THE United Reformed Church Hall was filled to capacity with extra chairs being required as the Westbury and District U3A met on 11th February.
Opening remarks by the chairman gave an open invitation to all members to attend and observe committee meetings if interested. With the AGM coming shortly new members of the committee will be needed and perhaps this is an opportunity for members to consider offering to participate.
Peter Jane then spoke briefly on the activities of the photographic group and indicated that there is room for more members if anyone is interested.
The main speaker for the afternoon was Rosemary Wyeth who spoke about her experiences of being a tour guide. She commented that their aim was to encourage people to see, and although needing to get their facts right, the tours were not intended to be lectures, and the guides were expected to be spontaneous in their delivery and to speak without notes. A good relationship with the coach drivers is essential and an ability to adlib during prolonged traffic jams was an advantage.
Several amusing anecdotes illustrated the misunderstandings that could arise when driving coach loads of different nationalities. Even Americans sometimes use language in a different way than we do. Japanese tourists often have a very limited knowledge of English and rely on signs. On seeing the sign indicating speed cameras on a major road, they requested a stop for them to disembark and proceed to snap pictures al round. It seemed that they thought the sign meant this was a good place to view scenery and take camera shots!
Keeping to time for groups was always a problem and in one instance the driver was asked to wait while a family finished their pizza lunch break! The session ended with questions and a short debate over the suitability of the new Stonehenge Visitors Centre.
Next month’s speaker is well known on several local radio programmes. He has spoken on Wiltshire Sound, Great Western Radio, Radio 105.5; BBC Radio Wilts, BBC Radio Berks and the Channel 4 series ‘Dad’s Secret Army’. Although primarily an expert on military and political history, Bill King will be talking about ‘The Magic and Mystery of Glenn Miller’ on Tuesday 11th March at 2.00pm.
