In:House #13

Posted on in Announcements by Mark Bibby Jackson

In this newsletter you will find:

2024 and the new Board

Something everyone agreed on at the AGM is that it’s time for a positive reset. Time to get to know each other again, be a community that shows understanding and compassion and is inclusive, celebrate our diverse skills and achievements and support one another, talking more and communicating better. More face-to-face gatherings are also on the agenda… so watch this space.

The new Board includes:

  • Sarah Rodrigues (Membership)
  • Mary Anne Evans (Events)
  • Renate Ruge (Partnerships and sponsorship)
  • Valery Collins (Regional and National Liaison)

We would really appreciate your support for remaining Board positions or review panels around modernisation of the Guild and for the awards.

We need YOU!  Come and work with us

A new Board is coming together but we are still several members short, so we need you to get involved if we’re to achieve all the exciting plans we have. The roles of Vice Chair, Pr & Communications Director (working with Mark Bibby Jackson) and Board Secretary are still available, plus several off-board roles. Interested? Please get in touch.

You can read more about the new team and our exciting plans for the forthcoming year in the next newsletter.

Thank you

Chris Coe, Chair, and the team

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John Malathronas Tributes

Sadly, as many you are aware, long-time BGTW member John Malathronas passed away recently from a rare pancreatic cancer. John was a long term member of the Guild and a regular attendee at Guild events until his illness restricted him. 

Many of you will have fond memories of John and his family would very much appreciate hearing from members with particular memories of John. Please send these tributes to Charlotte Copeman who will pass them on.

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BGTW AGM and Convention 2024

With members now back in the UK after what is being seen as a hugely successful BGTW AGM and Convention in the Isle of Man, it’s time to offer a few thanks for those who made it all happen.

First of all, thanks must go to Visit Isle of Man. From the start, the tourism organisation, led by chief executive Deborah Heather, made it clear it wanted to give Guild members the opportunity to really discover the very many stories the island has to tell.

In the end, some 50 or so members travelled over, either on board the Isle of Man Steam Packet’s new ship, ‘Manxman’, or flying from regional airports. Specific thanks must go to Yvette Hollows and her colleagues from Visit Isle of Man. The itinerary offered members the opportunity to drill down into stories and topics relevant to their own requirements. The final, detailed itineraries, including pick-up bus and minibus shuttles, hotel accommodation and other bespoke requirements, were handled with aplomb.

At this end, with former Guild joint chair Stuart Render taking the overview, working closely with Sarah Siese, it was BGTW administrator Charlotte Copeman who was the liaison with members. Commenting on this, Stuart Render says: “The administration of our annual AGM and Convention requires many hours of work, both liaising with the host destination and ensuring members’ individual requirements are met. This year, the vagaries of the weather meant additional work to ensure travel to and from the island was successfully delivered. On behalf of all Guild members I would like to thank Charlotte for her enthusiasm and commitment to ensuring that challenge was met.”

A key element of the event programme was the formal BGTW AGM. Moderated by Stuart Render, in one of his final activities before stepping back from front-line Guild duties, the AGM saw the handover from the ‘old’ BGTW Board to the ‘new’ Board. At the time of writing that new Board comprises Chris Coe, together with director Renate Ruge, Mary-Anne Evans, Valery Collins and Sarah Rodrigues.

At the end of the AGM, Chris outlined the plans he has for the year ahead. Ending the AGM session, Stuart Render wished Chris and the team all the very best for the year ahead, noting that at the AGM in 2025, Guild members will be looking forward to hearing how the new Board has built on the financial and administrative successes delivered by the old Board.

A full report on the AGM and Convention, together with photos and videos taken by the Visit Isle of Man team across the event itinerary, will be published in due course.

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Isle of Man Memories

Those Guild members who made it to the Isle of Man for the AGM will all agree what a fabulous time it was, and how wonderful was the support provided by our hosts Visit Isle of Man. Would you please make sure that when you post anything on social media channels about your trip you include @bgtw #travwriters as well as #bgtwiom #iomstory #loveiom and #isleofman. Also, just like with the Malta AGM, we are collecting together your memories of the trip. So, please could you send your favourite images to Charlotte Copeman.

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Awards

This year’s awards are fast approaching and the new Board would like to review them with a view to restructuring ahead of their launch. Several members have already stepped forward to do this but, so that all skillsets are represented, we’d like a photographer and a broadcaster to join the review panel. This review will be done over zoom, with the recommendations fed into the Board. If you’re interested, or would like to be involved in running this year’s awards, then please get in touch.

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Update: Press Trips to Denmark: Spring/Early Summer 2024

Family Press Trip to Billund

This trip is being offered to one member of the Guild with a confirmed commission for a relevant publication. There is some flexibility regarding dates but the busiest times should be avoided, ie late June, the whole of July and the start of August. The recommendations is 2 -3 nights and for relevant media/commissions, flights would be covered for the journalist + one child. Usually, a family room with space for 2 adults and 2 kids would be made available for those who wish to travel as a family. , if they prefer to travel as a family.

Legoland is the main attraction, where we recommend spending a whole day. Other main attractions are these four, all brilliant for families with kids.

Group Trips to Denmark

There will be two group trips (maximum 9/10 participants). The first group trip will further explore the Kyslandet Region (coastal Denmark) this time concentrating on the islands along that coastline. This group will depart Tuesday April 23rd and return Saturday April 27th

The second will be visiting several towns in the Triangle Region featuring culture, history and architecture and will depart Tuesday 27th May and return Friday 30th May.

Itineraries are still to be finalised but in the meantime I am accepting expressions of interest and with confirmed commissions. A final selection of participants will be made by our hosts. 

Interested? Contact Valery for more information

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Icons of Inclusion

Hosted at The Dorchester, London on 18 March, 2024, Icons of Inclusion is an inspirational thought leadership, education and networking event, with a focus on diversity and inclusion in tourism. It will showcase best practices in the industry, celebrate role models through lively, informative discussions that will provide the industry with actionable steps they can take to create real change with regard to workplace culture, sales and marketing and operations. 

The organisers have kindly gifted 40 complementary tickets to BGTW members. (They cost £199). To request a ticket, please email Charlotte Copeman.

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Neighbourhood Narratives

A writing competition called Neighbourhood Narratives has just been launched encouraging people to write about their surroundings, with their submissions becoming geo-located audio podcasts on the Placecloud.io platform. 


“What are the stories in the neighbourhoods and landscape around you? What are the views, the buildings, the trees, the parks telling you? We would like you to put these stories into short non-fiction written pieces for our latest writing competition, in conjunction with Placecloud.io.”

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New plans for podcasts and talks

Following on from the webinar programme, Jon Holmes and Chris Coe are putting together plans for a new BGTW podcast series plus Talking Heads recordings with members. They will be making a pilot in the coming months. If anyone would like to get involved in the organisation, recording or presenting then please get in touch.

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Regional Champions

Beyond the Capital

Are you a regional champion? Due to popular demand, the BGTW is looking to do a calendar of events outside of London in 2024. As we are all volunteers, the Board is seeking local experts from different countries and regions to help realise our plan.

Please contact Valery with suggestions. If you live in a great place for Guildies to visit and would kindly like to offer your support with a local lowdown and contacts, we would love to hear from you. 

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Members’ thoughts on AGAD

Did you come to the 2023 Annual Gala Awards Dinner (AGAD)? If you did, we’d love your thoughts on the event so we can incorporate these ideas into the event for 2024.

Please click here to complete the form to let us have your thoughts. 

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Stay in a pub report

In 2023, Stay in the Pub commissioned consumer and trade research around pub accommodation in the UK.

The research showed that 60% of people who have stayed in a pub in the last 24 months say that they would prefer pub stay versus other types of accommodation for the same spend and location.

If you think this might be a useful resource for your work, please email mark.jackson@bgtw.org for a copy.

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BGTW on Social Media

We’re always up for sharing your work, events, news, projects etc. 

Social media is managed by a small team.  If you’re not being followed by the BGTW, email us.

Twitter: Tag @travwriters in your tweet/photo if you want us to see/share. You can also follow fellow members on this BGTW members list.

Instagram posts: Select ‘Tag people’ then tag @travwriters.
You can use the #bgtw hashtag or tag@ us in post copy/comments, but they’re harder to track. Tagging IN the pic guarantees we see it.
Stories/Reels: Use the ‘@mention’ function to tag us.

Facebook: We can promote your work/news on our public Facebook page. Send links via FB Messenger to that account.

LinkedIn: You can ‘@’ British Guild of Travel Writers in posts and we’ll like/share/comment when possible/appropriate.

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Mark Bibby Jackson
By: Mark Bibby Jackson Editor, Freelance Journalist, Travel Writer