Meet Your Tour Leaders
For Howzat Travel's cricket tour to the Sri Lanka v England series in March and April 2012, you will be looked after by our fantastic tour leaders.
Des Newton
Des is a familiar and popular face in sports tour circles, having led cricket and rugby tours to all corners of the globe for many years.
Des joined the Howzat Travel team in 2011. He has already hosted our recent tour to India and will also be heading up our Pakistan v England tour to the UAE, as well as this series in Sri Lanka.
Being a vastly-experienced tour leader, Des has even written a book about his sporting tour experiences. You can find out more at his website .
Des will be hosting our .
- Des gives his view on the upcoming tour to Sri Lanka.
Ray & Megan Julian
What can you say about Ray? He completed 50 years in the first class game as a player and umpire, became the youngest wicket keeper on his debut at the age of 16, officiated in over 1,000 first-class matches, including six ODIs, three one-day finals at Lord's, and was awarded the Professional Cricketers' Umpire of the Year Award in 1988, 1999 and 2000!
He has looked after TV replays as a third umpire in internationals, supported cricket tours all over the world and was a first-class football referee. Ray has been - and still is - a true spirit to the game of cricket! He may be known as 'the bowler's friend', but truly he is a friend to a much wider circle.
On retiring in 2001, every 1st Class County was represented at Ray's Testimonial Retirement Dinner in Taunton... that must say it all!
Now here must be a record... Megan has been to every first-class match that Ray has officiated in since they were married. Megan is from Cornwall and has brought up with cricket, and along with Ray has hosted many England cricket tours. See Ray on a cricket ground and you will certainly meet Megan!
"We were delighted to be invited to be tour leaders for the ‘Blue Sapphire’ tour to Sri Lanka for Howzat Travel. How appropriate for me - an umpire (not out?). Having had 50 years in first class cricket as a player with Leicestershire for 21 and an umpire for 29, cricket has taken me all over the world umpiring and hosting tours in Australia, South Africa, Bermuda, West Indies, India, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.
This will be our second visit to Sri Lanka, a lovely country to enjoy. We found the people so friendly and quiet natured and their love of cricket was fantastic. After Sri Lanka we went on to the Maldives where we thought we were in paradise, well worth the visit. We look forward to watching the test series, meeting old friends and making new ones, and having a happy time in Sri Lanka."
Ray and Megan will be hosting our .
Laurence & Helen Brown
Laurence has been a Freelance Tour Manager for almost twenty-five years, covering cricket, rugby, soccer and hockey, travelling the world in pursuit of sporting excellence among like-minded supporters, many of whom have become lasting friends. He has accompanied tour groups to Sri Lanka on every England trip since 2001.
Laurence - who lists his 'job between tours' as a self-employed garden contractor and designer -lives in Churchdown with his wife Helen, a Special Needs Teacher, who has also managed sports tours on several occasions. She is a qualified swimming coach, and has run their local swimming club for many years. Just for good measure they have both run marathons. Laurence and Helen have four grown-up children and six assorted grandchildren. As a mark of dedication to following sport, they spent their honeymoon at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens. Laurence said he was going anyway and it would have been rude to leave Helen at home!
Many years ago, Laurence played club cricket for Churchdown, but says his ability never quite matched his enthusiasm. As he was running in to bowl in one match, his captain warned the opposition batsman "Watch him, he's slower than he looks!"
Laurence and Helen are both very much looking forward to renewing old acquaintances and forging new ones on tour. They will be hosting our .
Nick Joyce
Nick is a retired policeman who played just under 300 games for the Leicester Tigers, including four Twickenham cup finals. He played club cricket and now coaches both sports at Oakham School. He is an experienced tourist having travelled the world since 1975 as a rugby player and more recently as a cricket supporter.
His cricket trips have included South Africa, Bangladesh, West Indies and three Ashes tours. He visited Galle and Colombo on the last England trip to Sri Lanka. He was a leader on Howzat Travel's last Ashes tour and was the manager of Oakham School's rugby tour to South Africa in 2011.
Nick will be hosting our .
Carl Sutton
"I think it’s fair to say that I’m a cricket fanatic! I really enjoy playing and watching the game as well as undertaking a number of roles at my club. Away from the cricket field I’m a big music fan regularly getting along to concerts and festivals and am also partial to a couple of pints at the local!
Sri Lanka will be my fourth Howzat Travel tour after trips to the Caribbean (2009), South Africa (2009/2010) and the Ashes Series in Australia in 2010/2011. I’ve heard fantastic things about Sri Lanka and am looking forward to a successful tour meeting customers old and new."
Carl will be hosting our .
Graham Botley
Graham has made a career and a business out of travelling to major sporting events since 1974, when he made his first long-haul trip to New Zealand for the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch. He's only missed one since, and added several Olympic Games and lots of European and World Athletics Championships as official tour operator for the British Athletics Supporters Club.
He joined forces with Howzat Travel as recently as March 2011, his business - Centresport Travel - partnering with Howzat's multi-sports brand All Sports Travel to deliver athletics tours together.
Graham was in Colombo and Galle only four years ago and is very keen to go back on his first cricket tour. His vast experience and expertise may be rooted in athletics, but his knowledge of cricket goes back a long way and he has an interesting pedigree – he was scorer for his village team at the age of 13!
Apparently only happy when he’s travelling, in just the last fourth months (Sep-Dec 2011), Graham’s been in seven countries as far apart as Korea and Barbados. His particular ‘likes’ are good sport, good company, good weather and good beer - a combination guaranteed on a Howzat Travel tour to Sri Lanka!
Graham will be hosting our .
Phil Brown
"I am really looking forward to the trip as this is one of my favourite tour venues, and was on the last tour here in 2003... RUNS RUNS RUNS! I have previously been on two tours of South Africa, two tours in Australia and one to the West Indies for the Stanford T20.
I hale from Yorkshire and have been a lifelong supporter of Yorkshire C.C.C, but my passion is for test cricket, and have been to every test match at Headingley since 1975! For my day job, I have spent 25 years as a Police Officer, so not long left and then I can concentrate on visiting the remaining Test-playing countries.
Finally, I look forward to hosting you on the Ceylon Tour. Sri Lanka is a great country and this tour means we also get to visit Kandy - which is wonderful place in its own right - and the elephant orphanage at Pinnawela; a visit you will never forget! And if you love spicy food, feel free to join me at ‘RAMS’!"
Phil will be hosting our .
David Stewart
David was in Australia for last winter's Ashes and has previously attended sub-continent Tests in India, Bangladesh, the West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand. Originally from Northern Ireland, a long spell in Cardiff (including University) made him into a Glamorgan fan.
He has a legal background and also writes about rugby. He now lives a short walk from Lord's. Outside of sport, he has in interest in history and politics / world affairs.
David will be co-hosting our .
Jenn Allen
Jenn joined the Howzat Travel tour leading team for the first time in Australia for the Ashes 2010/11, thoroughly enjoying the experience of watching live cricket and looking after such a fantastic group of Howzat Travel customers. Sri Lanka will be another new and exciting tour for Jenn and she can’t wait to get her Howzat Travel t-shirt back on and soak up what the tour has to offer. “I’m really looking forward to meeting and looking after our new customers and hope to catch up with some old faces!”
Jenn enjoys running and pilates and has a passion for health, well-being and holistic therapies. She could be persuaded to practice her Indian Head Massage skills should anyone need relaxing after a stressful day at the cricket!
Jenn will be hosting our .
Steve Eatherington
Howzat Travel Director Steve will be in Sri Lanka for the duration of the series, overseeing all operations and providing guidance and support to the tour leaders.
"I can't wait to set foot on Sri Lankan soil once again - it is one of my favourite countries I have visited and I have no doubt that it will delight all of our customers with its intoxicating blend of beautiful scenery, culture, wildlife and a sporting passion that must be seen to be believed.
We have a fantastic team hosting our tours for this series and I know that our customers will be in great hands. I'll be on hand to help out where required, but I do intend to spend some quality time catching up with our valued customers and friends, and hopefully watch some enthralling cricket."
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