What did we do before a Sat Nav £5 none member £2.50 members

The fascinating history of the Michelin Brothers Tickets, Wed 20 Sep 2023 at 19:00 | Eventbrite

The story of Andre and Edouard Michelin who ‘inherited’ a failing engineering factory in the remote Auvergne, in central France, towards the end of the 1800’s. Recognising the potential of motor transport (not forgetting the bicycle), they revolutionised many concepts relating to travel, leisure, publicity and marketing.

Starting off with a love of maps and travel and a number of years living in ‘La France Profonde’ led Paul to having an interest in Michelin maps (and the Michelin story), and eventually becoming a ‘grand collectionneur’!

But it all really started 30 years ago in his ‘new house’ in Doncaster and coming across a few old maps in a box that had spent 20 years in his mum’s attic, including a Michelin map ‘Mersey, Humber, the Peak District’. An actual map of the area that he was sitting in the middle of! Attempting to date it by using such clues as the Derwent Valley reservoirs, and an ‘Airship Station’ outside of Goole, he found it fascinating. Fate intervened again just a week later, as he walked through Doncaster Market and noticed a stall selling ‘Railway Memorabilia’. In a box marked ‘50p only’ were half a dozen Michelin maps, which judging by the design, were from the same period. But, these were maps of France, including one from the area where he had lived for 13 years. He was hooked.

Now his collection of Michelin maps is quite large(!), he was told by the president of the Association des Collectionneurs de Guides et de Cartes Michelin (France) that it could be the largest in the UK. As a WEA tutor he has run a group of courses entitled ‘Map Stories’, and during the covid lockdown presented 2 courses relating to Michelin. He will bring a number of Michelin maps and guides, and other related memorabilia to the evening. At the present time Paul works as a ‘Job Coach’ with adults on the autistic spectrum, who are in employment. He lives in Wadsley (opposite Wadsley Hall) with his Finnish wife, and one cat.