|
The programme is developing well
and I am pleased to offer just as interesting a tour as last time, if
not better! The only repetition is another trip to London, but no one
can ever have enough of that!
Unlike UK05 when the group stayed in 3 different
places, UK08 is going to be done from a single place – Birmingham. For
those of you unfamiliar with UK geography, Birmingham is in the middle,
and as we often say “two hours from everywhere”. The tour will go from
Birmingham every day, with a mixture of coach travel, trains, and
walking tours.
The programme (a draft of which appears below)
begins and ends in Birmingham, and my arrangements will start assuming
you have got to Birmingham on the Saturday afternoon/evening. Travel
will almost certainly be able to be provided from Birmingham
International Airport, and advice on transfers from other airports will
be given. You can get to Birmingham from any of the UK airports.
First ringing will not be until Sunday after
lunch. Having learned a little bit of a lesson last time, i.e. don’t
take the tour to a couple of 12s, and an unringable 8 first day, this
time the Sunday afternoon is a trip around four very good light rings in
south Birmingham.
Fixed Cost
As I have said before, I am acutely aware of the
weakening of the US dollar in particular since UK05 and therefore I have
been doing a lot of work to be able to guarantee that UK08 is no more
expensive in US$ terms than UK05 was. Excluding travel to the UK, the
cost of UK08 should be no more than £810, or US$1620, including food and
drink.
Accommodation is the key to the cost, and the
value is being achieved in 2 ways. First, some Birmingham members of the
Society have agreed to provide free accommodation within their own homes
for part of the tour. Secondly there is a Wetherspoons in Birmingham
which has a hotel attached – a “Wetherlodge”. The price pppn in the
Wetherlodge is under £27.50. By providing between 60 and 70 nights B&B
we can get the accommodation bill down from the £450 it was on average
last time down to £330.
I have based all these prices on 20 members people
being in the group. There were certain days last time when there were
fewer than that, and other days when there were more than that. A coach
here costs about £400 to hire for one day. Our train journeys
(Cambridge, Manchester, Liverpool) should not be more than £20 each on
group tickets, and a couple of days (Worcester and Lichfield) the
tickets will be a lot less. I have factored this all in.
Eating and drinking
We will usually be out and about at lunchtime and
will have pub lunches. As was found out on UK05, there is one chain of
pubs in England called Wetherspoons which is characterised by large
interesting buildings, wide real ale selection and very cheap food,
including many “Two meals for £6” type offers. Beer in Wetherspoons is
always well under £2 per pint, soft drinks are cheap, and the further
north you go the cheaper it gets. So provided people don’t get sick of
Wetherspoons we will seek them out! Generally eating in pubs in England
it is difficult to spend more than £8 on a meal, and quite easy to spend
£5 or less. The Wetherlodge in Birmingham does a £3 full English
breakfast, if you can stand the fat ...
There will be a few evenings where food and drink
is provided by your hosts. There will be one dinner which will be above
averagely expensive, in Worcester, but probably not as expensive as the
Country Meeting Dinner was in 2005.
Ringing Focus
One change in the balance of the ringing on UK08
to UK05 is that I want to organise more specific focus for each of you,
if there is something you specifically want to ring or conduct. So there
will be the opportunity to ring a peal or quarter of what you want, with
a strong band. Don’t set your sights too low – UK05ers were surprised at
what they achieved in two weeks.
Commitment
There is not going to be any latest deadline for
saying you are coming, but the earlier I know people are coming the
easier it will be to plan.
Finally, there is no minimum standard of method
ringing required. The tour will cater for all method ringing
capabilities, although we will be aiming to maintain a good standard of
striking at all times. This should be a great opportunity to make
progress and break through barriers.
I do hope you are able to come and contribute to
UK08 being even better than UK05.
Best wishes
Simon Linford |
