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TRAVEL
I
have always been interested in travel.
I first went abroad with a school party in 1946 to Holland, but it was
1957 before I was able to go abroad again.
The
trip to Holland was a great experience, as we stayed in private homes, and I stayed
with a lovely family called Groot. Being the first time I had holidayed without
my parents I was very apprehensive, but they were very kind and we all got on
well. Various excursions had been
arranged for us, one, which stays in my memory, is a trip to Aachen. The city had been bombed during the war
and only a church was standing, people were living in cellars and had very
little materially, this made me realise how fortunate we had been in Bradford,
only experiencing two air raids and very little damage.
Another
special holiday for me was a trip to South Africa in 1975. This came about because in 1942 my older
brother joined the R.A.F. and was sent to Southern Rhodesia to train as a
Pilot. There he met a South African
girl who began writing to us and sending us food parcels which were very
welcome indeed, in fact, had it not been for her I would not have had any
sweets during the war years! . We visited a gold mine and saw a gold pour.
A friend and I stayed with Marie’s sister and her family in Johannesburg quite
an experience for us as we were living in times of apartheid. We went to see a show called “IPI TOMBI”,
the cast was black and the audience white!!
We visited Durban, Pretoria and Ladysmith . We also visited the township
of Soweto and it was great to meet Marie with whom we had corresponded for 30
years.
I
have also been to Israel twice and seen quite a lot of Europe. Israel I found
very interesting as I am a Bible student and felt that it came to life for me.
I am also interested in photography and have a collection of slides,
photographs and videos from my travels.
I also enjoy reading and have collected books and leaflets on the
different places I have visited. I
also love meeting people, and, working for 30 years in the N.H.S. plus
travelling has helped me to enlarge my circle of friends.
I am also a lay
preacher in the denomination I belong to, and have been able to use my
experiences at work and on holiday to good effect. Austria is my favourite
holiday destination (see above photo) and I have visited there about 13
times. The main attraction for me is
the peace and tranquillity I find in the mountains, which helps me to forget,
for a time, the everyday problems of life.
I am very thankful that I have been given the opportunities I have had
both in my working life and leisure times .I understand that my grand-parents
went on holiday in the very early 1900’s so perhaps I have inherited the bug
from them!!.
