What’s in this newsletter?
- Intro from Dan
- Submissions for Guilded News – deadline 22nd November
- Events
- Membership – Sarah Rodrigues
- Sponsorship and partnerships
- Sustainability Symposium: podcast update
- Member benefits
- Gala Dinner – Mary Anne Evans
- In Memoriam: Solange Hando
Intro from Dan
Wow! What a start to the month it was with our incredible Gatsby-style BGTW Gala Awards Dinner! A huge thank you to all members who attended and to the whole Board for their work on this, with a particularly big thank you to Mary Anne Evans and John Bell for organising an incredible event, Renate Ruge for working tirelessly to secure an incredible amount of sponsorship, Charlotte Copeman for all the hard work behind the scenes and Jon Holmes for hosting. Congratulations to all the shortlisted finalists, winners and everyone who entered – we can’t wait to host an even bigger bash next year as we celebrate the Guild’s 65th anniversary! Please continue to shout about the Guild, Gala and Awards on social media – the more noise we make the more it helps us secure future opportunities for all members.
And with that, we welcome a new year of Guild membership. We’re delighted that so many members have renewed and we’re excited to celebrate the Guild’s 65th year together with some fantastic trips, events and plans in the pipeline – but first, time for a little festive slow down. Will you be joining fellow members for a mulled wine at one of our upcoming Christmas get-togethers? Find the details on those below.
As per the BGTW Governing Articles, Charlotte will circulate further details about Board Elections and the AGM via separate emails in due course. Please direct any formal questions regarding these to charlotte.copeman@bgtw.org, or contact me (daniel.clarke@bgtw.org) for any general comments or queries.
Wishing you all a wonderful start to the festive season – read on for more updates from the Board.
Daniel Clarke,
On behalf of the BGTW Board
Submissions for Guilded News – deadline 22nd November
If you want to submit anything for Guilded News and haven’t yet, there is still time … just! The deadline is this Friday, 22nd November. Please click on the link below to submit your listing, and if you have any images to go with it please email them to Charlotte.
Click here to submit your listing.
Events
Pre-Christmas events are also happening this month. Please support them as you’ve been asking for regional social events and a lot of effort and cost goes into putting them on.
Pre-Christmas Social in Bristol 26 November 6pm to 9pm
There is still time to sign up for the pre-Christmas social in Bristol where an exciting meeting is planned involving a stroll around the Christmas market and drinks afterwards. This event will take place on 20 November from 6 pm. RSVP and enquiries to Valery.Collins@bgtw.org
A Wonderful Walk through an Illuminated Kew Gardens
Our first pre-Christmas event, a press preview of the Christmas lights trail at Kew Gardens in Richmond was a great success. 30 members (and guests) signed up for this event. The lights were spectacular and there were plenty of food and drink vans along the way. It is hoped that this will be the first of many similar events.
January 23rd – Photography workshop – rescheduled from October. Minimum 12 members needed. This will be a 5-6 hour workshop which will include classroom sessions on how to shoot images with more impact and understanding your camera. We will also go out and shoot around Covent Garden then review your images afterwards so you can improve them. Fujifilm will provide cameras for the day for all the participants but you can also bring your own. Register to attend here.
February 12th – ANTOR/BGTW debate on Responsible Travel followed by a networking event. – ANTOR are great supporters of the Guild and we need a really good turn out for this one so please support it. We need two Guild members to represent travel journalists’ views on the topic. Chris will chair the debate along with a chair from ANTOR. If you’d like to be on the Guild team please let Charlotte or Chris know so that we can finalise the BGTW team before Christmas. Register to attend here.
Membership – Sarah Rodrigues
Big thanks to everyone who got on board with 2024’s self-audit! We’re aware that membership and renewals have not had anything of this nature in recent years; we’re also aware that form-filling and admin are never the most enjoyable parts of any job, so we really appreciate your efforts. Big shout out to superstar Dan Clarke, too, for making the form so user-friendly … luddite that I am, I probably would have paid you all an unsolicited home visit and then sat in your favourite chair, drinking tea from your favourite mug, and ticking lists attached to a mouldy old clipboard. Thank you Dan!
Just a note, too, to add that data from the self-audits is being used to help secure sponsorship for future events, including the AGM and conventions – so if you’ve not yet filled yours out (even if you have paid your subs) please could you do so as soon as possible? It will benefit us all. Here is the form.
We’re continuing to receive membership applications on a regular basis (fortunately, I have just about mastered Zoom, so interviews are taking place without my IRL, clipboard-wielding presence) and the calibre of applicants we’re hearing from is fantastic – really encouraging for the Guild, both now and going forward.
It’s also wonderful to report that we retained the vast majority of our members at renewal time, and that some previously paused members have returned. We have, of course, had some members request to pause their membership for the time being, as their personal circumstances aren’t currently compatible with work in travel media. Resignations have been scarce, which is great news and indicative of the steps that the Guild has taken to make a fresh start after the difficulties of recent years, most notably the pandemic.
So, a massive THANK YOU to all of you – and here’s to a collaborative, successful and enjoyable 2025!
Sponsorship and partnerships
A huge thank you goes out to all the sponsors and partners of our BGTW Annual Gala Awards Dinner 2024. With their help to make our event possible, it was a smash hit: a great Gatsby-style mix of glitz, glamour, fabulous entertainment and food, all enjoyed with travel industry friends at The Bloomsbury Ballroom, London..
The generous support of our partners began with the red carpet excitement thanks to BGTW friends at Discover Newport & Rhode Island, New England, who graced the ballroom’s entrance with a vintage Rolls-Royce, starting the evening in style.
More red carpet treatment followed inside with a vintage photo booth courtesy of I Love New York, a sparkling champagne reception with Explore Charleston and Discover South Carolina, and sumptuous three-course sit-down dinner thanks to Discover Long Island.
On behalf of the BGTW, I would like to thank all of this year’s partners for making the event so special: Discover Long Island, Explore Charleston & Discover South Carolina, New York State, Discover Newport & Rhode Island, New England, Cayman Islands Department of Tourism. Visit Scotland, Tourism Gran Canaria, Visit Houston, Tourism Nova Scotia, Travel Switzerland, Cinnamon Hotels, Anguilla Tourist Board, ANTOR, Visit Isle of Man, and made Tourism Marketing.
We raised a good amount for the event and to award our members with prizes for their excellence as well as hosting over 40 of our members as invited guests. We also raised over £3,500 for the Family Holiday Charity with super raffle prizes.
I would also like to thank our BGTW Great Gatsby aka talented actor James Cartwright and his companion Daisy (real name Sally) who were a great selling point and amped up the fun factor.
Good news all round.
Sustainability Symposium: podcast update
The publication of the Sustainability Symposium podcasts was delayed so as not to be lost in the noise of WTM and the Gala.
We’re currently in the process of final edits and re-recording a couple of sections that were impacted by a fire alarm on the day but we hope to publish these before the end of the month.
Member benefits
Annual renewals of our current member benefits are coming up (and we are continually trying to source new ones). As such, if you have made use of any member benefits this year, please email Dan letting us know so we can use this to prove value to the businesses that kindly offer these. We’d especially love to hear of any instances when the use of a benefit has resulted in coverage.
Gala Dinner – Mary Anne Evans
Were any of you at the first BGTW Gala Dinner? Held on Sunday November 16, 1997 in the Lancaster Ballroom at the Savoy Hotel, it was sponsored by VISA International. The principal guest was Tom Clarke CBE, MP – Minister for Film and Tourism; those were the days of sensible government. The 1997 dinner was the first in a long line of dinners for the great and the good (and BGTW members) and has become the not-to-be-missed event of the travel industry.
We’re already looking forward to next year’s BGTW Gala Dinner. We’re getting close to fixing the date and the venue! It’s the 65th Anniversary of the BGTW, so it will be spectacular.
I have organised 15, or is it 16??? dinners now, mostly at the Savoy Hotel. It’s been a long and sometimes rocky road to organise the sponsors and the dinner. Now Renate is in charge of sponsorship, it’s a much more enjoyable task.
We have had some highlights. Does anyone remember Las Vegas, when we had the mayor of Las Vegas (Caroline Goodman) and her husband, the famous Oscar B. Goodman, former mayor of Las Vegas and once lawyer for the Mob? The show girls were terrific and the gin for Oscar B. undiluted.
But the one that I cherish the most was in 2013 when Wallonia was the sponsor, Michael Morpurgo was the main speaker and War Horse appeared in the Lancaster Room.
And this year’s was fantastic, with music, dancing, Jay Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald, and more awards than ever before. Held in the South Ballroom of The Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society, built in 1926, we paid tribute to the art deco extravaganza with an extravaganza of our own.
And next year? Watch this space!
In Memoriam: Solange Hando
It is with great regret that we announce the passing of long-time Guild member Solange Hando. Born in Dieulouard France, Solange found her true vocation in life through travel writing. According to her daughter Stella she visited 130 countries, and died suddenly having just returned from a trip to India. “Mum spoke very fondly of the BGTW, and writing about the incredible places she visited around the world was her absolute passion,” says Stella.
“The sudden loss of such a wonderful travel journalist as Solange is so shocking and sad,” says BGTW Chair, Chris Coe. “She was so passionate about what she did and as she leaves us, it is a comfort to us all to know that she will carry this passion on her new journey.”
Solange’s “celebration of her life” will be held on Wednesday 27th November: 2pm at Herne Bay Crematorium. Stella welcomes all Solange’s friends from the BGTW to attend, especially if they wear lilac, purple and blue – Solange’s favourite colours. The family will be collecting for the charity https://www.openingyourhearttobhutan.com/. Solange had met the founder Emma Slade and thoroughly enjoyed sharing stories about their visits to Bhutan.
