{"id":1276,"date":"2003-09-27T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-09-27T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/2003\/09\/27\/meeting-news-from-london-11\/"},"modified":"2018-01-02T08:32:44","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T08:32:44","slug":"meeting-news-from-london-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/meeting-news-from-london-11.html","title":{"rendered":"Meeting News from London"},"content":{"rendered":"

Globetrotters meeting 6th<\/sup> September 2003
\n by Padmassana<\/a><\/b>\n <\/p>\n

We had a very special guest join us at the September Globetrotters meeting,
\n despite not being announced, we were honoured that Mary-Jane Sweet<\/b>
\n from the Texas Globetrotter<\/b> branch popped in to say hello (and
\n enjoyed a pint or two at our local pub!) on her way back from a solo trip
\n to Prague. Great to see you Mary-Jane, and thanks for coming to say hello!\n <\/p>\n

If you are coming to London and have time on the first Saturday of every
\n month, contact the Beetle<\/a>,
\n and she will arrange to meet you and bring you to a London Globetrotters
\n meeting. <\/p>\n

John Gimlette<\/b> was our first speaker who introduced us to the
\n South American country of Paraguay. He told us that 60% of cars in the
\n country are actually stolen, usually from Argentina and Brazil and that
\n many of the people live by selling goods on the streets, anything from
\n oranges to goldfish in plastic bags. John showed us a photo of the Legislate
\n building in Ascunsion that has a hole in its façade, this is due
\n to a tank that was supposed to be starting a coup, however nobody else
\n turned up and the tank ran out of petrol! John’s slides showed us
\n other aspects of Paraguay including a British built railway that was closed
\n in 2000 after a girl was killed and the Mennonites of German descent that
\n live alongside the native Paraguayans but still speak a 16th<\/sup>
\n Century Germanic dialect. We also saw the two Italian built gunboats of
\n the Paraguayan navy dating from 1928, not to mention the fact that Paraguay
\n is a landlocked country! To read more about Johns adventures in Paraguay
\n read his book entitled “At the tomb of the inflatable pig”.\n <\/p>\n

Our second speaker was ex Globetrotters President Richard Snailham<\/b>
\n who last spoke to Globetrotters 33 years ago. (Padmassana was 6 at the
\n time and needless to say was not present!) Along with intrepid explorer
\n John Blashford Snell, Richard took part in an expedition using read boats
\n on the rivers of Bolivia and Paraguay. Like John before him, Richard gave
\n us a few facts about Bolivia, such as the country is named after Simon
\n Bolivar and that the Bolivians have a poor record of going to war which
\n currently leaves them at 0-7. Like Paraguay, Bolivia has a navy despite
\n being landlocked, he showed us pictures of two warships that were originally
\n British. The expedition aimed to follow the rivers using a traditionally
\n built reed boat and with the help of the Bolivian navy’s low loader
\n they got to their starting point. However not without having to chop bits
\n off the boat to get it under road bridges and giving La Paz a power cut
\n when trying to get under electric cables. John showed us photos of the
\n boats progress down river which was slow, mainly due to the low water
\n level, which meant they had to portage the boats on lorries to find water
\n deep enough and at one point having to push the reed boat with a dinghy
\n with an outboard motor in order to not be pushed back from where they
\n had come! Part of the expedition was medical, this included two dentists
\n who removed over 1000 teeth during the trip! Eventually they ran out of
\n navigable river so one boat was given to the Bolivian navy, one to a children’s
\n park and the third, they burned! To read more about Richards’s journey
\n pick up a copy of his book “Kota Mama”. <\/p>\n

Coming up on Saturday th<\/sup> October, Roger Widdecombe<\/b>
\n will talk about: “It ain’t a Holiday,” his experiences
\n on taking part in Raleigh International expeditions Ghana W Africa. Roger
\n took part in three Raleigh International expeditions to Ghana from September
\n 2001 to September 2002. Acting as a volunteer member of staff, he undertook
\n the roles of expedition photographer and fundraiser and also staged the
\n first sponsored Abseil Challenge event to be held in that country. <\/p>\n

Following Roger, Juliet Coombe<\/b> will be telling us all about Great
\n Festivals around the World. This is Juliet's latest publication –
\n how to party your way around the World while discovering the origins of
\n each fiesta. <\/p>\n

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court,
\n behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday
\n of each month (exept for bank holiday weekends). There is no London meeting
\n in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you
\n can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit
\n the website:<\/i><\/b> www.globetrotters.co.uk<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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