Tuesday 11^th August 2020

“The Old East End of London”

In place of our postponed visit to Weston Park in August 2020, we enjoyed an excellent virtual tour by award winning Pepe Martinez, a London Blue Badge Guide and tutor, on one of London’s most fascinating districts.

This told us the story of wave after wave of people coming to London to seek refuge, looking for a better life. Using powerful images, video and google street views we saw the arrival of French Huguenots and the 1680’s through to the more than 10.000 Jewish Kindertransport children who arrived at Liverpool Street station in 1939.

 

Friday 18^th December 2020

Virtual online tour – “The Spirit of Christmas”

This Christmas special live online virtual day visit will be celebrating all things Christmassy. 

We recommend a mince pie and glass of Christmas cheer to hand as you enjoy this extra treat.

Presented by Tourist Guides Pepe Martinez, an award- winning London Blue badge Tourist Guide and accredited Institute of Tourist Guide Trainer who is currently tutoring on the London Blue badge training course, and Simon Whitehouse, also an award- winning Blue badge Guide and Lecturer at the Ithaca College London Centre.

This extra special Christmas extravaganza will be in two parts.  Part one will explore the history of all those Christmas traditions we now take for granted such as Christmas crackers, mince pies, Christmas cards and the Christmas tree.

After a short interval, part two will be a virtual Version of “Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol” which will be presented jointly by Pepe and Simon.

This event will be streamed online on Friday 18^th December 2020 at 11:00am via a link sent to members only and available by this link to YouTube for 48 hours only.

You might also be interested in Pepe’s “Blue Badge Premium Virtual Tours”. Click here for more information.

Wednesday 14^th August 2019 – Belvoir Castle

Our visit to Belvoir Castle was a fascinating excursion into the history of the Duke of Rutland’s family since 1067.  We saw one of the finest examples of Regency architecture in the world in the castle today which was built in the early 1800s for the 5th Duke and is the fourth castle to stand on this site. The numerous paintings and treasures, which have been collected by the family for nearly 1,000 years, were wonderful.

The weather was against a full exploration of the gardens but a few intrepid members ventured to see how the lost plans of Capability Brown had come to fruition. Some also did the walks through formal gardens, woodland, Japanese, Duchess’s and Hermit’s gardens.

We also had very tasty food, drink, some retail therapy and good company.  In all a most enjoyable day.

Image – Belvoir Castle © By Nancy, Used under Licence: Creative Commons by SA 3.0