Trip to The
Normandy Beaches & Bayeux - Friday 17th to Sunday 19th July 2020.
Following hot on the heels of this year’s successful trip to The Somme we have
decided to move away from WWI and on to WW2 for our trip next year, 2020.
Once again the trip is being guided by our very own military expert Clive and
anyone who has been on either of our last two trips can attest that he is
extremely knowledgeable, interesting and makes the trip come alive with his
tales and anecdotes.
This time we have decided to make this a three day, two night trip to enable us
sufficient time to visit various sites of interest. We will be leaving early
Friday morning, returning mid evening on the Sunday.
We are basing ourselves in Bayeux, that of the famous tapestry, as it has a
wide selection of hotels and B & B’s
to suit all budgets as well as numerous restaurants and watering holes.
As before it is up to you to book (and pay for !) your own accommodation for
the two nights that we will be in Bayeux. It is of course entirely up to the
individual but on most websites you can book accommodation with free
cancellation up to the day before arrival which may be prudent in case of
emergencies.
As the coach will drop off and pick up from an as yet unidentified location in
the town centre it is probably best to stay somewhere centrally, also handy for
bars and restaurants. Clive, myself and more importantly the coach will be
staying at the Campanile Bayeux.
As before, we have tried to keep the cost down as much as possible whilst at
the same time being mindful of the fact that we want to make donations to both
The Upbeats and the Charlton Museum in lieu of Clive providing his valuable
time and knowledge free of charge.
As a result, the cost of this trip will be £105 per person which includes the
hire of the coach and driver for three days, the drivers accommodation and
meals, the Eurotunnel fees and donations to charity.
We will require a deposit of £50 per person which is held securely in a bank
account and will be returned in full if we do not get sufficient numbers to
make the trip viable. The remaining balance of £55 per person will be due by
30th April 2020. Once we have committed to paying both the Eurotunnel fees and
the hire of the coach refunds will only be possible if another person can be
found to take your place.
There are just 43 spaces available for this trip and these will be allocated on
a first come first served basis. Once you have decided you would like to book a
place(s) then please message me and I will provide you with the bank account
details for your deposit(s). (Please note that this is NOT the same account as
for previous trips). When your deposit(s) are received I will message you
confirmation of receipt and then your places(s) will be secured. Please quote
your Charlton Life user name when making your payment. If you want to make full
payment of £105 pp up-front then please feel free to do so.
Please find below the initial itinerary but please note that
at the moment all times are approximate until we can book the Eurotunnel
crossings but we don’t expect them to change significantly.
That’s all for now folks (thank gawd I hear you say) except to say that both
Clive and I hope to see you on the trip. Any questions of either of us please
ask on this thread or private message us. If there is a particular site,
cemetery or place you would like to visit please ask and we will do our best to
work it into the itinerary. It is such personal visits that make our trips all
that more interesting and poignant.
Many thanks
Neal and Clive
Itinerary
Friday 17th July 2020 - Day One
Comments
Have messaged you too
I don’t want to muck you about so you’ll have to count me out I’m afraid.
I’d already reserved the Campanile for the 2 nights and will keep it until I know for definite but that probably won’t be for a while yet.
take your sister away for the weekend ;-))
What Clive doesn’t know, isn’t worth bothering about and is such an engaging guide.
The organisation is also spot on and you get to spend a couple of days with likeminded Addicks (plus the money raised goes to 2 great causes).
Am so gutted I probably won’t be able to make it.
have replied
The museum appreciates all the money raised.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/the-war-grave-lady-detectives-when-bodies-are-unearthed-at-world-war-battle-sites-a-team-of-dedicated-women-set-to-work-to-identify-the-fallen-heroes-and-even-the-smallest-of-clues-can-give-families-peace-at-last/ar-BBWqPwL?ocid=ientp
an interesting article, the case mentioned near the end featured on a special Long Lost Family episode recently that should still be available on catch-up
https://www.greenwich.co.uk/roll-of-honour-1914-1918/
Been out of the loop a bit this year due to family illness/problems so really looking forward to this.
My own interest is primarily family history - and on the eve of Remembrance Sunday, I remember that the Ypres Salient was where my father's cousin 2nd Lt James Brooker MM died in in 1917. I have now not only seen the field where that happened, but thanks to Clive have so much better understanding of the life he lived as a soldier.
The Somme battlefield was where he (then a Sergeant) had received a "Blighty wound" - and last year I saw the place where this happened. It was after recovering from this wound that he was accepted for officer training - no mean achievement for a lad who came from the humblest of working class backgrounds, and one of which his aunt, my grandmother, was inordinately proud.
So I have leapt at the chance to visit Normandy, where my Dad landed at Arromanches in 1944. He was always reticent about his experiences there - but I do know that somewhere between Bayeux and Caen he "liberated" some very ripe Camembert cheeses, and posted 2 of them home to Peckham, to supplement the meagre cheese ration. Unfortunately for the GPO staff, they passed a rather warm weekend in the Peckham sorting office, and stank the place out, before the postman could deliver them on the Monday! I will be thinking of him tomorrow as well.
Each trip has also had its own Charlton connections, as is only right and proper for a CL trip, and I see 2020 will continue this welcome tradition, both in honouring Charlton player Geoff Reynolds, and in making charity donations to the Upbeats and the Charlton Museum.
Each has been impeccably organised by Neal, and I am in awe of how Clive encompasses such wide-ranging interests and knowledge in his accounts of the places visited. Thank you both.
Roll on, 17 July 2020!!