the key witnesses and also whistleblower of the Rendlesham Forest UFO incident. Phil Mantle is one of the Uk’s most well renowned and experienced UFO researchers. Larry showed me a number of his paintings that were on display, including one directly based on what he experienced at Rendlesham. I had a brief look at some of the other merchandise tables around the room, and was surprised to see a number of bigfoot footprint casts on display by Paul Vella.

Soon it was time for the lectures to kick off, with Paul beginning proceedings. Paul is one of the UK’s leading experts on bigfoot. However considering the theme of the day, he had opted to give a talk linked with UFOs rather than elusive hairy creatures! His lecture was all about the portrayal of aliens and UFOs in movies over the last century up to recent times. He proposed that individuals involved with the UFO cover up may have influenced these movies and decided on how they were portrayed at various times. It was brilliant fun seeing the old B-movie posters featurning hideous alien creatures and terrified humans! He also showed a hilarious trailer for a black-and-white film named “The Giant Claw”, which featured what can only be described as a giant killer prehistoric turkey. Oh yes.

I was surprised to see that Paul didn’t feature the most recent UFO-themed movies such as The Fourth Kind or District 9, but other than this it was a great look back through the history of UFO cinema.

After a short break it was then time for Phil Mantle to take to the podium. I always enjoy Phil’s lectures, and this one did not disappoint. It was a general look at lots of very interesting cases. He began by talking about sightings around the Yorkshire area, including those by the late UFO researcher Tony Dodd. He even showed some photographs Tony had taken of unusual glowing aerial objects. The second half of Phil’s talk covered a number of fascinating contactee cases. These included well known cases such as the Alan Godfrey incident, and the Ilkley Moor abduction, which led to the famous photograph of the ET being that the witness had snapped before it ran away. It truly was an informative lecture on some highly convincing cases. Phil ended up speaking a bit about the new UFO publication which he is launching in July – UFO Matrix. This is intended to be a commercially available magazine on the subject, and I wish him and Malcolm Robinson all the best with it. I for one will be subscribing as soon as it hits the shops.

At the half way point of the conference, we stuck with time honoured tradition by finding the nearest pub and getting some lunch and a quick pint. Over lunch I chatted with Sasha Christie (contactee and researcher), Larry, Jason from the LAPIS crew and new friends Nathan and Luke who were experiencing a UFO conference for the first time.

The first speaker of the afternoon was Alan Murdie. Alan writes about UFOs for Fortean Times magazine, and is a former chairman of the Ghost Club. His lecture focused on UFO incidents from Columbia. There have not been many significant sightings from here, however he covered an incident where a strange metallic object crashed in the Columbian jungle spreading debris over an area. This debris was promptly cleared up by the US military and was never seen again. Alan also covered some other interesting features and mysteries of Columbia, including statues with large dark eyes and a town where the dead have mummified in the ground rather than rotted away.

By this time of day the venue had really started to heat up, and unfortunately there were no ceiling fans. To our relief someone decided to open a door to let in some air. After Alan’s talk there was a short break, during which I took to the mic to announce BUFOG Contactee Support, the monthly online contactee meeting I will be hosting from now on through the website.

It was then time for the final speaker of the day, the one, the only, Larry Warren. Larry gave a superb talk about many aspects of the Rendlesham incident and the part that he played in it. Rather than concentrate on the actual details of what took place, he focused more on how it had affected both his life and the lives of the other witnesses. He showed many documents to back up his statements, and it was a very heartfelt talk. He also spoke of the new Facebook group set up by John Burroughs. The purpose of the group is to draw attention to the Rendlesham incident, which will hopefully lead to disclosure about what took place.

Towards the end of his lecture he invited Sacha to give her thoughts on the Rendlesham incident. She pointed out a number of official statements which did not add up and could be used as evidence that a cover up about the incident had taken place.

I ended the conference chatting with Paul Vella about bigfoot sightings, and two contactees who were interested in joining in with the contactee support meetings. I also managed to sneak a shot of the LAPIS crew who were gathered for an official photograph.

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After saying goodbye to the speakers and our new found friends, we headed down to the seafront for a few minutes to check out the beach in the evening sun and eat some fish and chips by the pier, before beginning our journey back to Brum. It had been an excellent and informative day, and I will surely be returning next year.