Barbara Tester: Learning with passion

What is your favourite part about being involved with your group?

I’m a real believer that you should never stop having fun at any age. I don’t have a car anymore, so unless I organise something I’m not going to be getting out to see all these places. I’m fortunate that all of these people want to come with me.

The response I get from them, the grateful thanks and smiles when we visit these places and the emails and letters I get is really quite something. Somebody even told me that I’ve changed their life.

How do you keep everything organised?

I have a curious mind and I like to get out and about. I love the research, the planning, and the organisation. We have a regular coach driver and my group laugh because I tell them I use the ‘speed=distance/time’ formula to work out all of the timings and make everything run perfectly on time. I feel that if you put in the planning from the start then everything hopefully runs smoothly and there’s no stress.

Tell us about your group…

A lot of people find out about the group via word of mouth. Lots of the members are ladies who are on their own, who don’t drive anymore and they don’t get out as much as they used to. They all have things in common within the group, several of them are National Trust members and they are very fond of garden visits.

People within the group have made friends on the trips. One of the things you hear about all the time about getting older is people becoming isolated and not seeing others very often, so it’s good for our members that they are able to get out, be sociable and be inquisitive.

We go on trips every month and it’s like a little community coming together. We have sweets on the bus and we do a raffle which is included in the price and the group can win bottles of wine.

“… we are visiting Macclesfield where we’ll be going to The Silk Museum and then exploring Knutsford in Cheshire.”

How do you find ideas?

We have a real variation of locations, for our members the more unusual and unique the destination, the better. I do research in all sorts of ways. I read the Group Leisure & Travel magazine and I come to the GLT Show every year so I can talk to people. I’ve been doing it for such a long time, so I’ve found I have already done most things, but I use the internet and books, and I see places on the television. If I see something, I’ll make a note of it and then make enquiries.

What are some of your favourite trips?

We’ve been to Port Sunlight this year which was really interesting. I had been before and not had a guide. The guide we had this time really made our visit. She was excellent, so I would recommend that to anyone.

We visited Goldstone Hall Hotel & Gardens (in Shropshire) and that was lovely. My group always end up in a tea shop and the hotel provided us with tea and homemade biscuits and we were able to sit outside in the beautiful gardens in lovely weather. My group were saying: “I feel like I’m on holiday” and “I feel like I’m at a garden party”.

My group really enjoy going to towns so I try and arrange visits to market towns where we can visit a couple of different places and the group can have a wander around for an hour and a half and go for a coffee, before getting back on the coach and going to a National Trust property or another attraction.

What trips have you got coming up?

In October we are visiting Macclesfield where we’ll be going to The Silk Museum and then exploring Knutsford in Cheshire. In December we are going for a day in York to see Treasurer’s House and other local attractions.

I’m planning for 2026 already and we’ve got some locations in the pipeline including Bodelwyddan Castle with Warner Hotels in January and Kent and Sussex for National Trust properties and gardens in May.