John Ling writes...

The Tour

We are planning the third Bergh Apton Battlefield Tour, for a party of twelve people.  This year we’ll stay in Arras and visit the battlefields around Loos and Lens where six Bergh Apton men died between 1915 and 1918.  I have printed their names on the back of this note.

Last year’s travellers (to The Somme) want to come to Arras this year but we would like to check amongst members of the Local History Group to see if there is anyone else who would like to come.   If you do, please complete the tear-off strip below and return it to me by 10 March.  We’ll take the first twelve people whose completed applications and deposits (see below) come through my door.
As we have undertaken in previous years, we’ll try and run a second trip if we are oversubscribed.

Schedule

We will leave Bergh Apton at 7.30am on Monday 14th September and return on Thursday 17th September.  Overleaf is the outline of our schedule for the four days of the trip.  We plan to be back in Bergh Apton not later than 9.30pm but we are always at the mercy of events.  Last year’s Channel Tunnel fire, for example, disrupted our return journey and we got home at 2.30am the following morning! 

Cost

I will arrange the travel (bus hire, fuel and channel crossing) and hotel (a 3 star hotel in Arras including continental breakfast).  The cost per head will be about £150 per person depending on the rate of exchange at the time.  We’ll arrive at the final cost per head by totalling the actual sterling costs and divide that by the number of travellers.  Other costs – food etc - are not included and will be settled individually at the time they arise.

Deposit

Would you like to come?  If so please enclose a deposit of £50 with your application form to cover up-front deposits etc.  The deposit is non-returnable but in the event that you have to cancel, and you or we find a traveller to take your place, it will be returned in full.  If the whole trip is cancelled we will return all deposits less any up-front costs that we can’t recover.

We Band of Brothers

These trips are expeditions of individuals travelling and learning together.   We do it this way as it’s more cost-effective and we can share an understanding of the events on the battlefields; and for companionship.   Thus there is no “Group responsibility” and no Group insurance.  All insurable risks (except those undertaken by the car-hire company, the channel crossing company and the hotel) are risks that travellers must cover as individuals. 

BATTLEFIELD TOUR No 3.  MONDAY 14 SEPTEMBER – THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2009

Please reserve                 places for us on the tour

Name(s) ………………………………………………………

Date………………………………………
 
Return this form & deposit to John Ling, Watermeadows, Bergh Apton, Norwich, NR15 1DF
 Please make your cheque payable to “John Ling”
(If you don’t have a printer a handwritten note in the same terms is fine)

THE BERGH APTON MEN AT LOOS/LENS AND ADJACENT AREAS

**  Location not on the itinerary for the 2009 Battlefield Tour

BATTLEFIELD TOUR No 3 – ITINERARY

Day Schedule

Mon 14 Sept 
ETD Bergh Apton 7.30 am.  ETA Calais (Eurotunnel) 2.00 pm local time.  Call at Paradis and Nouex les Mines en route to Arras.  ETA Arras 5.30 pm.

Tues 15 Sept 
Loos, Lens, Philosophe (Mazingarbe), Hohenzollern Redoubt ( Hulloch),  Grenay and Hill 70 (Lens).

Weds 16 Sept 
AM: Vimy Ridge and Canadian Memorial, Gavrelle and Vis-en-Artois.
PM: Return to Arras for afternoon shopping/free.

Thurs 17 Sept 
Return to Calais via Habarcq, Neueve Chapelle and Armentieres. 
ETA Bergh Apton 9.30 pm.