St Helena Road show team returns and attends Amistice service.
27,608 kilometres over 6 different cities within 7 days, did the St Helena Tourism Roadshow team set a new record, being the first to depart St Helena, visit six different cities and return to the Island all within 7 days, or if we were to be pedantic about it we could say 6 days and 23 hours and 20 minutes. These stats does not include intercity travel or walking, which the latter in some instances recorded by my Fitbit exceed 40,000 steps per day.
Not that record-breaking was the main objective of this venture as Island Images is extremely happy with the achievements of the week. After a stopover in Johannesburg, the ExCel in London became the first part of the adventure before moving on to Paris in France, a stopover in Zurich and then a flying visit to the RMS St Helena in Capetown Harbour, before returning to the Island via Johannesburg.
It’s been 3 days since returning to the Island and having been able to catch up with everything and analyse the work done over the past week, it’s pleasing to have already received enquiries from Tour Companies interested in using our destination management service and are looking forward to positive outcomes.
It is certain that each of the 11 strong delegation, benefited from this arduous excursion halfway around the world and that each will value in their own way. For island Images, the value comes in several different ways, more so from the knowledge and experience gained.
As members of the St Helena Tourism Roadshow team participated in the Armistice Service at the Cenotaph in Jamestown St Helena, less than 24 hours after returning to the Island, time is taken to reflect on a part of the exciting seven day trip which took the team to Paris, France.
The St Helena roadshow team arrived in Paris via the Eurostar on Wednesday morning and meetings started immediately before attending a reception at the British Embassy that evening as guests of Baron Edward Llewellyn the British Ambassador to France. Whilst significant discussions took place at the reception, it is hard not to connect today’s service in St Helena with an Armistice Flag which hung prominently in the halls of the British Embassy last Wednesday evening.
On the return of the team’s arrival to St Helena, it marked 99 years following it being stolen by a group of medical students after it had hung outside of the Embassy during the years of the Great War.
Although missing for 76 years, it was returned to the Embassy in 1994 where it was paraded one last time at the Armistice Service in 1994 and has since been repaired and hung in the main hall of the British Embassy in memory of the war effort by both Britain and France and of those in the service of both countries
