Hi Geoff
You can't PM me I'm only a guest! Yes, the Octagon is in Buxton - its part of the Pavilion Gardens. You can't exactly miss it. There is the Opera House, the Paxton Suite and the Octagon - which is more often than not used for exhibitions. They are all set in a formal garden area.

I assume you'll end up in Buxton sometime during the weekend anyway. The restaurant is quite good for lunch but make sure you don't confuse it with the self service cafe or the Art Cafe upstairs - its the posh looking one you want.

Its not a formal event on Sat. Its an annual charity thing with stalls promoting them and selling things. A couple of musical mates are on the local RNLI committee and a couple of us normally help them out with some sort of musical thingy. We'll probably decide what we're doing at the Buckingham session on Thursday night. There will be other things on - usually inc. the erstwhile BBC presenter Colin Sykes with his quartet - but I can't say exactly what. The acoustics are terrible, the sound is usually ropy so I wouldn't encourage you to make a special trip but its somewhere to go if its raining.
Cheers
Ray