Susan Bluck and Heather Carruth of the Ely & District u3a on ensuring the three T’s are ticked on a trip and some of their most successful outings.
How did you both first get involved with the outings club?
Susan: The outings team has always been a very flourishing part of the u3a. The couple who used to run the team had to give it up and if we hadn’t have taken it on, it would have folded which would have been a great shame. We didn’t want it to stop.
Heather: People rely on the trips to just get them out.
Any trips more popular than others?
Susan: Probably stately homes. We try to do a town close by in the morning and then a stately home in the afternoon so we try to please everybody. We went to Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire recently. It’s a beautiful house and has lovely gardens along with a farm retail unit and a uniform museum.
Heather and Susan’s group at a glance…
Group name: Ely & District u3a (Outings and Holidays team)
Based: Ely
No of members: 950
Time organising: Three years
How do you come up with the ideas of where to go?
Susan: Places that we’ve heard of, places we’ve been to, some people suggest places, things that we read in the magazine, Facebook, all sorts of places really. We do a mix of day trips and then a holiday each year.
Heather: Our trips are always full which is a good sign. We do the three T’s. Time, it has to be two hours-ish. Toilets, there have to be toilets as soon as you get off the bus, and we have to be able to get a cup of tea. If it fulfils the three T’s, we’re happy.
What day trips have you done that have gone particularly well?
Susan: We did a mystery trip for the first time, only the two of us and the driver knew where we were going and that went down really well. Everybody was guessing and nobody guessed where we were going. We went to Newark in Nottinghamshire and everybody loved it. Brick Lane Music Hall last Christmas was also really successful.
Heather: Burghley House was a huge success. We stopped at Stamford for people to get a coffee and then went to Burghley House. We also went to Southwell Minster and the Southwell Workhouse. We try to mix it up. Our trips have been full since our first ever outing to the Christmas market at Rochester. At our last monthly meeting, Susan booked a whole trip in an hour – the one to Holt where we’re doing Blicking Hall in the afternoon.
How far ahead do you plan?
Susan: We’ve just been planning next year’s itinerary. We plan where we want to go and then either Heather or myself will take the lead on a trip and some we do together. We do quite a lot of research; Heather’s particularly good at researching things and we send out quite a lot of information to our members, and I think they really appreciate that.
When we’re coming up to a trip, they get all the joining instructions as well as information about the place we’re visiting along with maps and all sorts of things.
How much time do you spend organising?
Heather: A full day a week, if not a little bit more. It’s not just the trips, it’s all the financial things we have to do behind the scenes.
Susan: We’re good friends and we’re always in communication with each other. We work well as a team.
Have you seen trips become more popular in the last few years?
Heather: Yes, we have a full coach nearly all the time. As we’ve got a nucleus of people who seem to be on every trip, they’ve become good friends and it’s like an extended family.
Susan: People come for companionship. Also, a lot of people don’t drive anymore so it’s nice for them to be able to get on a coach and let somebody else do the work.
What is it that you both enjoy about what you do?
Susan: Going to places that I probably wouldn’t go to otherwise and giving people pleasure because they all get off the coach and they’re so appreciative.
Heather: One lady said to me, I can’t wait to go on an outing because it’s so exciting when I see the box of chocolates coming down the coach. We always have chocolates on the coach. Also, I think a lot of people think that if they were in trouble, we’d help them which is true.
Where’s been your favourite place that each of you have been on a trip?
Heather: We had a fantastic day at Greenwich and we’ve been asked several times to go back but we’ve got enough trips now to last us for about another two years!
Susan: I particularly liked Southwell. The Workhouse was so interesting and it’s got a massive minster for such a small place.
