The format is talks by eight to ten speakers for ten minutes giving a fast-paced journey around the Globe.
There are four to five talks before the break and four to five talks after the break, with each speaker having around 10 minutes to speak.
By tradition, we follow this meeting with a New Year Party post-meeting.
Everyone is invited to bring food and wine or soft drinks (we are not allowed beer or spirits) and participate!
Date & Time: Saturday 4th January 2025
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Admission costs:
£7 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
Speaking on Saturday, May 11, 2024 (on the 2nd Saturday) we have :
1st: Marco Carnovale – Maldives
Marco has travelled to the Maldives a dozen times over the last twenty years. As always, he preferred going off the beaten path, which in this case meant off the beaten island… He mostly sailed around the archipelago on small boats and while island hopping he stepped down and visited remote villages and deserted sand banks where few tourists ever venture.
He stayed with local families and ate their food, always curious about the culture of this small and proud nation. Drawing on his background as a political scientist, his presentation will touch on the society, politics and economics of the islands, as well as on the inescapable religious dimension of Maldivian life.
An avid SCUBA diver, he logged hundreds of dives and in his presentation, he will share photos of the underwater wonders of the Maldivian coral reefs, a fragile environment that is threatened by climate change and uncontrolled pollution.
Marco has written a book on his Maldivian travels: “Journeys through the Maldives” published on Amazon.co.uk in paperback, hardcover and e-book format. He will be happy to sign your copy after delivering his talk. An Italian version is available as well.
2nd: Simon Banks – Avoiding the Cold, Wet, Miserable and S.A.D. People of Britain” – Travel Lessons & Recent Life Adventures in NZ, Oz & Malawi.
Simon will be talking about travelling in Australia, New Zealand Malawi.
Date & Time: Saturday 11th May 2024
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Admission costs:
£7 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
Speaking on Saturday, September 7, 2024, we have :
1st: Chris Grant – Ethiopia – a land of extraordinary variety
Tucked away in the Horn of Africa lies extraordinary Ethiopia, a land with a truly ancient history, unique and hugely varied tribal cultures, amazing birdlife and a dramatic variety of other wildlife, with scenic beauties that range from the lofty Simien and Bale Mountains to the spectacular ribbon of picturesque lakes in the Ethiopian Rift Valley, and so much else.
The east of the country has venerated and ancient Islamic cultures, including the fourth holiest city in Islam, Harar. But the north of Ethiopia is devoutly Christian, with its own Ethiopian Orthodox Church that has existed for nearly two thousand years and which has given rise to amazing architecture and stunningly colourful artwork.
The deep south of the country is home to numerous unique tribal peoples with colourful and truly fascinating individual cultures that are unmatched anywhere in the world.
And binding all of this together are the ordinary people of Ethiopia who, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish or Animist, show an extraordinary warmth and quiet pride in everything they do. Their foods are unique, their clothes are unique, and they offer a genuine warmth of welcome to visitors. Ethiopia is by far the most varied and richly colourful country on the African continent.
Chris Grant has been associated with Ethiopia for over twenty-five years. His charity work has supported education and schooling in all sorts of ways during that time, and he has also led groups of visitors throughout this varied land for nearly fifteen of those years, continuing to learn about the fascinating history and cultures of these amazing people. I look forward to sharing some of my knowledge and my experiences with you and telling you about the sheer variety of this extraordinary country.
2nd: Jessica Finnamore – 10 weeks solo backpacking Central America
After graduating from uni last summer, I decided to take a year out to go travelling. I spent around 8 months in total in Central America, South East Asia, and India. This talk will discuss my favourite part of the trip; Central America, and what it’s like to travel there as a solo woman.
Date & Time: Saturday 7th September 2024
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Admission costs:
£7 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
AGM: The club AGM starts at noon (card-carrying members only)
Speaking at 2.45 pm we have:
1st: Sheila Robinson – Uzbekistan
In the 1970s Douglas and Sheila Robinson spent 18 months travelling overland in Asia. Two children and nearly 50 years later we are still exploring. In 2017 we spent just under a month in Uzbekistan. Travelling by plane, trains, buses and cars we went to the Aral Sea (what’s left of it), the ancient cities of Khiva, Bokhara and Samarkand, the desert at Nurata and a mini trek in the mountains. It is a fascinating country with some of the friendliest people we’ve ever met.
2nd: Jim Holmes – English Breakfast and the story of Ceylon tea
The slopes of Sri Lanka’s southern mountains are clothed in neat rows of low bushes that produce one of the country’s greatest exports, tea. The famed ‘English Breakfast’ name is known the world over, and disputed, but the story of tea in old Ceylon is far less refreshing. I toured hillside tea estates, factories and met the villagers who still hand pick this everyday product to bring you the true story of the UK’s favourite hot drink. From its beginnings in 1824, tea still goes through a growing and drying process that is little changed in 200 years, this is an industry steeped in tradition and the often questionable roles that colonialism set in place.
Introduction:Jim Holmes
Jim Holmes is a professional documentary photographer that has lived and worked around the world for over 30 years. Assignments have taken him to over 50 countries where he worked extensively on humanitarian projects for numerous international agencies. Making S.E. Asia his home for over 20 years he used this base to work around the region for commercial and not-for-profit clients. Jim has also worked on the visual documentation of large river hydropower projects, as well as for well-respected travel guide and educational publishers.
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Admission costs:
£7 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
1st: Brian Anderson – The High Life – the altiplano of Peru, Bolivia and Chile
Brian Anderson is a Wirral based, tutor, lecturer and travel photographer. For over 35 years he has travelled to 66 countries and territories around the world. North to South, from the North Pole to Antarctica, and East to West, from Japan to Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Based on his trips to South America in 2019 and 2023, he now takes us in this new talk, to the Andean altiplano (high plains) of Peru, Bolivia and Chile.
In a richly informative, colourful presentation, Brian shares with us the otherwordly landscapes and the amazing wildlife that survives in this barren, high altitude (14,000 – 16,000 ft asl) region.
We will also meet the proud indigenous people – the Aymara and Quechua – who live in these high altitudes, and look at their unique and colourful culture which is rooted in the remote environment.
This talk is a must for lovers of travel, diverse cultures and wildlife.
My journey from Long Covid to the northernmost point of Europe
Following an 18-month battle with Covid-19 and Long Covid, Neil Pitts decided that he needed a challenge. So, in the winter of 2022, he and two friends attempted to ski the length of Norway. A journey that took more than 3 months.
This long-distance route, known as the Norge på langs, is approximately 2,500km long. Only one or two people complete it during winter each year. Most fail.
Neil’s presentation, which includes images from the journey, not only describes this incredible challenge but also gives an insight into the obstacles he had to overcome just to get to the start line. Plagued by the effects of Long Covid and injuries prior to the trip, he had also never been on Nordic skis.
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Admission costs:
£7 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
1st: Mark Weston – Life and Death on Africa’s Greatest Lake.
Mark Weston, author of The Saviour Fish (a Daily Telegraph Travel Book of the Year in 2022), will discuss what it was like to spend two years living on remote Ukerewe Island in the Tanzanian half of Lake Victoria.
He will describe his adjustment to island life, his encounters with Ukerewe’s notorious witches, his nighttime expeditions with the illegal fishermen of his neighbourhood, and the rise and fall of the Lake Victoria Nile perch industry, which has impacted the lives of more than 20 million people. He will also share the ancient recipe of the island’s last banana beer brewer.
2nd: David Lee – In search of the real Ho Chi Minh Trail – when would you turn back?
David’s talk concentrates on a journey in pursuit of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a series of tracks and trails from North to South Vietnam used in the Vietnam War. We were a team of six riders on enduro motorcycles, and our route was met with many obstacles which we overcame by building bamboo bridges, crossing a swollen river by floating motorcycles on rafts, crossing dense bamboo jungles, and then sleeping on a riverbank next to hungry leeches and soulful-sounding frogs.
David has been going to Southeast Asia for over ten years in search of trail routes and themes for his company, RAMS Adventures.
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Admission costs:
£7 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
Speaking on Saturday, April 13, 2024 (on the 2nd Saturday) we have:
1st: Jacqui Trotter – Homegoing: Part 3.
Jacqui will be talking about travelling in 2019 back to Australia through pre-COVID Tibet, eastern China, Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand. From -20’C in Harbin to 38’C in Ayutthaya, I wanted the trip to go on and on.
Independent travel through China was much easier than I expected and Vietnam was a delight. Cambodia was fascinating and visiting Angkor Wat was a long-held dream! Thailand was a great place to take stock, play tourist and still visit places I had not been before.
Going home was something I had done many times before but this time was different – it would be my home for the next five years (and still is) and the world of travel would not be quite the same for any of us ever again.
2nd: Lucy Lethbridge – Tourists: How the British Went Abroad to find themselves
Lucy Lethbridge, author of Tourists: How the British Went Abroad to find themselves, will look at the rise of popular tourism in the 19th and early twentieth centuries. It is a story of business titans, new technologies, commerce, invention, snobbery, vision and nostalgia – and, with its apotheosis in the self-contained world of the beach resort, even a search for Eden.
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Admission costs:
£7 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
Ferry to “Ward’s Island” leaves at 10:30, 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, 13:30, 14:00, 14:30 Get your tickets on-line and leave early (you can deposit your ‘stuff’ at Bruce’s house, take a walk around the island, or go to the beach). Just as last year, we invite you to prepare a short presentation (20 pictures – 20 seconds each – see the attached info about Pecha Kucha format) and bring it on a memory stick. Any questions? – contact Svatka
