Jim Wight, son of Alf Wight OBE (James Herriot) welcomed Arthur Small of Virgin Atlantic and six senior travel agents from the USA to Herriot Country and the World of James Herriot. Jim provided a personal guided tour of the World of James Herriot, sharing many anecdotes and true-life situations of the times when the attraction was the original surgery and home of his family.
Paull Tickner, director of Custom GB, whose portfolio of tour ideas includes the Yorkshire Dales and the World of James Herriot, created for Virgin Atlantic’s new routes into Manchester from San Francisco, Boston, Newark and Atlanta, arranged the visit. The group included: Peg Haskins, Viking Travel, Westmont, Illinois; Becky Avery, Carson Travel, Toledo, Ohio; Karen Hancock, McDade Travel, Roanoake, Virginia; Anne Michelle Popeck CTC, Van Zile Travel, Rochester, New York; Linda Sains, LindaleTravel, Asheville, North Carolina and Michelle Busse, Brentwood Travel, St Louis, Missouri.
“This visit is another example of the importance of the World of James Herriot to its world wide audience. We have visitors from all over the world but the USA is without doubt where James Herriot’s books found their greatest popularity. To have welcomed such a high level group of agents in one visit is excellent news for us!“ comments The World of James Herriot managing director, Ian Ashton.
They were enthralled by the visit to the Centre and asked many questions about Alf Wight (James Herriot) and the books he wrote. Managing Director Ian Ashton presented the guests a DVD of the recent 100th Anniversary Dinner for the vet and author, a guidebook about the World of James Herriot and several items of memorabilia as a reminder of their visit.
