From apprentice to regional manager: the curtain falls on a distinguished career

Beryl Towne is enjoying some well-deserved relaxation when TTG catches up with her, having retired from the industry in April after 47 years’ service with Althams Travel. True to form, she’s in Spain’s Costa Calida – her passion for travel still burning brightly.

Beryl says she fell into the industry almost by accident. “I had to fill a year in my police cadet training, so I went to Bournemouth College aged 16 – all the way from Blackburn. It was the only place in the country offering a one-year travel and tourism diploma,” she explains.

After a trip to New York, she was hooked and joined Althams in 1977 as an apprentice in the Accrington branch, progressing to branch manager in 1983. In 1998, she became regional manager. Beryl cites her promotion to branch manager as one of her biggest career successes, and she ended up looking after the busy Blackburn branch.

“Back then we had to write out all the airline tickets by hand. I remember there was one really expensive ticket that someone spilt a cup of tea over, and we had to dry it out on the radiator and put it all back together,” she recalls.

Beryl remembers the shop when it had a high counter with bar stools. “On a Saturday we would open to a queue of customers. They would be grateful if you got around to serving them and really valued your knowledge. Clients and staff would sit with cigarettes and cups of tea, and everything was done over the phone.”

The advent of technology brought about a huge change with Prestel – the first small computer in agencies. “Thomson was the first to offer the service. We thought it was brilliant as we could do it ourselves instead of having to talk to someone,” Beryl remembers.

She explains how the entire booking process was very different to today. “You used to have to know absolutely everything. Which airline operated to which destination and on which days. For example, Alicante was always Tuesday and Saturday. Operators would go on sale at 3am and I’d be there in the shop making bookings. The biggest operator we used was Intasun, which became International Leisure Group. When they went under it was a huge disaster for the industry.”