Welcome to my blog page for my new business ‘Julie Reece Tours’. I would like to introduce you to my new life after teaching; the organisation and managing of tours to Europe to the former battlefields of the First World War in France and Belgium. In the last decade of my teaching career in South Australia, I established several commemorative projects – ‘Remembrance 2001 & 2004′ at Mount Barker High School and ‘Connecting Spirits’ 2006- 2010′ at Meningie Area School. In retirement I continued to work on the ‘Connecting Spirits’ program with Mal Jurgs at Meningie Area School and in 2012 a third school Coomandook Area School, joined the project. In 2014 ‘Connecting Spirits’ expanded into other Mallee schools in the Meningie cluster and also linked to Findon High School for the 2015 tour. (go to http://www.connectingspirits.com.au for a full coverage of this initiative) A sister project under the auspices of the South Australian RSL was also established in McLaren Vale. (2012 RSL/Connecting Spirits Fleurieu Region Project) You can go to http://www.connectingspirits2012.wordpress.com to read about that group’s experiences. Two new commemorative projects in other schools were also established on similar lines as Connecting Spirits- a one off project at St Francis De Sales in 2014 (‘Anzac Fallen Heroes’ ) and a longer term initiative at Christian Brothers’ College called ‘Spirit of Our Brothers’ in 2013 and for late 2015.
Complementing my work with schools, are 12 day tours for members of the public starting in London and travelling to the former locations of the western front. The itinerary is designed to include visits to family graves and memorials for personal commemorations, along the lines of ‘Connecting Spirits’. Other ‘add-on’ tours to Paris, the Champagne region, Normandy and all parts of the UK and Ireland are available by negotiation. Link into my ‘Julie Reece Tours’ facebook page to see some of the many special moments over the last decade. For further details contact me on reecy@chariot.net.au .
