A World Tour with U3A

On a glorious morning on Thursday (July 24th) members of Tarporley and District U3A were in something of a holiday mood when they met at Tarporley Community Centre for their regular monthly meeting. The sun was shining and the sky was blue, just the right backdrop for the speaker who had spent a long career as a Cruise Director for some of the major cruise companies in the world.

Brian Price ran away to sea as a young man when the prospect of a slow rise in the banking profession failed to entice him. He became an Assistant Purser with Cunard Line and over the years saw the change in the company's business from being a transporter of passengers to a provider of mobile, sea-going holidays. This change meant that the provision of a complex mix of entertainment and activities for hundreds of passengers for trips sometimes lasting 3 / 4 months became vital. The Cruise Director is the person who creates and oversees that programme.

With verve, humour and wit, qualities that must have been essential to him in his working life, Brian entertained the audience with anecdotes and incidents from this glamourous world. He also told us of an exciting new profession for the male members of U3A – Gentlemen Dance Hosts! In return for board and lodging, gentlemen of mature years and who are excellent ballroom dancers are recruited to act as escorts to lady passengers on cruise ships, though Brian did point out that the 'lodging' element was usually the inside cabin nearer the engine!

Brian described a cruise as a chance to go to all over the world to find out the one place you would never go back to – if you have just booked a cruise that is going to Djibouti, you may like to think again!

The next monthly meeting will be on August 28th at 10.00am when Hugh Beggs will talk about 'Delamere – The Story of a Wooded Ridge'