For all the members eagerly waiting news of the club’s overseas trip to Finland and Estonia, I can only apologise for the delays in letting you know when this trip may take place.
We had originally planned for the visit to happen in September 2020. With fellow Club member Dave Wright, I had made a reconnoitre trip to Helsinki and Tallin in February and arranged for visits to several breweries, brewpubs, pubs, and restaurants in the two cities.
We had sorted out and costed a full itinerary and were all ready to go, and then Covid hit. We had hoped that we could still run the trip in September 2020, but that proved impossible, and for 2021 the situation as regards travel restrictions, etc., did not improve.
And then, just as travel overseas opened up again, Putin decided to flex his muscles, raising questions about how safe a trip to Estonia would be. We still have all the contacts in place for the trip and should be able to easily revive plans to visit Finland and Estonia, but, with all the uncertainties, we have decided to postpone trying to fix a date for our trip untill 2023.
I hope we may have firmer news later this year, and I may even make a second investigative trip to see if our original plans may need adapting. So, keep an eye out for further news and, if any of you have got any suggestions about the proposed trip, i.e., time of year, other places to visit, etc., please let me know.
Iain Loe – Committee Member