This year we several new members at the Christmas table . We had a chance to chat
together before Helga gave a short briefing
on the guide situation, a summary of 2015
and the expectations for 2016. Then it was
time for traditional Norwegian Christmas
food, dessert and coffee with homemade
Christmas cookies. Anne Berit Foldnes
showed us round the Frida Hansen
exhibition at the house, and as expected
the guides asked lots of questions and
enjoyed the history and stories. We ended
with the Christmas present game, where we had a blast !!!! Just ask those who were there.
We were warmly received at SandnesGarn in Sandnes and given an interesting and amusing lecture about this traditional company. We were then divided into two groups and taken through the production hall. The tour concluded at the coffee table and several of the participants took the opportunity to shop in the factory store with Guideforening discount.
Some of our members were unable to attend the marine biology beach hike in April. We therefore had several requests to repeat this event. Andrea Lorenz was happy to oblige. This time in English. As before, the theme continued inside the Sola Beach Hotel after an hour of discovery out on the beach.
Trygve Byrkjedal who grew up in Byrkjedal took us there for a cozy and exciting trip. The first stop on the way up was at the “Vegmuseet” where we got an insight into the long history of challenges encountered when building roads through the mountains, sea and fjords. At Byrkjedal we were served soup and Trygve took the opportunity to tell us about his childhood. Our next stop was Gloppedalsura, where Trygve’s father told us about his time as a young boy during the war. It was a very vivid story reinforced by real weapons that he brought to show us. On the way home we stopped to visit a private collection in Dirdal.
Despite the rainy weather, the guides were still keen to go on a marine biology walk on Sola Beach. After an hour of discovery and beach combing outside, we continued our investigations inside the Sola Beach Hotel where, for another hour, we opened a “marine treasure”, browsed through literature while enjoying coffee and tea.
The first activity of 2015 was a maritime visit to The Tananger Coastal Culture Collection.
The curator, Åge Hagen, took us on a 1.5 hour journey back into the past of the regions coastal people. The exhibition rooms were rather cold and damp but luckily we had an opportunity to warm up and chat with coffee, tea and biscuits in the cosy café at the museum.