UK & Ireland's Community Hero: Nicola Palmer, Perfect Getaways

This special category celebrates travel agents and agencies who have shown extraordinary commitment to giving back to their local community and charitable causes. Despite an incredibly strong shortlist, judges wanted to recognise this particular agent for striving to make charity work an integral part of her business, and for achieving so much in such a short space of time as a new agency.

Starting a new business is always a stressful time, but Perfect Getaways’ managing director Nicola Palmer has added a heap of charity work into the mix, inviting good causes to get in touch and putting the ethos of giving back at the heart of her five Merseyside and Cheshire agencies.

Perfect Getaways was only a year-and-a-half old at the start of 2019, yet Nicola and her team helped raise more than £12,500 for local causes that year as well as giving free help and advice.

A highlight (quite literally) was a sponsored sky dive – no mean feat for Nicola who has a fear of flying! “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look so scared,” says her husband and Perfect Getaways owner David Palmer.

Seven coach trips with the profits going to charity were also organised by the agency teams, with all staff giving their time for free and organising onboard raffles. The chain sponsored many other events and gave away more than £3,000 of holidays and vouchers in 2019.

Organisations to benefit from Perfect Getaways’ efforts included No More Knives, Wirral Society for the Blind & Partially Sighted, Clatterbridge Cancer Charity, Birkenhead Dog Kennels, Just A Drop, Trinity Hospice and Cash For Kids, plus several junior sports clubs.

Local schools have also been supported with sponsorship and prizes, and Nicola has visited to help teach children about the environment and deliver reusable water bottles. A specialist autism school, meanwhile, gained £500 to help start an edible garden after Nicola overheard a conversation about the project at a football match.