A refined resort

Alan Payling continues with his occasional series looking at resorts on the south and south-west coasts. This week sees him visit Bournemouth, the resort complimented by a famous Poet Laureate, and the home of Britain’s bravest heroes in Poole

I do love this job sometimes. When I’m writing an article and I then get the chance to go to sea on an RNLI lifeboat on a shout to save sailors in the English Channel after they’ve abandoned ship, well it doesn’t come any better or any more exciting. Even though we had to perform some tricky manoeuvres in a force 6, I didn’t embarrass myself in the way I steered the lifeboat or by getting seasick. It’s an experience that I won’t forget. And it’s one that your passengers can share the next time you’re in the Bournemouth Poole area.

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While I wasn’t in a real lifeboat but in a very high tech and very realistic simulator, it was still an experience and a privilege to walk in the footsteps of the bravest of the brave of the RNLI.
Bournemouth – a poet’s favourite

Despite so many of our coastal resorts having been developed and built more or less in the same period and in very similar architectural styles, they nonetheless retain very different identities. Take Brighton for example. Because it had a slightly sleazy and criminal reputation at one time, it was the inspiration for a wonderful portrayal in Graham Greene’s novel Brighton Rock and the film adaption starring a young and menacing Richard Attenborough. No wonder then that the famous journalist, Keith Waterhouse, was to later describe Brighton as a town that looks like it’s permanently helping the police with its enquiries.

Bournemouth is different again. Perhaps it’s because of its hinterland of counties like Surrey that the Hampshire resort oozes not small town gangsters but class, style, culture and money. Given such qualities, it is no surprise then that perhaps the most famous Poet Laureate, John Betjeman, said that Bournemouth is one of the few English towns one can safely call ‘her’ – and she’s an expensive lady at that in places. If Bournemouth is indeed a lady, then she has a lively buzz about her. This is helped by the large student population in the town. Always a good sign in my view.

Plus, there is very much a continental air about the place. With all those qualities, Bournemouth is a place that will appeal to a very broad range of people offering them some of the refinements usually only available in larger and smoggy urban areas. Bournemouth offers a cultured environment with fresh sea air blowing in.

Some of the style comes in the form of a wonderful selection of art deco buildings. While this is not South Beach in Miami, the elegance of the ‘20s and ‘30s architecture adds a cool refinement to the town. Mind you, when I saw some of the photos in the group guide I received from the local tourist body, the quality of the images did conjure up for a moment the sugary coloured buildings and the sparkling light that shines on South Beach’s Ocean Drive. Imagine driving along there in a Starliner!

Sea and symphony

The class and culture in Bournemouth comes in different forms. One big status symbol for the resort is that when it comes to classical music, it has its own symphony orchestra. While it might be based now in Poole, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) remains a big internationally-respected deal that makes it, as far as I know, unique amongst the UK’s coastal resorts. I saw the BSO performing a Strauss evening at the Colston Hall in Bristol. While the BSO doesn’t offer the razzmatazz of Andre Rieu – the Dutch fiddler who has generated a lot of work for coach operators – when it comes to classical music, it’s worth remembering that the classical music radio station, Classic FM, has some five million listeners in the UK. That’s a lot of potential passengers who might like to take in a BSO concert while on holiday in Bournemouth.

Russell-Cotes House, gallery and garden

Enhancing its cultural credentials, Bournemouth possesses a world-renowned art gallery that sits in a magnificent cliff top location on the Eastcliff just above Pier Approach on the seafront. For those who might be wondering if a visit to what is primarily an art gallery would appeal to the coach market, during my visit I took careful note of the other visitors. Of the 70 or 80 people there during my early September visit, only a handful were young people. If you had told me that the rest of the people there had come by coach, I would not have been at all surprised. At a good guess, the bulk of the gallery’s visitors were in their 60s and 70s. And they were all absorbed by the wonders on display in the gallery or savouring the delights of the airy tearoom.

I’d travelled from Poole on the local Morebus service, arriving at the busy bus hub that is Bournemouth Square. After the rush and hurry of the Bournemouth traffic and the hurly burly of the Square, I was able to drop down into Bournemouth’s central and peaceful green lung, the Lower Gardens. This area is not atypical of Bournemouth being a very leafy, spacious place. Running like a horticultural spine through the town, the walk in the gardens down to Pier Approach was a joy made doubly enjoyable due to the impressive floral displays. There is still a lot of civic pride here. This shows in the spacious Pier Approach in front of the pier. The local authority also offers a touch of class in its choice of ice cream van. Not for Lady Bournemouth to provide it’s visitors with a Mr Whippy. Oh no. That wouldn’t do. Her Ladyship won’t offer anything less than a Carte D’Or ice cream van. See what I mean about this place having class?

There is then a bit of a pull up to the Russell-Cotes gallery, but boy is it worth it. The builders of and founders of the gallery, Merton and Annie Russell-Cotes, made their money by running one of Bournemouth’s finest hotels, the Royal Bath Hotel which is adjacent to the gallery. The Royal Bath has attracted many prominent figures since it was opened on Queen Victoria’s coronation in 1838. These have included literary giants like Oscar Wilde and DH Lawrence and leading politicians such as Benjamin Disraeli. Latterly, it has been frequented by people like – Geordie operators take note – Sting and Kevin Keegan.

The Russell-Cotes’ then built between 1896 and 1901 what was originally known as East Cliff Hall, now Grade 2 listed. Having travelled the world buying up an eclectic mix of artworks from all four corners of the globe, they then gave it all away to the people of Bournemouth in 1921. And what a wonder they inherited. I was certainly impressed with the interior, and not just the works of art that adorn every nook and cranny. The craftsmanship of the fittings like the fireplaces, the stained glass, the parquet floors and the moulded ceilings is of a very high order indeed. No expense was spared with even the original toilets being particularly lavish.

Pre-Raphaelite legacy

The big attraction of the gallery is of course the collections of paintings, sculpture, statuary and artefacts. I was delighted to find that a painting by one of my favourite painters, John Atkinson Grimshaw, was on display. I was slightly disappointed however that the star of the collection, a Pre-Raphaelite, was on loan in Japan. Venus Verticordia by Rossetti will be back in the New Year, however, as part of a major exhibition entitled ‘Beyond the Brotherhood: The Pre-Raphaelite Legacy.’ Running from 21 February to 21 June and including masterpieces from the Royal Academy and the Victoria and Albert Museum among other prestigious institutions, this exhibition will demonstrate “…how Pre-Raphaelitism lives on in contemporary art and culture, as seen in fantasy illustration and films such as the Lords of the Rings and Game of Thrones.”

In addition to the observation I made about the age of the visitors in the gallery when I was there, it is worth remembering that leading art exhibitions attract large numbers of people of all ages. This promises to be an exhibition with considerable interest. Groups are very welcome at any time, but if you have any groups on your books that love going to National Trust and English Heritage properties, this will be something that will be right up their street.

Poole

One of the other things that you notice about this part of the world is the money. There’s a lot of that round here. Some resorts offer the refreshing and invigorating delights of fresh air. But people visiting here can savour the smell of money as they drive along some of the town’s broad and leafy avenues. But the really big bucks are a bit further along the coast, and they are big ones. A Gee Vee driver, one of Barnsley’s finest, told me that a favourite jaunt of his was to take a spin around the spit of land that is Sandbanks in Poole to see how the other 0.0001% live. And do they live in style. I’m not sure if Sandbanks’ Panorama Road should be called Millionaire’s Row these days. With houses there costing in the many millions, this is probably better described as Billionaire’s Row.

If you’re planning a spin round Sandbanks, it might be worth having a look at the prices of property on a local estate agent’s website. A couple of million won’t cut it down here. Think well north of four million plus and then you will see why a drive round Sandbanks will enable your passengers to take in some of the most expensive real estate not just in the UK, but on the planet. Miami would be cheaper. A drive around this area will enable your passengers to see why they call it the Palm Springs of the south coast. Also, a bit further along the coast from Sandbanks is the home of Sunseeker, the luxury yacht builder. A handy location.

RNLI

Just a bit further along the coast is the heart of the RNLI in Poole which offers visitors the opportunity to see inside a remarkable organisation that is devoted to saving lives. In addition to being the administrative centre of the RNLI, Poole is where the charity designs and builds its lifeboats in the All-weather Lifeboat Centre. Also, RNLI College is where lifeboat crews come to receive training. As both departments of the RNLI offer guided tours for groups, this is a great opportunity to see how this wonderful organisation works. I went on a guided tour of the College with a terrific guide, David Brown, as you might expect with the RNLI, a volunteer. It’s worth noting that 95% of the people who work for the RNLI are volunteers.

The RNLI College Discovery Tour took in principally two aspects of the training the college provides to lifeboat crew members from throughout the UK and Ireland. You may have seen how the RNLI works in the BBC TV series, ‘Saving Lives at Sea.’ In order to rescue the 329 people who the RNLI’s volunteers saved in 2018, RNLI College, Poole is the place where they will have received training. One aspect of their training is how to save themselves should the inshore lifeboats they use capsize. This is carried out in the Sea Survival Centre. Here, the pool in the centre is large enough to capsize an inshore lifeboat. The crew are then trained how to right the boat. However, given the number of rescues carried out at night, the centre can be made pitch black, the pool’s wave machines can replicate stormy seas while thunder and lightning can make the training scenarios wholly realistic. Crews also practice abandoning ship. They then practice scrambling into lifeboats from which they are rescued after 45 minutes via an overhead gantry that mimics a helicopter winch.

A shout

The really fun and realistic part of the tour then included a short session in the college’s lifeboat simulator. And it was impressive. The simulator offers crews the opportunity to practice the vital teamwork that is at the heart of a lifeboat crew’s work. I wasn’t actually ‘at sea,’ but it was the next best thing and what I experienced in the RNLI’s lifeboat simulator won’t disappoint your passengers. The simulator was set for a force 6 but it can replicate a force 11. Subject to the demands of the college’s training schedules, visitors will get the chance to take the helm and drive the lifeboat or act as the coxswain and direct a lifesaving operation. There was no shortage of volunteers to take the wheel among the group I was with. Out of a group of 15, taking another good guess, only two were under 60 years of age. There is also the chance to visit the All-weather Lifeboat Centre where the RNLI builds and then launches a new Shannon class lifeboat every two months.

However, while college tours are available 10 times a week, the All-weather Lifeboat Centre tour is only available on two occasions a week.

After a tour, there is the chance to reflect on the work of the RNLI in the college’s circular Slipway Bar overlooking Poole Harbour. Something that operators might want to think about is that the college offers residential courses with the accommodation being of a hotel standard. This means that groups have the opportunity to stay there, particularly at weekends, when the college’s rooms are not being taken up by the lifeboat crews being trained there. The work of the RNLI costs in the region of half a million pounds a day and a new Shannon lifeboat costs £2.2 million, expenditure the RNLI meets without any Government support. Therefore, organising a guided tour or even booking a tour in at the college would not just be a great place to visit or stay, it would help save lives. And if you visit or stay in the week, your passengers will be rubbing shoulders with some of the bravest and most selfless men and women in the British Isles. So if you’re in the area, pop in – they would love to see you in order to tell you more about what the RNLI offers the coach trade.

Tourist info

The Russell-Cotes gallery and the RNLI were two places that I found of great interest while I was in Bournemouth and Poole and would, I feel sure, appeal to many coach passengers. But there is no shortage of places to visit in an area that goes out of its way to welcome coaches. The Bournemouth & Poole Group and Coach Travel guide is particularly helpful. Whether you order a hard copy or view the guide online, operators and drivers will find it offers all the help they need.

Oh, and just a word of praise for the local bus operator that I used to get about mainly on the M2 from Poole to Bournemouth. A big thank you to Morebus’ helpful drivers who didn’t keep me waiting long. A great service.

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