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Many of you are probably fully aware of the current tour that Mr Mears is doing. A pictorial journey through his time spent making films with the BBC.
I first heard about the tour through the forum, and within minutes I was on the phone to Aber's Art Centre trying to book tickets. It seems I was ahead of the game as they were nowhere near to being able to market the tickets as they barely knew of the event themselves. It didn't take too long to get things sorted out and I soon had confirmation of two places, middle seats, front row (more later).
 That was back in April and believe me the clock was ticking slowly between then and last night. Since the weekend, my 10 year old daughter has been getting all excited about going to "Ray Mears" on tuesday - I think the school were getting tired of it too - heaven knows what she'll be telling them today in class,
So we set off with plenty of time to spare, the roads around Mid Wales are very narrow and winding - meaning that if there's a problem - the diversionary route is even longer and more time consuming. However, we arrived safely enough and as soon as we go into the reception area, other BCUK members were waving a greeting. We joined them, standing round in a good natured huddle, as we counted down the minutes until the doors to the Great Hall opened.
Owing, I think, to the unexpected popularity of the event, our front row tickets were now five rows back, though I don't believe we lost out, seeing as ours were the first row of elevated seats and those at the very front were having to crane their necks to see the screen.
Ray was introduced, and made his entry to a sustained ovation, whereupon he got straight on with the business at hand. I have read some of Rays books and, though some of his photos were the same as the book illustrations, it was by no means a case of "I've seen all this before". There were photos from his own collection and many stories behind each one, often he would recall amusing anecdotes and openly laugh at the memory of those events. I saw it mentioned on the forum that there could have been an "18+" version, as some of the recollections were certainly more adult themed, but at no point did I think my daughter was at risk of being offended or upset. The audience was taken on a pictorial journey around the world, with descriptions of the finest detail. That detail, in Rays words, being the difference between success and failure of each trips that he has done. It was obvious that Ray had forged deep friendships with the people in the photos, and he was genuinely saddened whenever he felt it necessary to announce that his friends had now passed on.
He spoke for over two and a half hours and I found every second to be rivettingly interesting. Even my daughter who was getting beyond tired, found it all to be a great show and really enjoyed herself. Ray went on to answer questions for a further half an hour or more, and even then went to sign his books for anyone who wanted. We stood in the queue with our copies to be autographed and I expected to be ushered through in quick time as there was a sizeable queue behind us. So, as daughter and I approached the table, his face lit up in welcome, and with no intention of haste, we exchanged several minutes of private conversation with Ray genuinely interested in what I had to say.
Now, I have to admit that I had been impressed by Rays work already, it can't have been easy for him to become such a household name without a lot of hard work. But now that I have met and spoken to the man, I hold him in even greater admiration, justified by his parting comment to me "Please keep in touch!"
I thoroughly enjoyed the event and I'll be looking out for any future tours that he does, he is a truely fascinating man to listen to. Many thanks to Ray and the team from Aberystwyth for making it so good.
Pete Williams
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