Time for a catch up from busy London 🙂 We’ve had Easter, a Royal wedding and a very pleasant spring all arrive since I last wrote…and now as I walk about, I can realise I can hear so many voices & accents from further afield. I’m so lucky to live and work in such a varied, stimulating & vibrant city.
Part of that enjoyment is participating in the Globetrotters Club and putting this eNewsletter together…I like hearing about peoples’ adventures & enjoyment.
Anyway, enough of waxing lyrical – read on & enjoy…
What else is happening across the wider travel world?
James Littlewood & Tracey Dornan – Boy girl bike road. “She dreamt of seeing the world, but couldn’t justify the carbon. He had always dreamed of the challenge of cycling to Hong Kong. With no previous experience of cycle touring, lycra or life together this is the adventure of one couple and their view from the saddle on an attempt to circumnavigate the globe by bicycle and boat. A cycle ride of 18,000 miles through 23 countries.”
Lord Ian Strathcarron – Byron and the Grand Tour.
“Two hundred years ago, between 1809-11, Lord Byron completed his Grand Tour of the Mediterranean. He was 21 when he left London. After catching a packet from Falmouth to Lisbon, his entourage rode down to Sevilla and Cadiz. He then sailed from Gibraltar to Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Greece, Albania, back to Greece then Turkey, Malta again and then with a heavy heart home to England. His voyage was exotic and poetic, erotic and eccentric.
On June 14th 2008 Solent sailors Ian and Gillian Strathcarron boarded their Freedom 40 Vasco da Gama at Bucklers Hard and sailed off to recreate Lord Byron’s Grand Tour. Their own voyage was propitious and perilous, mysterious and mischievous – but seldom abstemious.”
London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.
There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.
We had a great meeting in Chester last Saturday the 19th of March, we are getting a regular stream of people now between 35 to 40 on average and we certainly hope that this is going to continue so by the end of the year we will have a little money saved up to go into 2012.
We had two wonderful speakers again, the first talk was about a cycle journey from Scotland to Italy for charity – Saol who is originally from Mexico and now lives in Chester had lots of interesting and funny stories about his experience on this trip. Saol had wonderful photos to show and everyone really enjoyed his adventure. The money that was raised during the ride went to help with schools in Nepal and Mexico.
The second speaker, last year’s Globetrotters’ travel award winner, Doreen Taylor did her talk about the journey she made to India – it was a journey back in time, following in the footsteps of Rudyard Kipling. The journey included the Golden Temple and some interesting train journeys, especially into the mountains. Doreen kept us captivated with her personal experiences and quiet a few tips on where to go and things to see, it was a very enjoyable afternoon and while chatting to other Globies after her talk it seems that she has wetted a few appetites.
We had a good turnout again with lots of people meeting in the tea break, talking and exchanging experiences and tips.
Our next date for your diary is 28th May the talks will cover “My time in Hong Kong” by Madeleine Anderson who has lived there for some time, plus African Brew HA-HA a Motorcycle Quest from Lancashire to Cape Town by Alan Whelan
We look forward to welcoming fellow travelers and others on that day!
Thanks again for your help
Kind Regards
Hanna
Chester meetings are held at The Grosvenor Museum, 25 – 27 Grosvener Street, Chester, CH1 2DD.
Tickets £3 including refreshments.
For more information contact Angela, Hanna or Eve for further information of this & future events at Chester via email atchesterbranch@globetrotters.co.uk
Friday 27 May : “Egypt and Jordan” by Jay Wopperer & Linda
Saturday? July : summer picnic, details to be confirmed
Friday 16 September : “Argentina” by Eduardo Barnett
Friday 18 November : “Guatemala with Horizons of Friendship” by Bruce Weber
Toronto meetings are held at 8.00pm on the third Friday of January, March, May (4th Friday), September and November, at Old York Tower, 85 The Esplanade, in downtown Toronto.
What a night, such a night, a night out a couple of days before a big party at my daughter’s, to celebrate her returning to see friends and family, as she now lives with hers in China.
Slowly like an old meandering river, the red wine flowed out of the bottle swirled slowly around, into this very large glass and the owner said, “Free for you, if you finish it” !
“I’m British”, I said, in my very best French and thought I saw her face blanch ! The locals all stopped their card playing and chatting, to watch this group make a fool of ourselves. My daughter and her friend joined in the fun and shared a large glass of white ! Half way through drinking this good red wine, I began to wonder if I would make the restaurant and the bar began to feel as if it was my front room with lots of friends of mine enjoying themselves. Considering this was very close to little Francesca’s party, I thought of it as training for the big one. We did get to the restaurant and food was sumptuous and I only drank a little but even so, I think I was well oiled and the way home was thanks to my son in law, Bernard. By the way I did finish the large glass of red and I think the landlady will check the nationality of the tourist next time – Just in case they turn out to be Brits.
For an extra busy London branch meeting (courtesy of Jacqui’s superb organising efforts with the speakers recently me thinks) we had two contrasting & excellent speakers:-
John Gimlette – Wild Coast Travels on South America’s Untamed Edge. Returning favourite John talked about travelling through the three Guyanas of north east South America…Guyana, Suriname & French Guiana – a very unknown & underdeveloped series of destinations. John’s knack as a traveller is get involved locally in all his destinations, in all aspects of society & then recall his travels warmly and intelligently through books, radios & talks J His style is less “this is what I did !” and much more “come with me on a journey”. I hope that paints John in light that does him justice J
Sarah Outen – A Dip in the Ocean. Sarah’s talk was so different in so many ways and yet equally entertaining. At twenty years old Sarah set of to fulfil a dream and grieve over the loss of her father – she rowed solo from Perth, Western Australia to Mauritius ! Her recollection of 4000 miles of that epic ocean crossing held us rapt late into the afternoon – her mishaps, frailties & doubts were exposed to the audience…but her story telling style made those seem core to her record breaking journey. I think back a long way to my first travels at a similar age, inter-railing around Europe, and wonder where Sarah found the courage & determination…congratulations to you Sarah J
London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.
There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.
First of all we would like to thank everyone for a great turnout in January, it helps us greatly and gives us all new energy to continue!
Saturday the 19th of March is slowly getting closer and it looks set to be a great meeting again with two fantastic speakers and the usual refreshments in the break so that you all can have a chat over tea and biscuits.
CYCLING THROUGH EUROPE – helping kids in Nepal and Mexico, speaker Saul Soto
INDIA “A STEP BACK IN TIME” – following in the footsteps of Rudyard Kipling, speaker Doreen Taylor
Hope to see you there
Cheers
Hanna, Angela, Eve
The meeting is at The Grosvenor Museum, 25 – 27 Grosvener Street, Chester, CH1 2DD. Tickets £3 including refreshments.
Contact Angela, Hanna or Eve for further information of this & future events at Chester via email atchesterbranch@globetrotters.co.uk
Portobello Gold…party celebrating Mike Bell’s 26th year as Landlord !!
Gaz Mayall and the, eight piece, Trojans trying to set up in a space that a three-piece combo would find small! So like a jigsaw being slowly put together it took about forty five minutes to set up, as each musician emptied their instrument cases and then had to carry them out through the milling crowd filling into the bar, to give room for the next musician to set up. The Portobello Gold Hotel/Pub with a large and extremely visual restaurant with good food is not small but the area where the bands play is smallish. The popularity of this place is renowned round the world, with President Clinton having been here for the food as well as to appreciate the ambiance of a very different bar.
Especially on Sunday nights when the music is live with free entrance and where there has been live music for many years. A place where many groups get a chance to show off their talents in Portobello Road, West 11, getting rarer and rarer in these small venues in London. This is one of the places that I take foreign visitors when they visit London, this night was even more special than usual and I took a Brazilian presenter, who wasn’t familiar with Portobello and she loved it.
The sound of a great rocking band and as Gaz says, “We do what we want. Where else will you hear Little Richard, old ska, drum’n’bass and a Louis Armstrong record from 1928? We’re like musical chefs, mixing the ingredients.”Gaz Mayall is a musician, DJ, producer and record label owner. He’s the host of London’s longest running one-nighter, Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues – now in its 28th year – and the founder member of the ska band The Trojans. He also runs his record label Gaz’s Rockin’ Records. The son of legendary British blues musician John Mayall and a friend from way back when; Mike photographed many of the famous groups when he travelled with a friend who worked for the ‘Melody Maker’ to many of the gigs of that era. The bar is full of the images of groups and famous musicians of that time. Interestingly Gaz played a Hohner Melodica, not often seen or heard around now. It was basically a windblown mouth organ – built into and operated by a keyboard. The band played Rockabilly, Rock’n’Roll and Ska and as one of the musicians was Scottish and it was nearly ‘Burns’ night, we heard an amazing hard rocking bagpipes for a couple of numbers, like I’ve never heard ever before!
The crowd of all age groups and mostly regulars of this bar jumped with no room to jive, clapped and stamped their feet in appreciation of a great night of enjoyment and fun. So much so it felt like it was being at a friend’s party – Which of course it was: Mike Bell’s party in Portobello land.
Tony is a long time GT member and widely involved in many adventures, including my trip with him to western Brazil & the Ashaninka people 🙂
