In April 2012, at the centenary of his great-granduncle's death, Dacre, joined by
Elizabeth Miller, met with Dracula Society's Chairperson Julia Kruk, Tony Lee,
Sir Christopher Frayling and with the Lyceum Theatre's Suko Akuln, to raise a toast to the author of Dracula.
In 2013, the Society
celebrated its 40th birthday.
In October 1973, it was founded by actors Bernard Davies and Bruce
Wightman, originally with the intention to facilitate excursions to
Transylvania, still behind the "Iron Curtain" at that time. Over the
past decades,
the Society has largely broadened its interests and its activities, but still
pays a good deal of attention to Bram's novel and the vampire cult it triggered.
Important details of our Guide Book's London chapter, like the location of
Count De Ville's Piccadilly house, are based on research by Bernard Davies.
The Society is based in London and meets five
times per year in the
city's centre; it organises lectures, library evenings, auctions, film and video
screenings, discussions and pre-Christmas gatherings. At least once a year,
there is a trip away from London. In 2003 and 2009, members engaged in Romanian
trips, visiting Bistritz, Hotel Castel Dracula, Sighişoara, Tārgovişte, Poenari
and Bela Lugosi's birth place in Lugoj, among others. Due to these shared
interests and its international contacts with scholars, writers and filmmakers,
the Dracula Society has a prominent place in our alliance.