Guild AGM Weekend 16th - 18th November 2012

Many thanks to you and the Council for a superb Guild weekend.  I know it takes a huge commitment on everyone's part to put on such a high quality residential event but the effort was appreciated by the members and I didn't hear a negative comment at any point during the weekend.  The expertise of the speakers and the range of topics covered was brilliant and it showed the quality of the membership we have at our disposal.  I think so many of them wanted to make a contribution because they feel the Guild has been reinvigorated and they want very much to be a part of its continuing development.  As a very junior and recently joined Guild member, it was humbling to talk and socialise with some of my fellow guides and it made me realise how high the bar is set to become a badged member of the Guild, however, this will not stop me trying to qualify at some point in the future.

Rob Webb

Just a note to say thank you for an excellent weekend!   It was a superbly organised, a great success and much enjoyed by everybody

Peter Hewlett-Smith

Just a quick note to thank you and the council for an excellent weekend.

The one thing above all else that struck me (and I know the other newbies commented on it) was the culture of the Guild. It seemed like people were making a concerted effort to make sure we were included in what was going on. As someone who has fallen foul of cliquey groups in the past I can't tell you what a refreshing change it was to find such a welcome from every level. I think that's down to leadership.

Tim Lynch

Thanks for a superb weekend, great venue really well looked after by the staff, super food, great facilities and a great speaker programme. Was truly inspired by the AGM, felt there has been some drift in the Guild the past couple of years ,obvious things retirement and changes in council, loss of the patron etc but now feel you and Mike are getting a good grip with a supportive council and a wonderful new president.

Great weekend much enjoyed and work put into organising appreciated.

Chris John

What a great weekend. Unfortunately I had to leave early due to my lift and did not complete the feedback sheet. ALL the answers would have been in the highest category.

The venue was superb; service, accommodation and food were great, and it was easily accessible. I strongly urge the council to book it again for next year. I know the beer prices were somewhat higher than Officers Messes, but at least it had Real Ale!! – and it stayed open.

The standard and content of the presentations would have been difficult to better. I gained much from those I attended.

Terry Webb

For those who did not manage to attend the AGM at Bromsgrove, they missed a superb, inspirational and thought provoking week-end. The quality of the speakers was outstanding in such a small time capsule, with the Holts in their inimitable way, introducing a new term to battlefield guiding. Dark Tourism! Martin Middlebrook and Martin Marix-Evans as usual gave a clear and interesting insight into two very different periods of warfare and Clive Harris's talk on Gallipoli introduced a few extra problems on tour to consider. Hostile dogs and snakes??  Alain Chissel's talk from the perspective of the Tour Operator gave an insight to the real world of guiding, and touched on operators and customers conceptions of guides and what they expect from us, which can be quite different from what potential and current guides can think. To quote in precis form "It's not just about knowledge, you have to have 'passion', and can you talk to children?". What can I say about Mike Sheil's photographs from his series, 'Fields of Battle 1914-18'? Go and see them when you have the chance.  Only Mike can turn fields of past horror into todays landscapes of incredible beauty. Inspirational! Now where did I leave my camera?

Thanks to the GBG Team and in particular Tony Smith, Mike Peters, Vern Littley, and the rest, and we should all thank the staff of the Holiday Inn for their professionalism, and the care they took to make our weekend memorable.

Gordon Hill

Please pass on my thanks to everyone involved in putting together such an enjoyable weekend (one of the best yet in my opinion).  The speakers were excellent and I thought that the new venue worked very well.

Andrew Riddoch

Thank you and the other organisers very much for your hard work in ensuring the AGM was such a success, excellent venue, excellent speakers, excellent company! Thank you!

Scottie

Dieppe October 2012

Many thanks to Simon Worrall for organising a most successful weekend. It went like clockwork and we covered an enormous amount of ground. The input from everyone involved enlivened the debate and stretched our minds. The weather tried, but failed to dampen spirits, although on Saturday it succeeded in dampening just about everything else. Thanks to everyone for their excellent company and to those who chipped in for the H4H appeal; about £35 was raised.

Paul Oldfield

My heartfelt thanks for a brilliant weekend!

It's become the norm for superlatives to reign when describing Guild weekends, but this one really was up there with the best I've attended. WW2 raids aren't a strong point of mine, but I learned so much from the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed everyone's company.
I know how much work you put into it (not to mention stepping-in to cover for poor old Scotty, who missed a cracker) and you managed to make it one to remember.
Watch out, Dudley, - Simon's chasing your crown as "King of the Recce"!

Bob Brunsdon

Many thanks for all the hard work put into organising a most enjoyable and informative weekend - hope you got home OK last night.

To all those who went - thanks very much for your company and the amount of knowledge (and stories of guiding and other events) shared freely - and I hope to see you at the AGM or elsewhere.

Tim Stoneman

Thanks for all the effort you do to make this excellent tour. A good accommodation, good food (although I missed some lunches) good weather: rain, wind and sun but no snow!  The tour gives me a good impression of the ground and the possibilities if our tour with the Friends of the Airborne Museum in July 2013. I had to come again to Bruneval and Dieppe before we organise this 2013 coach tour.

Thanks to all members of the tour for their participation in the tour. Bob thanks again for the useful map.

Wybo Boersma

A warm greeting to all my wonderful friends in the Guild who were or sadly were not with us for that wild, wet windy week end at the Mercure (or elsewhere, Margaret and Francois!), and a huge thanks to everybody who put so much of their knowledge and energy into all those amazing presentations and stands (with or without loo and coffee breaks!). I have got the bug and am full of ideas of tracing any descendants of veterans and/or members of our Porteous Association and setting up a tour! If and when time permits, I shall send you any print outs that I had prepared to replace the wet ones we were handing around!

Of course words fail me even in print, as they did at dinner, for the amazing gift of the beautiful framed replica of Dad's VC. I showed it off to all the guests at the birthday party at Gueures and again at Michael Jones' talk to Battlefield Trust at the Tower.

Charmian Griffiths

The sheer height of the cliffs was impressive

Simon,

Thank you for organising an outstanding  weekend event. I thoroughly 

enjoyed myself and learned a lot.   It was great fun to spend the

weekend with such  great bunch of people came along.

It was a very well designed weekend  and the administration was flawless.  It isn't easy to get everything to work well and to have as smooth a running event as we did is a  mark of real expertise.  I suspect that you must have put in a lot of thought into this.

Frank Baldwin

Meeting the Mayor of Dieppe

Just a quick email to say thanks to Simon for organising and running a very interesting visit to Bruneval and Dieppe. 

I would also like to say thanks to every one who presented a stand or gave a presentation in the evening. They were very interesting and full of relevant information.

Finally it was good to meet every one from the Guild and I look forward to seeing most of you in November

Carl Hellicar

Charmian Griffiths where her father won the VC on 19 August 1942

Bob Brunsdon clanking and tanking – explaining how to waterproof a Churchill tank with a tin of Bostick and some bloomer (or was it balloon?) fabric – apparently it wasn’t a wind-up

Simon,

As has been said by all those who have already e-mailed, well done on organising a really good weekend event. The coverage was comprehensive and the company convivial. I certainly learned a lot.

When are you going to organise the next one??

Laurie Evanson-Goddard

Simon Worrall summing up at the junction of Red and White Beaches after a hugely successful weekend

Simon,

Many thanks for all the time and effort that you put into the Dieppe weekend. What a great and interesting group!

John Greene