Kent and Gretchen Ward, who are regular correspondents with St George's via the Internet, and live in Seminole, Florida, visited us during a European tour at the beginning of June. They originally got to find out about Waterlooville through being members of Lions Clubs International. This is extracted from information sent to the local newspaper for an article on their visit.
Our trip was not connected to Lions Clubs but as we are both active in Lions we tried to contact local clubs in the areas we visited. We travelled to York for four days but missed any Lions meetings there. We then went to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. We were able to attend a Lions meeting in St Ives. The only pre-arranged meeting was the Waterlooville Lions Club. We got to know about Waterlooville Lions via e-mail with John and Janet Johnson. They gave us a wonderful welcome and we enjoyed meeting with the members there.
My wife Gretchen was the original contact with Waterlooville because the name attracted her attention when she was looking for Lions Clubs around the world on the internet. She has always liked England and its history, especially since our first tour in 1987. She contacted John and exchanged club information a number of times. She discovered the St George's web site through a link on the Lions page, and began receiving the church magazine each month (via the Internet), reading all the articles and church news to the point that she felt she knew the church members. We especially enjoyed articles entitled "Ruby's Memoirs", looking back over approximately 82 years, and John Symonds "Country Church" articles, which explore the many old churches in the area. We were lucky enough to have John Symonds take us on a visit to three nearby churches that will be featured in upcoming issues.
If not for the friendly correspondence with John and Janet we might not have pursued a visit to Waterlooville. Over the past two years we feel that we have become good friends and were very excited to finally meet them in person. We enjoyed the time we spent with them.
We stayed with Ruby, Jane and Tony for the five days whilst at Waterlooville. We met the church youth group and some of their parents as they were at Tony and Jane's for a weekend outing. That was a fun experience. On Sunday we met Father Malcolm Ferrier and many church members who made us feel especially welcome. Tony and Ruby were great tour guides and we had a wonderful time seeing the sights with them.
We thought the Waterlooville area was very nice, much like the area where we live, away from the city but within easy driving distance, fairly quiet, and with a homey feel to it. The people we met as we were walking around and shopping were great, very friendly and helpful when needed.
We did enjoy our visit to Hampshire very much and look forward to returning in the future. In fact, our entire holiday in England was exceptional.
Gretchen took in 5 rolls of film today and will take in more tomorrow. Ended up using 19 rolls of film! Thank goodness the place she takes them has a 50% off coupon each week.
written by Kent Ward
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