A new HOPE
Elizabeth Israel, Outings Co-ordinator for H.O.P.E., the travel arm of London-based Jewish Care, first became an organiser with her husband, Leon, in 1997. Carrie Drage catches up with Elizabeth to find out how operations have progressed now that her son Howard has started taking an interest in the group.
After 14 years in existence, H.O.P.E, which stands for Homes Outings Programmes & Entertainment is still going strong. Elizabeth has been an organiser from the very start and in this time has built up a solid base of members totalling 780 at the last count. She developed the group with her husband, Leon, but he had to leave his duties on health grounds in 2006 and Elizabeth now runs operations single-handedly, albeit with a little help from her son, Howard. She says, “Despite holding down a full-time job, he puts in hours outside of work to help me out with the administration and the logistics of running trips.”
H.O.P.E. is a branch of Jewish Care, a charity organisation based in Colindale, London, that cares for the Jewish community in North London by providing services such as care homes, residential homes, community centres, drop-in centres and day centres. Since it is a charity organisation and relies on donations for much of its work, the group was initially created as a way to raise funds for the care home residents, enabling them to go on outings each month. Elizabeth explains, “When I arrange outings for H.O.P.E., I have to add on a little extra to the cost of the trip, which is treated as a donation. This money goes towards organising outings for the Jewish residents, which are separate. In my 14 years as a GTO, H.O.P.E. has raised over £300,000 towards these outings!” She adds, “I think it’s important that people know what the donation goes towards so I make a short speech before each outing to explain this.”
Communication is key
Due to its status as a charity, Jewish Care has never provided any funding for advertising so the group has grown purely from word of mouth. Anyone in the North London area can come on the trips and, because there is no formal membership procedure, there is often interest from new people. Elizabeth explains, “I sit down every three months to update my programme. Howard helps me produce flyers on the computer to advertise upcoming trips and I mail these out to members on the database together with a newsletter. Until 2006, I had a full-time secretary to produce all the paperwork but now I do it all myself with the help of Howard. I also have a dedicated H.O.P.E. page in ‘Careline’, a quarterly magazine produced by Jewish Care.” She continues, “Many people treat it as a way to meet up with old friends. Others have found it a good way to meet people with similar interests and, subsequently, get together socially for a game of Bridge or the like.”
Elizabeth is always keen to find new places to visit and maintains that the best way to stay alert to new ideas is to read a lot. She says, “Obviously, I read Group Travel Organiser magazine but I also read many dedicated trade publications, newspapers and so on, as well as visit travel trade fairs such as Excursions at Alexandra Palace in London.”
London calling
Although Elizabeth acknowledges that she is spoilt for choice in London, she admits that she has exhausted most places, claiming, “I swear I’ve visited everywhere in London at least once!” As well as the usual tourist traps such as Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and the Tower of London, Elizabeth has visited some lesser-known gems including the Thames Barrier Information Centre. She remarks, “I didn’t expect it to be as interesting as it was.”
She arranges a 57-seater coach for each of her day trips, which is supplied by Hearns Coaches of Edgware. She reveals, “We find the drivers at Hearns to be very obliging and the coaches are always very clean, which is important. We also prefer to use a company that has a large fleet so if there’s a problem with one of the coaches there is more than likely to be a replacement. This isn’t always the case with the smaller coach companies, which means they have to sub-contract a replacement vehicle.”
One of the activities that proves most popular with Elizabeth’s crowd is rivercruising, which the group indulge in once a year in early September. In 2007, Elizabeth used Berkshire-based Thames Rivercruise who operate a roundtrip from Caversham. She comments, “The crew were most obliging. They let us take a picnic on board and we enjoyed a cream tea on the boat a little later in the day.” Howard adds, “We even saw The Red Arrows perform an aerobatic display from the water.” The following year, Elizabeth arranged a cruise through JGF Passenger Boats, based in Walton on Thames, in Surrey, because the group had never travelled the Thames between Kingston-upon-Thames and Runnymede before. She says, “The boat moored outside the Runnymede Hotel & Spa where we had a beautiful tea. The crew on the boat were extremely friendly and a commentary was provided for the entire journey.”
Museums are one thing London has no shortage of and Elizabeth’s group are always keen to explore these. She says, “In March 2008, my members visited the Household Cavalry Museum where we had a tremendous guide. We had one member who was very keen to dress up in fatigues and a helmet for the visit but he decided against it in the end!” The Bank of England Museum also made its mark on Elizabeth. She says, “Considering it’s free to enter, I found it to be very entertaining and informative. They also put on a slide show and talk for groups here.”
Over the years, Elizabeth has discovered that guided tours are popular with the members and one that stands out in both her and Howard’s memories is the East End tour in September last year with Blue Badge Guide Rachel Kolsky. She says, “It is normally a walking tour but I specifically requested a coach tour instead. We ended up in Spitalfields where we enjoyed tea at Patisserie Valerie.” Howard remarks, “As part of the tour we visited Sandys Row Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in London, where we learnt all about its history.”
Two other tours that bring back fond memories for the pair are the Royal Opera House backstage tour and the Royal Albert Hall tour, both in 2006. Elizabeth remembers, “Although we’d visited the Royal Opera House once before, it was just as pleasurable on this occasion. We saw the ballet dancers practising and took in some of the old photographs displayed at the back of the stalls.” Commenting on the Royal Albert Hall tour, Howard says, “To enter the empty hall is quite an experience – it certainly takes your breath away!”
A privileged position
After 14 years service, Elizabeth understands what most of her members want out of a visit and has found stately homes to be a firm favourite. She says, “Each house is different and I enjoy seeing how owners stamp their mark on their home with decor and furnishings that reflect their tastes.”
Elizabeth discovered Twickenham’s Kneller Hall, the headquarters of the Royal Military School of Music, roughly seven years ago and returned with her group for five years running, taking in three of the season’s concerts annually. She remarks, “Every year, outdoor music concerts are held here during the summer months, which end in a firework finale. We eat a picnic supper together on the lawn, which is lovely.”
Althorp, in Northampton, has also proved popular for return visits with five trips to date, the most recent being in 2007. She says, “The tea in the State Dining Room is magnificent and the china is so beautiful.”
Bletchley Park, in Milton Keynes, has been visited on two occasions, most recently in 2005. Elizabeth says, “This is a must see! There is a lot of walking involved but it makes an interesting day out, particularly learning about how code was deciphered during World War II.”
Elizabeth was also impressed with the June 2008 visit to Finchcocks Musical Museum, a display of historical keyboard instruments displayed in a stately home in Kent. She says, “We had a lovely tea downstairs before enjoying a musical recital courtesy of the owner. He played the instruments here beautifully.”
h4. Life’s a stage
Since the group’s beginnings, Elizabeth’s members have held an appreciation of the theatre, with a preference for matinee performances. Remarking on one of her favourite shows, Swan Lake by Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo, she says, “The last time I saw this with my group was about three years ago at London’s Peacock Theatre. The all male cast are fantastic dancers in their own right but also so funny to watch because they’re dressed up in tutus.” Elizabeth is particularly supportive of new shows in London’s West End, which she books directly with the theatres herself or through ticketing agencies See Tickets and Ambassador Theatre Group. Elizabeth remarks, “I only use ticketing agencies if they can get me good seats. Because my members are mostly pensioners, we need to be close to the stage for practical reasons. I have always found the staff at both agencies to be very helpful.”
Outside London, the famous Chichester Festival Theatre has also been frequented by the group. She says, “The last show we saw here was The Music Man in 2008 featuring Brian Conley. I organised a lunch in their restaurant before the show because the theatre is such a long way from London. On this occasion, they had set menus for groups, which was good.”
Equally impressive is Wycombe’s Swan Theatre where the group have enjoyed performances by The Imperial Ice Stars and the Russian National Ballet. Elizabeth comments, “This theatre is very comfortable and has a friendly atmosphere. Plus it’s not too big. The staff in the box office are always very helpful with group bookings too.”
Past, present and future
In Elizabeth’s 14 years as a group organiser, she has developed a system that ensures her day trips run as smoothly as possible. She explains, “When people book onto a trip, I allocate each of them a seat on the coach. I try to accommodate members as much as possible so any specific requests – whether it be to sit near a friend, extra legroom or to sit at the front of the coach for members that suffer from car sickness – are taken into account. These details are kept on a database for future reference.” Howard adds, “The system of allocating seats works because we know before we leave, and on our return, who’s yet to turn up.” This system would have had almost a 100% success rate were it not for the time when one lady failed to return to the coach on an overseas trip to Belgium in 2004. Elizabeth comments, “When my husband and I arranged overseas trips, we would produce name tags for each member of the group, with the name of the hotel we were staying at printed on the reverse. On this occasion, the lady decided to make her own way to the hotel rather than return to the coach but at least she arrived back safely.”
Elizabeth also makes sure that she visits each destination before taking the coach along. She states, “I go on a recci, which allows me to discover how long the journey is likely to take, the best route for the coach, whether there is ample turning space for the coach and where drop-off points are located.”
As a GTO for a charity organisation, Elizabeth is acutely aware of making members feel as though they are getting value for money. She remarks, “Because we add on extra as a donation, I like to provide a free danish pastry and cold drink for each member on the coach trip home. It’s a move that is very much appreciated among my members.”
She is also conscious of the strain the current economic climate is putting on her members finances although she is optimistic that the groups market will remain strong in the years to come. She comments, “In a move to make my trips more appealing, I asked the art department at Jewish Care to produce a colour leaflet to advertise my outing to the V&A to see ‘Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones’ and ‘Magnificence of the Tsars’ back in March.”
Despite this small setback, Elizabeth has the same enthusiasm for her organising duties as ever and believes that so long as she has her health and strength will continue as a GTO for the forseeable future. Coming up, Elizabeth has day trips booked to see Madam Butterfly at the London Coliseum in June and Fantazie by Le Grande Cirque at Wycombe Swan Theatre in July. Visits to The National Trust’s Ascott House, in Buckinghamshire, in July and Cottesbrooke Hall and Gardens, in Northampton, in August, also feature. Additionally, she is thinking of introducing her first UK overnight break explaining, “My husband and I have arranged a handful of European breaks in the past to countries such as Italy, Belgium and Holland but we stopped them in 2005 because they became too much work to organise on top of everything else. I think an overnight break in the UK would be a good alternative to these.” All Elizabeth and Howard’s hard work seems to be paying off as she smiles, “Some people have been coming on the trips since the very beginnings of H.O.P.E. Long may it continue!”