Event - International Trip to Brussels - 20th to 23rd September 2018

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The International trip in 2018 was to Brussels, Waterloo and Ghent. It was tinged with sadness at the start because our Chairman Barry was delayed because he went to Sue Strutt’s funeral on the Friday.


Twelve of us went on the Thursday morning on Eurostar from St Pancras to Brussels where we met up with Greg Fanning, who was already in Brussels for his work. The organiser, Rex Smith, had cunningly broken up the trip into bite sized pieces so that a different person organised a series of events from the Thursday evening until the Sunday morning. Well done everyone.

 

It was however a weekend of losses. Peter Davies left his passport on the Eurostar managing to get it back just before the train left. Greg Fanning had hi phone pick-pocketed and Alan short his wallet.

 

The highlights of the trip were the visit to Waterloo, a short bus journey from Brussels for a visit to the battlefield and the famous Château d'Hougoumont where much of the fighting took place. This included the closing of the gates, which was said by the Duke of Wellington to have affected the whole history of Europe.

The second part of the trip was the visit to Ghent, a beautiful medieval city with a series of canals and a well-preserved castle. In between we ate, visited the Grande Place in Brussels as well as the Mannekin Pis. We finished with a visit to the local market and a trip back on Eurostar.

Another great SLK weekend away.

 

For more, I suggest you peruse the photos and captions - courtesy of Rex - below.

1. Dennis, James, Paul and Dick

2. Rex and Paul

3. Brussels the Grande Place

4. What every chairman needs to keep SLK in order

5. Rex makes a great Napoleon (... or delusions of grandeur! - Ed)

6. The Duke of Wellington’s HQ in Waterloo before the battle

7. At The Lion Mound 8. Inside the Waterloo museum 9. More inside the Waterloo museum 10. Even more inside the Waterloo museum 11. Climbing the Lion Mound 12. At the top of the Mound

13. Alan and Paul 14. Gerard, Roland, Steve and Dave 15. Steve shoulders a musket 16. ... and then hands it to Alan 17. Gerard gets some training with bayonets 18. Sampling the beers of Belgium

19. James Paul Gerard and Greg whilst still sober 20. Barry joins Rex 21. Rex and Steve at the Friday restaurant 22. Gerard 23. Barry wants another beer 24. Ghent

 

25. Ghent 26. Ghent 27. Returning home at St Pancras 28. One more photo at St Pancras  29. Finally, from Hougoumont, a statue of a pivotal point in European history  
 

 

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  50 - Last edited 02 March 2019