GUIDES FOR LONDON

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 December 1929, Page 10

GUIDES FOR LONDON

Visitors. to. Lqndon will hpreafter be A able to ‘ 4 of tHeir visits -tp 3- gfodP -° navy, and air ff,qtcq pfficers who-haye. .formed an association known as “Aides de. Camp, Ltd.,” she Patronage, of Coiiutess Haig, widow of the famous Field-Marshall. .■ Training classes are being held at- present. in which the§e ex : officers are being qualified •. tp furnish expert guidance in every; subject . in which visitors to England are likely to. require guidance. A Visiting -bankers who want to see the ; English,banks, yistifig lawyers who hre interested in the'law courts and . ? the old inns of court, loydys of Dickens who want:to ferret-out. the. Dickensian •

haunts of London, Visitors, who want to see . the cathedral cities^of. 'Efigland, all these will be ablp to'engstgb in. their own ■ aides. .> de efimp,. qfich specially trained in his own branch. : / ~ All the ex-officers who join “Aides de Camp,: Ltji;,”‘receive a basic course • of instruction, in the geography of London, British and Irish geography and history, map reading and the drafting of itineraries'* 1 rail, road,’ riyer, and coastal travel; British and Irish health ’ resorts, universities, cathedral cities

andAmanufacturing centres, customs regulations/- money exchange, .and' v . hotel tariffs and usages. ••• / - In adidtion to this general training, specialised, training ffi;.pping g|ven in - such: widely Varying branches of Eng-? ;■ \ ijsh life as, th 6 London, Liverpool, and Glasgow shipping, . and ‘ places of J American . interest k throughput the ; nduntry, ; /;lu,' eachxjase maps and prints/ are • beijyg/prepared,. sb fliat whatever th© vm’itprljS -interest. his' kidp d© camp w|ll bpya v bje td make his'* exposition of it?as. vivid and as - : , complete, as possible.

Each aide de 4camp is? encouraged, . upon entering the association, fo en- . list for bis own special subject.'lf he is himself an insuranep'man, he takes ' . . sufficient training in his own. subject • to enable him to take visiting’ insur- . ance men on tours, pf the most interesting insurance sites;? bpth past anfi pre-

? sehi,'.-in the mpfrpppii§.. ■’ . ■ If' 1 he is willing, to-. specialisA in the general subject of historical Lqndon, from’ the time of the Romans down to comparatively recent times,. he has to . know/ the topography of- the city proper apd of the West End; ..the more important ancient and medieval monuments such as the Tower of London, - . Westminster Abbey, and St« James’s ’ Palace; such places of interest as the museums arid art galleries, the cathedralri;; dpoks? Dickens sites, Hptises . of Parliament, the Royal Exchange,. ajifi the other Exchanges, and the

Guards?.thp theatres, the Zo.o, , Mme; Tussaud’s waxworks, the boxing, cricket, and football the • Thames throughout its length. ? * ■. T It is planned to make 'these trained aides de camp availabii& ak short notice fpr any length of time and on any subject of interest to a visitor. Their duties are to be much like those of any army aide de camp toward his Wjqii-penerai: If the visitor is a shoe manufacturer who wants to see the 1 shoe faptories of Nottingham, his aide dp camp will make all,the Arapgeipents , at Nottingham in advance and will accompany him throughout his trip. . IJ the, .yisitpr is a,-Pennsylvanian _ who. wants .to make a .pipus- pilgriinage to the grave of William ’Perih, his aide de camp, wil \accoriiphny him to Jor- - dans in the depths of Buckingham- ' shire, where all the Penn family are / buried .in the churchyard of the old

Quaker meeting house.\lf the visitor , wanfs.to/'investigate his'descent in a •S.mrill - village |n Northern Wales, an ' aifip de camp will be found for hinm who has specialised in tracing gpnea- , logies in small and remote parishes. If the visitor wapts to see the'-Banquet-ing Hall ip Whitehall, an aide de camp will he supplied who has specialised in Old London. - ' 5 . . Because the staff is to be composed ex o^ ls^ve 9? Ox-offlcers, : the London Post of the American Legion is taking ' : a. keen and friendly interest in its de-, velopment. ' . ' •'