Midlands Region Trefoil Guilds.
Visit to Lorne House, Belfast 14th - 18th March 2011.
 
In January 2010, we received details of a holiday to Lorne for Midlands Trefoil Guilds. Places for the visit would be allocated on a first come first served basis. It was expected that demand would be high & so those of us from Staffordshire who were keen to go sent off our deposits! At that stage it seemed a long way off especially with so many Centenary events in the pipeline!
However, time passes quickly and so, with flights booked & bags packed, the Staffordshire group of 7 plus a Trefoil friend from a Birmingham Guild met up at Birmingham airport bright & early on 14th March 2011.
Our flight was an hour late taking off, due as we found later, to the adverse weather conditions at Belfast City airport. They had experienced icy conditions & a severe hail storm. Our runway was closed & so we circled over the airport for another 40 minutes! Fortunately we had enough fuel! Our spirits were not dampened by this delay. After all we are “recycled Brownies”.
On arrival at Lorne we were allocated our rooms & settled in very quickly! It was an opportunity for we girls from Staffordshire to get to know each other and of course to reacquaint ourselves with friends from other parts of the Region & to make new friends. The noise levels at each evening meal became higher each night!
A comprehensive programme of activities/outings had been planned for us. Some who had been to the province previously, made their own arrangements for each day, but the Staffs contingent were happy to join in with the planned events as well as on some days to do our own thing!
The weather changed and in the main was extremely kind to us. We had blue skies & brilliant sunshine for most of our stay. This helped to make our visit even better.
We had a tour of Belfast by coach which took us into the grounds of Stormont. We are quite used to seeing it as a backdrop to news items from Northern Ireland but it was good to see it “in the flesh”! Quite an impressive building.
We visited the Giant’s Causeway which was breathtaking! It really has the “wow” factor especially with the sun shining,the sea in various shades of blue & turquoise with magnificent surf! Mother nature at her best. The visit there was one of my highlights particularly, as on the way there, we saw dolphins! There were two pods - one of 4 & another of 3. I was so excited!
We saw a memorial to Paddy - a World War 2 Carrier Pigeon. He was awarded the Dickin Medal - the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.




We explored the area around Lorne with some gentle strolls! We went walking! Belfast Lough is bigger than I expected. One of short walks turned out to be rather longer than anticipated. But we managed to get back in time for dinner!
On St Patrick’s Day [Thursday 17th] we dressed in green T/Shirts etc. Lorne is a short walking distance [& yes it was short!] from the Ulster Folk Museum which is where we headed for that day. We saw Irish dancing, Irish musicians, tasted Irish foods & enjoyed the atmosphere created by families enjoying a day out as it was a Bank Holiday.
That evening each County had been asked to supply a craft activity and if possible an entertainment item! Christine supplied the craft with Lorna & Pat [Chase] being the “turn”! It was a fun evening!
As ever, all good things come to an end & so Friday was soon with us. As Guilds were all departing on various flights, we said our farewells to friends old & new after breakfast. Our flight was not until early evening. We boarded the local bus & went to Bangor & had an enjoyable few hours there.
Our flight home was on time & very smooth.
I’m sure we all have wonderful memories of a week spent with guiding friends at a lovely location. We were looked after & fed well by the friendly staff at Lorne. We met some very friendly & welcoming people wherever we went. And of course our Trefoil scarves were recognised by others & if not, we were asked about them!
I look forward with anticipation to the next trip!
Our thanks to Jo Dowling - Midland Region - for her hard work in organising the visit to Lorne.
 
Lorna Jones
Chase Guild & PR Adviser.