Welcome to the International Guild of Battlefield Guides

Taking a Guild recce format with participating Guild members passing on their knowledge of the battlefield and tour tips based on experience. Participants will be invited to share their knowledge with the group as we visit possible "stands" around the battlefields.

Newcomers to the Guild and battlefield guiding on the Western Front need not be concerned that your knowledge may not match that of experienced members. That is the whole point of recces to gain information and you will be surprised that even the smallest piece of knowledge, even if thought to be in another area, may be of considerable interest to your fellow members. Apart from that, the camaraderie of members is fabulously infectious!

This is five-day recce to the Somme under recce leaders John Cotterill & Paul Oldfield.

A great opportunity to catch up at the end of a difficult year for many; the Guild’s annual Christmas lunch will be held at the Union Jack Club, Sandell St, London SE1 8UJ on Friday 3 December.

The bar opens at 11.00 a.m. and members are asked to assemble for 12.30 for lunch at 12.45 when a three course lunch (with coffee, mince pies and crackers!) will be served.  The event is informal (lounge suits and equivalent for female members and guests) and offers members a convivial atmosphere to enjoy the company of others at the end of what is normally a long year of guiding.  The cost for the lunch this year is £45.

Full instructions will be sent to members and their guests joining the lunch in early November.

Although the event for this year is sold out, members wishing to be added to the waiting list should contact the organiser, Andy Thompson at andy.ewt@gmail.com

We’re getting back to a way of life that makes it easier to visit the battlefields. As an organisation with members worldwide, our resilience over the past 18 months has been noteworthy. Now it is time to look ahead. This year’s theme for our Annual Conference will be “Back to the Battlefields” - and of course, this is the weekend over which we're also holding our Annual General Meeting. 

The future presents challenges. But it also offers many new and exciting guiding opportunities. As Guides, could we look at other ways of working? Will regulation impact people’s appetites for battlefield tours? What effect will Covid-19 have on our industry, long-term, and how do we practice continuous improvement in educating and engaging our clients? What's next for the Guild - what would you like us to focus on in the future?

Guest speakers will expand our horizons, at home and abroad. Insight Sessions will offer valuable information on a number of topics, and our Open Forum is designed to engage Members' views on the widest range of Guild-related subjects. Members will be pleased to know our annual social traditions are all on the programme - the Quiz, the Battlefield BargainHunt, the socials - as is an optional site visit to Bletchley Park on Friday 21, for which there will be an additional fee (tbc).

COSTS

BOOKING

Please download these application forms, complete and then return them to the Guild Secretary at: secretary@gbg-international.com

MEMBERS' APPLICATION FORM

GUESTS' APPLICATION FORM

Please read the event Terms and Conditions, which you can download here.

This Recce had been scheduled to take place in April 2020 but was postponed as Europe went into Covid 19 lock-down which prevented all but non-essential travel. The recce has now been provisionally rescheduled to 2-7 March 2022

Please contact the organiser if you are interested in going if you were not down to go on the original recce dates as there may be spaces available.

This 6 day Guild Recce visits the battlefield of Bussaco where Wellington’s strategic genius saw the demise of Massena. We walk Wellington’s early battle sites of Rolica and Vimeiro and contemplate his vision and strategy at the Lines of Torres Vedras. We examine Wellington’s decision making at Oporto where Nosey’s army routed Soult’s French into full retreat.

The intent of the reconnaissance is to visit and consider main battlefield stands, suitable hotels, restaurants, museums and relevant places of interest in order to conduct future successful tours. We will have fun and certainly fair better than our ancestors who soldiered and suffered here during the Napoleonic Wars.

The Guild recce to Malta will take place in April 2022.  The theme of the recce is the defence of Malta during WW2, with the emphasis being on the Explosive Ordnance Disposal capability of the islands.  To provide background and context, it will also cover air and sea campaigns, the experience of the Maltese population and the Axis plans to invade the islands.  There will also be a presentation on the siege of Malta in 1565.

Despite being the most bombed place on earth in WW2, Malta is a beautiful island with experiences and sights to suit everybody from narrow meandering streets with baroque churches, through medieval towers to some of the oldest known human structures in the world.

The islands have rightly been described as an open-air museum with superb weather, fantastic beaches and 7,000 years of intriguing history.

To register an interest contact Bob Shaw.

This event will study the creation and reformation of the WW2 Commando and Ranger units and their notable missions from WW2 to their role today.  Based in scenic Scotland at Achnacarry, it will also study the SOE paramilitary training at Arisaig House (and surrounding estates) and will feature the usual dinner and quiz night, pertinent memento and plenty of 'hands on' for those that want to, on demolitions, booby traps, survival, camouflage and concealment, elimination of sentries and weapon handling.  Those interested please contact Robert Shaw on rtnshaw@hotmail.com and remember (to quote the commando recruiting slogan) - 'It's a state of mind'!