Five years later, in 1959, the Scottish Branch was founded by Janet Spence.

At the 1967 AGM of the London Branch it was agreed to form a Benevolent Fund in memory of Gillyan Shebbeare, with the object of raising monies for the purpose of assistance to distressed members or Honorary Life Members of the London Club, and a Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and three Trustees were subsequently appointed to administer the Fund.

In 1970 at the First Convention of the International Federation of Women Travel Clubs in San Francisco, The Women's Travel Club of Great Britain became a Charter Member.

In 1971 Joan Richardson was elected President of all the British branches of the Women's Travel Club. 1987 also saw the London Club change its name to Association of Women Travel Executives - London (AWTE-London) as we continue to be known.

Since the early 1970's AWTE-London's Christmas Lunch has become a much sought after invitation within the travel industry; invariably the first of the festive season, it is renowned for its charity fund-raising and celebrity guest speakers. Since 1995 AWTE-London has held a cocktail party on the evening of the first day of the World Travel Market which provides a unique opportunity to network, whilst hosting overseas and IFWTO Members attending WTM, at a different London venue each year. Since 1997, our Association has been represented at the Business Bazaar at the ABTA Convention, by Christine Page and Linda Smith, affording us the opportunity to heighten awareness of AWTE both nationally and internationally.

1998/9 saw the signing of an agreement between AWTE-London and Travel Industry Services (TIS) offering travel benefits to all members of the Association. 1999 also saw the launch of the new AWTE-London logo and letterhead, reflecting the Association's growing stature within the industry.

The turn of the century and the year 2000 / 2001 has seen us finally establishing a central communications point in the form of our email address, info@awte.org.uk, and in March 2001, our own Website, www.awte-london.co.uk, with a direct link to the IFWTO site. Travelwoman, our monthly newsletter, took on a new look. In London, at the year 2000 World Travel Market, in line with the efforts of IFWTO, we launched our own initiative in the "Say No to Child Sex Tourism" campaign and at the Christmas Lunch we distributed special AWTE security luggage tags, declaring our support for the Campaign to all Members and guests attending.

Past Chairmen