Shirley Ward has been organising non-profit coach trips for the Upminster and Cranham community since the early 1980s, visiting everywhere from Broadstairs to Slovenia.
In June, Shirley Tours will run its last trip to Liverpool – in what Shirley’s son Simon called the “end of an era”.
Shirley has reflected on some of her best trips, visiting Buckingham Palace and making friends for life.
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“When my eldest son started school, I joined the parents association and started helping someone run coach trips,” Shirley told the Recorder.
“We only did one trip a year and it wasn’t really to make money it was just to give mums and children days out.
“Eventually I was doing around 20 day trips a year and then I started doing holidays and theatre trips.
“It was a hobby, but it was more than a hobby – it became part of my life, really.”
Over the years, the 76-year-old has run a trip to Prague, organised river cruises to France and the Netherlands, taken groups caving and posed in front of St Paul’s Cathedral.
But she said her favourite holiday was a tour to Slovenia, which she called “so lovely”.
Shirley said: “We stayed at a hotel near Lake Bled, and it’s so lovely because there is a lake and in the middle of the lake there is a tiny, tiny island.
“You get rowed across by this special boat and on the island there is 100 steps up to the church on the island, where grooms had to carry their brides up.”
All the profits raised from Shirley Tours have been donated to local schools, scout groups and hospitals such as Queen’s Hospital – and Shirley estimates that, to date, she has raised almost £114,000.
Shirley was recognised with the Mayor of London’s Award for fundraising in 2006 and the British Empire Medal for volunteering as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2015.
For this, she was even invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II “smiled” at her and Prince Phillip joked with her and her husband.
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But, the coach trips took a lot of paperwork and were a “big responsibility” – and her children have suggested she “winds down” to look after her health.
“Last year, I ended up in hospital – I had two strokes – and then this year I ended up in hospital with pneumonia,” Shirley told the Recorder.
“The trips that were existing my daughter-in-law had to take over and another trip two of the group had to run it for me with no experience.
“I thought I can’t put people through that, it’s a big responsibility.”
The final trip in June will see a “small group” of around 26 stay at a hotel near the waterfront in Liverpool, do a Beatles tour and take a ferry across the Mersey.
Reflecting on the trips, Shirley said: “We’ve enjoyed it, and some people have gone for the first time on their own and we’ve made friends.
“I’m winding up this year but I might still do an occasional one.”
