Biographies of all the Presidents of the Geographical Association since the founding of the Association in 1893. Researched by Alan Parkinson (GA President 2021-22), with contributions from others, including the former Presidents themselves where possible.
Imagine going back in time to attend one of these tours.
Here's the UK Tours for 1925.
This started in Bradford, where E.G. Lupton the Organising Secretary lived, and also via Bournemouth.
I'd like to have been on the Fenland Tour day particularly to see how the landscape has changed.
The Exhibition in London was presumably the Great Exhibition?
Wonder what 'First Class Hotels' they stayed in.
Here are a few more itineraries:
A Whit Week tour of the UK
And a Swiss Tour
Sadly for the Touring Branch, it had to be closed during this time, as the fact that it was charging for tours conflicted with the Association's Charitable status, as the tax authorities considered that this was a business.
1922: The ‘Touring Branch’ conducts five home motor tours and two abroad (to France and
Switzerland) in its first year. The ‘Branch’ closes in the late 1920s due to a tax issue.
I got out my copies of Balchin and Walford to find out more, and also did some searches through the Notes and minutes section of the relevant issues of 'The Geographical Teacher'.
Walford talks about the obvious attraction of fieldwork to geographers, so the idea of a branch excursion was an obvious extension of this.
It seems that there was a Touring Branch set up in the early 1920s, which offered "continental tours and domestic excursions". These involved luxury coaches (a charabanc no doubt) and various hotel stays. As the branch developed, there were more and more tours to different parts of the country, and then finally into Europe.
There will be another post on the Touring Branch later in the blog, as it develops towards the middle of the 1920s.
Here's a sample tour itinerary with prices.
In 1926, there was a slight issue with the RGS, when a typo in one of the brochures said they were offered by the Geographical Society rather than Geographical Association. This apparently didn't go down well.
There's an ad here from the same year's issue of 'The Geographical Teacher', showing some of the tours, which conveniently started from Bradford very often.
The branches had to end due to a tax issue. It appears that there were some concerns that the commercial nature of these activities might conflict with the Association's Charitable status.
2022 will be my Presidential year, and it would be nice to perhaps reintroduce the Touring Branch for that year, and for me to set up my stall in locations around the country to do a talk which will be linked to my Presidential lecture.
Perhaps this will be our anthem...
References Various issues of 'The Geographical Teacher' Balchin's Centenary book Rex Walford's 'Geography in British Schools, 1850-2000'
