No time to retire
Excursions Secretary, Christine Almey, has been arranging trips for the Leicestershire County Council Retirement Association for nearly eight years now and organised her first trip outside mainland Europe this year. Carrie Drage learns more.
Christine Almey first became interested in a role as a GTO after retiring from her 25-year teaching position at a school for physically handicapped and delicate children. She says, “Within my position, I was responsible for arranging trips for the students, so after I retired on health grounds, in 1992, I decided to take up a similar voluntary position as Excursions Secretary for the Leicestershire County Council Retirement Association. I’ve now been in the role for about eight years,” reveals Christine, also known as Chris to her members.
The association is open to retired Leicestershire County Council workers and as has members from all areas of the organisation including education, social services and school meals. Chris adds, “To join the association, you don’t have to be working for Leicestershire County Council when you retire. It’s open to anyone who has worked for the Council at any point in their career. For this reason, we get some people that have moved away from the area but meet up with us on some of our trips in London and other parts of the country. Members are also free to bring a guest along if they so wish.”
The association was first established 20 years ago by employees of the county council and has since grown to incorporate 1,200 members who each pay a one-off lifetime membership fee of £15. The association also receives assistance from Leicestershire County Council. Chris says, “County Hall take care of all our printing and postage costs, which includes all publicity for upcoming trips such as our quarterly newsletter.”
The creative process
Aside from newsletter committee meetings where details of trips to be publicised are checked, Christine meets every eight weeks with the full committee. She says, “Sometimes, other association members come up with ideas for future trips although most of the time I pick up leaflets, browse the internet or read publications such as Group Travel Organiser magazine and literature from The National Trust and English Heritage.” She continues, “I find The National Trust Groups Guide particularly helpful for finding unusual behind the scenes guided tours. Back in October, 40 of my members returned from a special Bess of Hardwick tour that involved climbing inside the roof rafters at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire!”
In addition to the newsletter, the association now has its own website, which Chris regularly uploads information to herself. She says, “Last year, an ex-pupil of mine suggested that we have a website featuring information on upcoming trips and photographs from past outings. He went about creating it for us and then showed me how to update it.”
A taste of England
Chris organises roughly one day trip a month, normally for a coachload of members each time, and the transport is booked through Hamiltons Coaches, based in Kettering. She says, “We used to use Alan Smith & Son Coaches, in Market Harborough, where we built up a rapport with one of the drivers. It seemed only natural to follow him to his new company, Hamiltons Coaches, whom we have remained loyal to ever since. We also get a good rate here, which is great.”
When it comes to most of her trips, Chris does not like to make her plans too rigid. She says, “I like to give people free time to do their own thing as with such a broad range of members, it is inevitable that there will be people with very different interests.” She laughs, “I like to refer to it as organised chaos!”
Chris is always keen to try something a little out of the ordinary and once a year arranges a visit with an industrial theme in mind. She says, “Three years ago, I saw a television news programme about rhubarb farming and thought this would make an interesting day out so I combined a guided tour of E Oldroyd & Sons, in Wakefield, a rhubarb farm that forms part of the ‘rhubarb triangle’ in West Yorkshire, with a talk on liquorice at Pontefract Museum. After all, Bassett’s Liquorice Allsorts were first produced in Sheffield.”
Another popular industrial-themed trip was the visit to the Coventry-based Jaguar factory, in 2003, which has since closed and, next year, Chris is planning a guided tour of construction company JCB in Derbyshire. She is combining this with a visit to the newly refurbished Childhood Museum at Sudbury Hall, belonging to The National Trust.
One trip that stands out for Chris is the 2005 visit to Lord’s Cricket Ground, in London, which happened to coincide with the English cricket team bringing home the recently contested Ashes Urn. She comments, “There was such a great atmosphere at the ground that day.”
Another trip that Chris recalls with fondness is the 2006 visit to the Bank of England Museum, again in London. She explains, “One of my members is the mother of Andrew Bailey, Executive Director, Banking Services & Chief Cashier, whose signatures can be found on all bank notes.” She continues, “The lady contacted her son and arranged for him to give a talk to the group, which is something he has never done before, ever.” Chris combined the visit to the Bank of England Museum with a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament, which she arranged through her local MP. “That day, we learnt where money comes from and also where it goes to in Britain!” she chuckles.
In October last year, Chris organised a day trip to Hull, in East Yorkshire, which she found to be very good value. She says, “I arranged a Shop Ahoy! package with Hull TIC for the morning, which included a ‘Walking with Wilberforce’ guided walk, created in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire, and lunch.” She also gave people the option of visiting The Deep in the afternoon. She says, “Everyone really loved The Deep. I’d definitely take a group there again.”
Although the majority of Chris’ outings receive enough interest to fill a 48-seater coach, some day trips attract larger numbers. She comments, “I took 102 people to Liverpool in July for the Tall Ships’ Race and, back in February this year, 75 members went to see China’s Terracotta Army exhibition at the British Museum.”
One of the companies that Chris regularly uses is London-based City & Village Tours, which provide tours on your own coach and on foot. She says, “The tours are always very well-organised and the guides are thoroughly knowledgeable.” In the past, the group have enjoyed a Christmas at Windsor tour and a Legal London tour, which happened to coincide with the run-up to the Inquest into the death of Princess Diana at the Royal Courts of Justice. Last autumn, she booked a tour called Under the Bearskin, which was supposed to include a chance to see the Changing the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
Unfortunately, this was cancelled due to bad weather so Chris wrote a letter to the Royal Household Division. She says, “To compensate, I was sent 50 tickets to the Major General’s Review in May, which is a ceremony that forms part of the Trooping the Colour Queen’s birthday parade.”
As with many other associations, theatre trips remain popular with Chris’ members. West End trips make up a large amount of her programme and in recent years, the group have seen shows such as Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Billy Elliot and Hairspray. She tends to book these trips through London-based ticketing agency Group Line. Chris comments, “Group Line normally only hold tickets for a month; however, they are happy to extend this period if necessary.”
Milton Keynes Theatre is another venue that Chris applauds. She says, “The theatre was built with the disabled and elderly folk in mind as it has plenty of toilets and plenty of lifts.” The group have enjoyed a number of productions here, including the pantomimes Peter Pan and Cinderella. Chris also rates the theatre’s group booking service explaining, “I have two people in my group who have difficulty seeing the stage and I am always able to get a couple of seats for them in the first three rows.” She adds, “Another benefit is that you don’t have to pay in full until a month before the show, which is perfect for me as a GTO.”
Overnight opportunities
In addition to days out, Chris also likes to organise short breaks in the UK at least once a year.
Six years ago, she booked a three-night visit to Edinburgh, in Scotland, which included transport provided by Yorks Coaches of Northampton, which forms part of the Bowen Travel Group. Chris remarks, “I have a good rapport with the staff at Yorks Coaches and the vehicles are always very comfortable. I have used them on several occasions.” The group of 35 stayed at the Premier Inn Edinburgh Central hotel, which is located behind Edinburgh Castle. She adds, “We took in the Edinburgh Tattoo at the Castle on one of the evenings. In my opinion, we had some of the best seats in the house; front row tickets facing the gate as the parade came in.”
Meanwhile, in 2006, 15 people visited Carlisle overnight with Woods Coaches, based in Leicester. She remarks, “Woods Coaches are very well-known in the local area and a lot of my members use the firm as individuals.” She adds, “To break up the coach journey, I arranged a steam train ride from Settle in Yorkshire to Carlisle in Cumbria, which was very scenic. This is a scheduled service that forms part of the National Rail Network.”
In 2007, Chris booked a break at Warner Leisure Hotel’s Littlecote House, through Wakefield-based Clarksons Holidays. She comments, “This was the first time I’d used Clarksons Holidays and I found them to be very accommodating.” Nearly 100 members stayed at the hotel over a single five-day period in January. Following positive feedback, Chris decided to book a similar break, again through Clarksons Holidays, for January 2008, except the group, which had increased to three coachloads, stayed at Cricket St Thomas, in Somerset. She says, “The members loved the wildlife park, which is on the same site as the hotel.” In fact, this has prompted me to book a visit to West Midland Safari & Leisure Park in the spring.
International itineraries
This year, in September, Chris and 14 of her members embarked on a trip to Iceland, the Association’s first group holiday outside of mainland Europe. She says, “I booked the seven-night trip through Middlesex-based Collette Worldwide Holidays. Our tour manager was the best we’ve ever had and the early morning lectures about the history of the country and its geology were very interesting.” She adds, “I never for one moment thought I would get so many takers as I assumed the holiday would be too expensive.”
Continental holidays always go down well with the group and Madeira, Barcelona and Rome are destinations have been booked through Yorks Travel, another division of Bowens Travel Group, in the past. She remembers, “The five-day Barcelona trip in September 2002 coincided with the La Mercè festival so there were concerts in the streets and fireworks displays. All 15 members of the group loved it!”
Chris has also arranged a couple of river cruises with The River Cruise Line in Market Harborough. Thirty-five people cruised the Dutch waterways over a five-day period in 2006 and, the following year, 19 members enjoyed a seven-day Rhine cruise. Chris says, “Both cruises were super. We sailed on the ‘mps Lady Anne’, which was a lovely ship with great crew and wonderful food. I would definitely use the company again.”
What the future holds
Chris is always brimming with ideas for day trips and holidays and would not find it difficult to arrange an outing a week, or even a day. As it stands, she never has much time to spend at her own house. She laughs, “My members joke that I should get a council tax rebate because I never spend any time at home!”
With the year nearly over, she is frantically planning for 2009 and already on the cards is a day trip to Brussels by Eurostar in March, a short break to the Scottish Highlands, the Castle of Mey and the Orkneys with Norwich-based just for groups! in May, and an Agatha Christie themed holiday in Torquay in October, again booked through just for groups!