Testimonials 2003



'Once again, thanks and praise are due to Tour Guide, Graeme Cooper, who never fails to instil in us feelings of awe and pride for those who fought...To all who listen to the history, told with such passion, so vividly brought to life by Graeme, it is always a humbling experience"
Gill Finch – Moreton – Great War Christmas Truce Tour 13 Dec 2003

"What made the day exceptional for me was that you found the exact Line of Advance that my father had taken. We were able to stand on the exact spot my father would have crossed with the 13th Cheshires on the 7 June 1917........Excellent, the right mix of history, stories and geography"
Desmond Brady – Bury St Edmunds – Great War Christmas Truce Tour 13 Dec 2003

"Excellent"
Alan Kerr – North Weald – Great War Christmas Truce Tour 13 Dec 2003

"Really enjoyed it, shame about the weather, but there again, it gave that view point of the war. Pity about the delay on the shuttle. I can't really fault the tour"
Tony Everard – Braintree – Great War Christmas Truce Tour 13 Dec 2003

"Excellent – Great Tour definitely surpassing Guild required standards"
Colin Thompson – Moreton – Great War Christmas Truce Tour 13 Dec 2003

"Excellent"
Fred Treves – North Weald – Great War Christmas Truce Tour 13 Dec 2003

"Excellent day in every way"
Iris Royce – Thornwood – Great War Christmas Truce Tour 13 Dec 2003

"I gained many new insights into the campaign and the personalities involved. Your enthusiasm for the subject added to my enjoyment"
Dennis Kubicki – Frederick, MD USA – Napoleon's Waterloo Anniversary Tour 18– 23 June 2003

"If all Cooper's Battlefield Tours are as exciting, well–matched and well led, your success is assured. I look forward to Austerlitz, 2005 or Waterloo. You made the venture."
Richard Dreissen – Los Angeles California USA – Napoleon's Waterloo Anniversary Tour 18–23 June 2003

"As a humble devotee to Napoleonic studies, please allow me to address your esteemed alliance with some enthusiastic comments about our 5–day June 18 Waterloo campaign anniversary tour led by Major Graeme Cooper. Although I've toured the Waterloo Battlefield on four previous occasions, including two stays at the 1815 hotel located at the Ohain crossroads, until I toured with Major Cooper it is if I had never been there before. We followed the hop, skip and jump of the French crossings from Fosteau to Charleroi; stood where D'Erlon's Corps should have arrived at Ligny; paid our respect to the new British monument at Quatr Bras, and enjoyed inside visits to Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte, Papelotte, (even Ney's Headquarters). We stood at innumerable locations including Genappe, La Belle Alliance and Napoleon's ridge to be lectured by the Major as what could be seen according to the sequence of events. I shall never forget the marches up to Wellington's ridge reminding me of John Keegan's "Face of Battle".

Even though I'm an admitted closet Bonapartist, Major Cooper exhibited unusual reverence for the great man despite his admiration for the Duke of Wellington and his support of the "German Victory" theory, perhaps because his parent regiment "The Green Howards" were in Ceylon at the time. It was also quite evident from the local receptions that Major Cooper uses his local contacts wisely, I do believe that he could march a thousand Imperial Guard re–enactors on Brussels by the drop of his hat. NATO officers have been lucky to have Major Cooper as its personal tour guide.

My Waterloo Campaign tour with Major Cooper is the highlight of my 40––plus years of Napoleonic studies. Thank you for the opportunity to comment together with all your membership does to promote Napoleonic History, my most fervent hope is that "Napoleon" Magazine will return, at least for the 200th anniversary of the 100 days! "We of the Napoleonic faction salute you! Your tour is the apex of my 40 year Napoleonic study. Most appreciatively, your friend, fellow enthusiast and advocate"
Michael D. Driessen Arlington, VA USA – Napoleon's Waterloo Anniversary Tour 18–23 June 2003

"Excellent, very knowledgeable and great with involving the wife and children"
Gregor Mansfield – Auckland New Zealand – A Campaign Tour 29th–30th May 2003

"Excellent, thoroughly enjoyed the whole trip. I especially enjoyed the way the Guide involved the youngsters on the tour. Everything was explained, making it simple for one to understand the various battle plans. First Class, fired up the imagination"
Phil Whiting – Epping, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"Another fine trip you got me into"
Terry Blanks – North Weald, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"I had a really wonderful time. Very good value for money. I very professional job, but still done with a touch humour as well"
George Mullet – Church Langley, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"The guiding was exceptional. Graeme's knowledge and understanding of the Somme battlefields was absorbing and thought provoking and fired the imagination to what really happened all those years ago"
Philip Reeve – Chelmsford, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"Extremely satisfactory"
Kathleen Harrop – Ongar, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"Excellent combination of information, explanation and compassion that helped one grasp the way events unrolled in July 1916 and the background to those events, horrific as they were. Liked the attention to the Young and the interest shown in peoples personal pilgrimages and family histories."
Patti Nicholson – Fyfield, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"An excellent professional performance by a person who is keenly interested in WW1 and communicates the subject in a manner that holds the concentration of the audience. An interesting and instructive two days"
John Nettleship – Doncaster South Yorkshire – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"Brill"
Stephanie Thorogood – Bishop Stortford Herts – Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"An excellent, well conducted tour. Well researched and put across. The leader and his description of places/events were of the highest order."
Howard Nicholson – Fyfield, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"I could not have asked more from this tour. Everything was lovely. From the food, hotel to the company"
Helen Terrington – North Weald, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"Excellent, could not be faulted"
Gill Finch – Moreton, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"Superb. Graeme Cooper is able to lift historical information from the page, bring it to life and make it relevant in a way which anybody can understand and enjoy. This is the second time I have been on a Cooper Tour and once again has more than matched expectations. I would recommend them to anyone with interest in military history."
Dan Luck – Sawston, Cambridge – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"A very well paced, interesting and excellent value tour"
Paul Nettleship – Moreton, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"Not bad at all. I will come again. Cheers!"
Marcus Hall – Anstey, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"An informative and excellent tour."
Ashley Dines – Moreton, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"Informative, detailed, well presented, I thoroughly enjoyed an excellent tour. Well planned, well executed and managed. A credit to you Graeme"
Colin Thompson – Moreton, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003

"Very good from start to finish. I look forward to future tours with Graeme Cooper"
Raymond Mears – Epping, Essex – The Somme Tour 10th–11th May 2003


Back to top