Speaking in November we have:
A study tour of Hanseatic Cities, covering some of the history and geography of the Hanseatic
League including cities in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
Jo is an enthusiast for 20th century history and politics and has travelled the world visiting sites
that have shaped the recent past
Speaking in November we have:
A brief tour of some of the places around the world that are either now impossible or
very challenging to visit
Adventures in Peru, Chile and Ecuador featuring stunning scenery, incredible wildlife and
the local people we met on our travels.
Doors open at 1pm for 1:30pm start until 4:00pm,
The Grosvenor Museum, 25-27 Grosvenor Street, Chester, CH1 2DD.
Entrance fee £4 (£3 Globetrotters members) refreshments included.
For more information contact info@chesterglobetrotters.com – www.chesterglobetrotters.com
Volunteers needed to help organise events. Please contact us if you can help.
Speaking in November we have :
In November we had:
1st: Kevin Brackley – DC monuments and museums
2nd: Atlantic Escapade – From a Brighton Pub to Barbados – the Hard Way
Doors open at 14:15 BST in London. (TBC)
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
The Zoom meeting opens at 14:15 with the talks starting 14:30-14:45 BST (London time see Event Time Announcer for local times), please join early so we can deal with any issues with joining, if you have issues please try updating your Zoom client first, we are very limited in what we can do once the meeting has started.
Speaking in October we have :
1st: Linda Fox – Gorilla Tracking
2nd: Alan Palmer – On the Edge of the World.
Doors open at 14:00 BST in London. (TBC)
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participates via zoom.
The zoom meeting opens at 14:15 with the talks starting 14:30-14:45 BST (London time see Event Time Announcer for local times), please join early so we can deal with any issues with joining, if you have issues please try updating your zoom client first, we are very limited in what we can do once the meeting has started.
Speaking on Saturday, June 8, 2024 (on the 2nd Saturday) we have :
1st: Joe Sheffer – The Road to Oxiana.
When Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021 Joe Sheffer had been covering Afghanistan for nearly a decade as a cameraman and journalist. He decided to start taking tours to the country and his company – Safarāt – became the first foreign travel company offering tours in the new Afghanistan.
Three years later, Afghanistan is experiencing a tourism renaissance unseen since the hippy trail – spurred on by YouTubers, vloggers and travellers looking for adventure. But is travelling in Afghanistan ethical at the moment, or does it prop up a repugnant regime and should you think hard about visiting? Is the country’s sudden glut of tourists a disaster waiting to happen, or simply an important source of income for Afghans hungry to work and keen to show off their country to foreign guests?
Joe will have just returned from Nuristan – a place made famous by the writings of Eric Newby, and Wilfred Thesinger – will be presenting on his latest work in the province.
2nd: Mary Fogarty – Northern Greece: in search of Macedonian roots.
Last September Mary went with Australian Macedonian Victor to find his family roots in northern Greece. They arrived in Thessaloniki, where Victor was very taken with Alexander the Great (considered by Macedonians to be theirs, and by Greeks to be theirs!). From here it was a bus journey up to Florina, near the border with Macedonia, where they hired a car and took off into the mountains to visit the many villages where his parents, grandparents, and ancestors were all born. Here, despite the fact that they were clearly in Greece, it was interesting to discover that everyone was still speaking Victor’s parents’ old dialect of Macedonian …
Driving over the border to Northern Macedonia (ignoring bear warnings and the car hire’s disapproval), they visited Bitola and Lake Ohrid, a blissfully beautiful place where Mary longed to stay but no, after a few idyllic days, it was back to the old village for a Greek wedding, which went on all day, finishing up in a gigantic, Las Vegas-style ‘wedding reception hall’: here, 850 guests watched displays of fireworks and endless Greek/Macedonian dancing and horn playing; Mary took to drinking copious amounts of retsina and Coke, which was the ‘go to’ drink of the evening.
On the final leg of the journey, they took a six-hour bus journey down the backbone of Greece to Athens, where Victor was overwhelmed by the ancient Greek architecture and Mary by meeting a famous film director. Their last staging post was the heavenly island of Hydra, where mules have replaced cars, and the sea was the deepest blue … here Mary went swimming and Victor developed a chill, which was the beginning of another big drama …
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive before 14:45 and switch your phone to “do not disturb” or silent.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.
Speaking on Saturday, January 4, 2025 we have :
Around the world in eighty minutes.
10 presentations of 10 slides
The format is talks by eight to ten speakers for ten minutes giving a fast-paced journey around the Globe.
There are five talks before the break and four to five talks after the break, with each speaker having around 10 minutes to speak.
Speaking we have:
By tradition, we follow this meeting with a New Year Party post-meeting.
Everyone is invited to bring food and wine or soft drinks (we are not allowed beer or spirits) and participate!
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive before 14:45 and switch your phone to “do not disturb” or silent.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.
Speaking on Saturday, March 2, 2024, we have :
1st: Jay Ginn – Peru and Ecuador
Jay went to Peru in 2008 to explore its fascinating history, its current situation, and the fabulous scenery of the Andes range. Leaving crowded Lima, she went on to visit the vast Lake Titicaca with its islands, where indigenous Quechua-speaking campesinos live; also the floating sedge islands which are home to fishing families. A ride northwards along the Andean range then took her to sprawling Cuzco, once the capital of Peru. Here, modern buildings mix with older ones and ancient dry stone walls.
From Cuzco, she took the train to Aguas Calientes on the Urubamba River, and from here it was a bus up the steep switchback road to Machu Picchu far above. The remains of this world-famous Inca city reveal its architecture, terraces and Sun Temple.
Following this spectacular visit, the tour bus descended down towards the Pacific Ocean, taking in Colca Canyon, and then the old colonial city of Arequipa with museums illustrating Peruvian history and customs. At the coast, she visited giant sand dunes, took a boat to a sea lion colony and then returned to Lima.
From here she took a bus north to Ecuador, arriving in Quito to find the Mayday demonstration in full swing. After this came an unwelcome surprise…
2nd: Nick Marchant – A Toast To Georgia
A land of beautiful landscapes and passionate people, where guests are ‘gifts from God’, I tell the story of my five trips to this dramatic Caucasus country, from its post-Soviet and civil war chaos in 1996 to its modern 21st century West-leaning democracy. With Russia to the North and Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran to the South, it has always been at a critical juncture in geography and civilisation.
Visiting mostly the same family over almost 30 years, I describe how the country seems to have changed. A country steeped in tradition where the custom of ‘toasting’ with friends and family at a table laden with their delicious cuisine and local wine is a wonderful, joyous way of celebrating life. What characterises the Georgian people and what might survive of that character? And how might I have changed as a result of my three decades of friendship with this fascinating country and people?
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive before 14:45 and switch your phone to “do not disturb” or silent.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.
For in person Tickets at the hall:
Speaking on Saturday, July 6, 2024 we have :
Nicholas Mackey explores the ancient wonders of Antakya, Dara, Harran, Mardin, Gaziantep, and Diyarbakir, peeling back the layers of empires, cultures and peoples that have shaped millennia.
Nicholas Mackey is a writer and photographer whose lifelong passion for storytelling and visual exploration began in childhood when he received a camera as a gift.
A published author and Royal Photographic Society’s 2021 Documentary Photographer of the Year nominee, Nicholas has exhibited at the Royal Academy, London.
He is currently a Photography Writer for Arts Etc. magazine and his latest project, An Irishman in Northern Mesopotamia, intricately weaves travelogue, history, ideas, poetry and captivating photography.
ELSPETH BEARD is a motorcyclist and award-winning architect. In 1982, at the age of just twenty-three, Elspeth Beard left her family and friends in London and set off alone on a 35,000 mile solo adventure around the world on her 1974 BMW R60/6. In an age before email, mobile phones and satnavs, and with no sponsorship or support the journey took two and a half years covering 35,000 miles. She rode through North America, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Europe.
Returning home in 1984, Elspeth finished her architecture degree and in 1988 brought a derelict water tower, which she spent seven years converting into her home. She runs her own architectural practice, specialising in creating and remodelling interesting and unusual buildings. She lives in a converted Victorian water tower in the southeast of England and still enjoys riding her collection of motorcycles, which includes the trusty BMW R60/6 which carried her around the world.
More information at:
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive before 14:45 and switch your phone to “do not disturb” or silent.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.
Speaking on Saturday, October 5, 2024 we have :
1st: Gerry Mulligan – Adventures around the world in Nelson a converted Land Rover Defender.
After two bouts of Hodgkins Lymphoma Gerry decided to see the bits of the world he had not been to already, while he still had a chance, following a long held dream he bought an old Land Rover Defender and converted it for travel. Now after six years he has visited 82 countries in “Nelson” the defender, including driving from Scotland to China and back, a circuit of South America and has just returned from a nine month expedition around all the bits of Africa that are not currently at war. His journeys are serialised in Land Rover Monthly. In his talk Gerry will share some of the highlights of his travels and the key things he has learnt about preparing and successfully completing these expeditions, well nearly successfully as two days before the end of his travels the steering broke on his truck and it crashed badly in a Park full of lions….
My story can be found on Celtic Roverceltic-rover.com
2nd: Eloise Burnett – Overland across China to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
In Summer 2023 I took 8 a week sabbatical, starting with a flight to Shanghai and a high level plan of “China and let’s see how far we can get”. The trip ended up being a patchwork quilt of the most extremes in natural landscapes and human settlement, all the colours of the Silk Road and the barriers of human conflict making our trip more interesting and chaotic. The talk will cover the way i discovered then abolished my prejudices on China, driving along the Afghan border spotting Taliban fighters, trying to understand the ‘Stans’ and the travel style of ‘making it up as we went along’.
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive before 14:45 and switch your phone to “do not disturb” or silent.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.
Speaking on Saturday, May 11, 2024 (on the 2nd Saturday) we have :
1st: Marco Carnovale – Maldives
Marco has travelled to the Maldives a dozen times over the last twenty years. As always, he preferred going off the beaten path, which in this case meant off the beaten island… He mostly sailed around the archipelago on small boats and while island hopping he stepped down and visited remote villages and deserted sand banks where few tourists ever venture.
He stayed with local families and ate their food, always curious about the culture of this small and proud nation. Drawing on his background as a political scientist, his presentation will touch on the society, politics and economics of the islands, as well as on the inescapable religious dimension of Maldivian life.
An avid SCUBA diver, he logged hundreds of dives and in his presentation, he will share photos of the underwater wonders of the Maldivian coral reefs, a fragile environment that is threatened by climate change and uncontrolled pollution.
Marco has written a book on his Maldivian travels: “Journeys through the Maldives” published on Amazon.co.uk in paperback, hardcover and e-book format. He will be happy to sign your copy after delivering his talk. An Italian version is available as well.
2nd: Simon Banks – Avoiding the Cold, Wet, Miserable and S.A.D. People of Britain” – Travel Lessons & Recent Life Adventures in NZ, Oz & Malawi.
Simon will be talking about travelling in Australia, New Zealand Malawi.
Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive before 14:45 and switch your phone to “do not disturb” or silent.
We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.
Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.