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Armed Forces
Tour Guides
Our guides are the key to the quality of Poppy Travel’s service. We use a professional ‘best practice’ approach to guiding, using only guides with the military history knowledge and competence to accommodate unit training objectives.
Poppy Travel guides are supported by a common knowledge base and by extensive training. We have a team of over thirty guides; each one carefully selected and trained to meet the requirements of our 21st century Armed Forces, embodying total commitment to the history and traditions of the Armed Forces, thus helping to lay the foundations for its future.
Almost all our guides have operational military service and are part of its history. They include veterans from the Second World War, Borneo, Northern Ireland, Oman, Falklands as well as both Gulf Wars and Afghanistan. Several guides are still serving. Many work in day-to-day roles with veterans and/or the serving forces. All our guides have demonstrated their competence for communicating with young adults and come armed with relevant examples of individual experiences with which soldiers can empathise.
The tools and techniques supporting our guides include the workbooks developed by the Armed Forces used by AFC Harrogate and can enable military staff to provide full input - including the following:
- Low Level TEWTs to engage soldiers in mental activity; practice their communications skills and teamwork.
- Re-enactment and role play, where appropriate, to enable the soldiers to empathise with those in whose footsteps they tread.
- Engaging training team staff through comparison with historic and current solutions for tactical problems and a participative approach to leading their particular tour.
Guides are selected and trained by Colonel Christopher Newbould CBE, The Royal British Legion’s Chief Battlefield Guide and Chief Validator of the Guild of Battlefield Guides. He is assisted by Frank Baldwin, the Education member of the Council of the Guild of Battlefield Guides.
Poppy Travel guides have been thoroughly briefed to interpret ‘Remembrance in the Field’ and
provide Remembrance Poppy crosses for every person and a wreath for the group to lay in a place of memory special to them. They can also provide a short brief on the history and role of The Royal British Legion and the services it provides for the serving and ex-Service community.