Shoppers in Launceston on Wednesday, September 30 must have wondered what was going on! Why were four people in period costume walking through the town?

Well, members of Okehampton, Tavistock District and West Dartmoor U3A were being given a conducted tour of the town by members of Launceston U3A.

The day began at the Central Methodist Hall where the groups had tea and biscuits, and were introduced to their guides for the morning, who were dressed in various historical (a few would say 'hysterical') attire, kindly loaned to them by LADS (Launceston Amateur Dramatic Society).

Four separate groups of people were led from the Museum to the Castle, on to the Guild Hall, then through the Square, around to Southgate Arch, and then on to St Mary's Church.

At Lawrence House Museum, the curator Jake Jackson gave a short history of the house and contents and at the Castle, Les Richardson, a local history enthusiast, revealed details and stories of the castle's past.

To the sound of the chiming Quarter Jacks, Jim Edwards, another local history enthusiast, admitted everyone to the Mayor's Parlour, where he and the Mayor, Paul O'Brien, gave a brief history of the Guild and Town halls, told of past mayors and mayoral etiquette, and explained the details of the mayoral insignia.

Some were lucky enough to see preparations taking place for the production of Pinocchio by the youth section of LADS. Finally, Rob Tremain, Town Crier and deputy Mayor, told the story of the building of St Mary's Church and explained many of the details in the carvings.

The guides also imparted interesting facts along the route of the walk, before returning their parties to the Central Methodist Hall. Here, the Launceston WI provided and served a three course lunch for about 80 hungry guests.

All the visitors proclaimed the morning to have been very interesting and enjoyable and many intended to spend the afternoon revisiting some of the places to which they had been briefly introduced.

A great many of the visitors (and one or two locals) voiced their surprise at realising that there was so much more to see and learn in Launceston than they had expected. A vote of thanks was given to everyone involved in organizing the day, which, it was agreed, had been a resounding success.