Among friends
Carrie Drage talks to Eileen Booker, Administrator for the Friends of the Marlowe Theatre, in Canterbury, who has recently welcomed her 10,000th member.
Positioned on a wall in the main foyer of The Marlowe Theatre, in Canterbury, is a notice board dedicated to the Friends of the Marlowe. Appropriately enough, it is here that I am met by a smiling Eileen Booker, the Friends’ Administrator. I am then shown into the bar where there is a model of how the theatre will look on completion of its extension, due to start being constructed in 2009. Eileen explains, “When the theatre closes, the productions are going to be held in a big top and local halls, which is not what people have become accustomed to. This is why the group trips are so important, because I feel it is a way to keep our core membership with us throughout the building work.”
It is not surprising that this is such a high priority when you consider that the Friends of the Marlowe has more than 10,000 members, an accomplishment that was celebrated in December with a member selected at random to receive a free meal at the nearby Abode Hotel and a chance to watch a performance from the wings. In fact, it is quite a feat when you consider that the organisation was only formed 14 years ago. Eileen explains, “The Friends of the Marlowe was formed to bring together people with a love of the theatre. As a member you pay an annual subscription, which entitles you to discounted theatre tickets and free backstage theatre tours, amongst other benefits.”
Eileen is understandably proud of this achievement, particularly since she has been a part of the Friends of the Marlowe since its inception. She has worked at the Theatre for 19 years altogether, originally as the Theatre Director’s Secretary and Secretary to the Friends of the Marlowe. She made the move to Friends’ Administrator five years ago, which has seen her organising at least 60 UK and continental trips annually for her members, more recently with the help of her new assistant, Sue Collins.
Eileen is the only paid member on the 13-strong committee of the Friends of the Marlowe and, as her role is full-time, she spends a lot of hours at the theatre fulfilling her other responsibilities. Consequently, she is unable to attend all of her trips and, on such occasions, other members of the committee ‘host’ the trips.
Setting the agenda
Although the Friends of the Marlowe has been running for 14 years, the group trips are a relatively new addition. Eileen explains, “June Brewer (Chairman of the Friends of the Marlowe) began doing trips to other theatres five or six years ago.” She continues, “I was hosting one of the trips and whilst we were stopped outside the Houses of Parliament, someone in the seat behind me said ‘Eileen, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have an outing to the Houses of Parliament. It grew from there really.’”
Eileen is in the enviable position of being oversubscribed for all her trips and it is not uncommon for her to have to lay on extra coaches. She comments, “Many of our members who come on the trips are single and the outings are a great way for us to introduce them to other single people. We are definitely friends with a capital ‘F’!”
City escapes
Eileen organises half of her UK day trips through the same tour operator, London-based City & Village Tours, and the rest she arranges directly with attractions. She found the company on the internet and is so impressed with its services that she keeps going back. She states, “I can’t talk highly enough about their Blue Badge Guides, which are included in the price of the packages.” With City & Village Tours, Eileen must provide her own coach transport and she has been using the same coach company for the past five years. She explains, “We use Canterbury-based coach company Leo’s Pride for outings and have such a good working relationship with the drivers.” In fact, one of the drivers, Iain Robertson, visits Eileen every six months to help her plan itineraries.
Although Eileen has organised many successful outings during her five years as Administrator, the most popular trips are always the London visits. Last year alone, she organised 24 coaches to the capital.
In April last year, Eileen put together a trip called ‘Belfast & Blitz’, which combined an outing to HMS Belfast with a trip to Winston Churchill’s Britain at War Experience. She says, “The visit to HMS Belfast was great because we were able to get a private guided tour.” She continues, “The Britain at War Experience was also very interesting as many of our members were senior citizens. It was like a trip down memory lane for them.”
Another popular outing in spring 2006 was to the Brick Lane Music Hall, in east London. She booked directly with the venue and originally took along two coachloads of members on separate days. Eileen found that because she had enough people to fill the entire theatre they put on extra performances especially for her. She says, “We had afternoon tea first, which was fantastic. We were brought in a cake stand filled with cakes, which were apparently from Harrods.” In fact, the members enjoyed the trips so much that Eileen did two repeat outings that Christmas.
Eileen is always keen to try out new ideas and one that proved to be particularly popular was an outing to Lords Cricket Ground and Chelsea Football Club last August. She took along four coachloads aand was pleased that it attracted people she had never before seen on an outing. She raves, “The guides we had at Lords Cricket Ground were excellent and to see the Ashes close up and to hear all the stories was fantastic.” She continues, “At Chelsea Football Ground we were guided by an Elvis impersonator and he was such a character. I’ve never been inside a football ground in my life but to go in the dressing rooms and walk up the tunnel was very interesting.”
Another popular trip is a boat ride on the Regents Canal combined with a walking tour of Hidden London, which is a City & Village Tours itinerary. In 2006, Eileen took 11 coachloads of people on this trip. She reveals, “We started the tour at St. Paul’s Cathedral and ended at St. Bartholomew’s Church. It was unbelievable. The Blue Badge Guide showed us things you would never know were there.” Similarly oversubscribed were the four London Docklands outings last November, which were also arranged through City & Village Tours. “We did a walking tour round Canary Wharf, which was fascinating,” she says.
Attracting a slightly smaller crowd were the four outings to the Magic Circle, the London headquarters for the world organisation of magicians. She says, “It opens to the public twice a week and gives you a chance to see magic close-up.”
Best of the rest
Eileen also organises plenty of day trips elsewhere in the UK and some of her most successful outings have been to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in Surrey. These trips include a commentated riverboat ride down the River Thames from Westminster Pier to Kew. Eileen explains, “This trip attracts lots of senior citizens and ideally for us, the Gardens offers a free minibus service, which takes you round to points of interest, allowing you to hop on and hop off as and when you like.”
Another outing that brings back good memories is the trip to Hampton Court Palace last June, which Eileen booked through Historic Royal Palaces. She says, “When you arrive at the entrance, you go to the designated groups desk, which effectively lets you jump the queue.” The members enjoyed the day tremendously, particularly the guided tour of the Palace. She says, “At the gate we were approcahed by an independent guide, called Graham, and he was the best money we have ever spent. He took us through all the different periods at the Palace.”
The following month, the Friends visited Runnymede and Windsor Castle, another trip Eileen arranged herself. She states, “Windsor is a nice place to visit and the Castle is lovely. It made a nice day out.”
Around the same time, Eileen took a coachload of her members to the Imperial War Museum Duxford. “It was the day before the air show and we saw them rehearsing, which was great,” she explains.
In addition to Eileen’s annual trips, June Brewer still organises all the theatre outings, which has seen them visiting West End shows such as The Sound of Music, Mamma Mia!, The Phantom of the Opera and Wicked. June gets all her tickets from Group Line and is happy with the service provided. Eileen says, “We always get excellent seats at a very reasonable rate. When we went to see Tommy Steele in Scrooge, I was in the front row!”
Another popular trip arranged by June is to The Mill at Sonning, in Oxfordshire. Last summer, the members enjoyed a production called Time of My Life. Eileen enthuses, “It’s wonderful. You have a really good Sunday lunch then go into a little theatre that probably seats 200 people. If you’re sitting in the front row, your feet are almost on the stage.”
The French connection
Although most of Eileen’s outings are UK day trips, last year she introduced continental outings to the diary, which she arranged through Leo’s Pride.
In May last year, Eileen took two coaches to Paris for a two-night break in the French capital. It was the first time she had ever done an overnight trip and it proved to be extremely popular. So much so that she repeated the trip in September. She explains, “Our coach driver, Iain, had lived in Paris for six years and knew the city like the back of his hand.”
Eileen also arranges numerous day trips to France. In 2006, she organised a visit to the Lille Christmas markets, which ended up with the host in hospital following an epileptic fit. Eileen explains, “When Sue was taken into hospital, our coach driver took everything over. He gathered all the people together, took them for a meal and made sure everybody got back to England. That sort of thing is so invaluable.”
Outings to Ypres, in Belgium, have also proved memorable. Two coachloads took the trip last September, which included a visit to the Tyne Cote war graves and the Menin Gate Ceremony. She says, “On the coach, we were read some moving poetry, which really added to the experience.”
Planning ahead
When it comes to the future, Eileen already has endless trips planned for this year, which include the Tutankhamun exhibition at the O2 and a three-day trip to Rheims, in France as she is keen to introduce more overnight breaks. She is also looking forward to an outing to Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot in June. “I am hoping to arrange champagne and canapes for when members get off the coach,” she reveals.
Although her role is hard work, she enjoys it immensely and, at the age of 63, is in no hurry to retire. “When people get off the coach and you see the pleasure on their faces, it’s worth all the hard work!” she smiles.