By Donna Marsh
United Kingdom and Ireland Chapter Coordinator
Sometimes, it’s nice to remind TCC members of how our shared interests and experiences can be viewed differently across chapters. By telling stories about notable members of the TCC UK and Ireland chapter, I hope to show you what makes our chapter special.
Our chapter was formed in 2006 by me, with grateful assistance from Angus Palmer. It is the first TCC chapter to be established outside of the United States. Our first meeting was held in the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, London and was attended by 16 members. We proudly boast over 175 members as of 2026, with a mix of about 60 members attending our meetings — usually a Sunday lunch in central London in the spring and in the autumn.
Over the years, members and guests from 21 other countries have attended our meetings in London and weekend regional meetings in:
- Dublin, Ireland. This was hosted in 2009 by members John and June Barnett, who are sadly missed.
- Granada, Spain in 2011. This was prior to the Mediterranean chapter being established.
- Prague, Czechia. This was hosted in 2015 by Jiri Prasil and Irina Prasilova prior to the formation of the Central Europe chapter.
- Belfast, North Ireland in 2025 where we learned about everything from The Troubles to Tipples.
Our meetings include a speaker, a travel-related pub quiz, or both. Our members also speak on a range of topics. Notable guest speakers have included Tony Wheeler (founder of Lonely Planet), Graham Hughes (recognised by Guinness World Records as the first person to travel to all United Nations countries without flying) and Gunnar Garfors (author of 198: How I Ran Out of Countries).
We are usually guests of the Circumnavigators Club, meeting at the House of Lords in December. In addition to our sponsor, Lord Faulkner, notable speakers have included Michael Palin (Monty Python fame, intrepid traveller and National Treasure).
So what else might be different from other chapters? Our chapter is an English-speaking chapter, but not always in the same way as other chapters. During the early days of Internet searches, more than one member commented that it took them quite a while to find us because they were unsuccessful in searching for the Travellers’ Century Club with two l’s.
Colin McCorquodale is an original member. He was formerly Chair of the English Speaking Union and remains an active member, as is Jill Weston. But we are much more than an English-speaking chapter. Many of our members speak English as an additional language, and several members are fluent polyglots. If there is a language round on any of our pub quizzes, you want Daniel Tholander on your team, who speaks nine languages.
A lot of our members are “slow travelers.” For example, Naomi and Stuart Morgan are in the midst of their two-year work sabbatical — having traveled overland from Spain to Cape Town, and are now spending quality time in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.
Chris Kohut regularly travels to his favourite “second homes” during the British winter, spending weeks at a time in Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Laos or Cambodia, depending on the year. He also travelled around the world, mostly overland from Saskatchewan, Canada, to Patagonia; from Cape Town to Uganda; and from Pakistan to Canada in 1975-1976.
Even our members who are focused on statistics often do it differently. For example, Karin Sinniger continues to work toward her goal of setting multiple scuba diving records. She has dived in 210 out of the 325 TCC countries she has visited. Karin is recognised as the record holder of the most countries dived by the World Record Academy in 2023. Her diving adventures include particularly challenging places, Afghanistan and Mogadishu.
The Barnetts, based in Dalkney near Dublin, were original members as well. The late John Barnett would probably have had a lot to discuss with Rod Stewart, a fellow model train enthusiast. Members who attended the Dublin meeting would have seen the transformation of the Barnetts’ garden into a fully working railway network. June Barnett, ever gracious, always made sure she travelled with John to the far-flung corners of the earth — just not during the winter.
Of course, we can’t forget David Langan, the first chapter member to join elite company by completing visits to the TCC list of 330 countries and territories. If you haven’t done so already, ask David about his postcards.
Mike Kendall is not far behind but is facing the challenges of the currently closed Wake Island, Midway, Diego Garcia and Tokelau.
Wouldn’t it be nice to travel globally whilst working with one of the most successful bands on the planet? Richard Elliott has done just that, managing all things drone-related for the 2025 Oasis global tour. Enthusiasts of the series The Crown will also want to chat with Richard.
We particularly admire the charitable work of several of our members. Gaylene Kendall, a former senior executive at British Airways, is a trustee of Dreamflight, a charity that enables seriously ill children to take a holiday of a lifetime. Ges Roulstone has had a four-decade career of charitable work in the field of severe disability, which has brought him to 37 countries on five continents.
Susan Gibson, one of the original members and now based in Washington, DC. She has been involved in NGO work for more than 40 years, starting with her experience learning from Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Professor Muhammed Yunus. She has worked and volunteered in 70 countries.
We also have members who work to make the world a better place beyond conventional charity and volunteering work, such as Dr. Olaf Horstick, UK-based professor and polyglot from the University of Heidelberg, who has served the global public health sector all over the world. He has travelled overland through all continents and prefers to use public transport.
My story is far less noble. As a member of the corporate world, I was fortunate to work in prospective markets throughout Asia, including the early years of a newly globalised India and an awakened Pakistan, and in key African markets just beginning to emerge. I worked everywhere throughout the Middle East, notably including Gaza in the more optimistic times immediately after the Oslo Accords, and in Saudi Arabia since the 1990s, long before it was easy for most businesswomen to be able to do so. I still manage to fit in “side trips” to destinations my work would never bring me to. It helped that I did most of my corporate travel before technology controls.
All members have equally fascinating travel-related backgrounds and stories. This is evident in our growing chapter and interest amongst younger members.
Many of the original members in attendance at the first meeting at the RAC have either retired from robust travel or are sadly no longer with us. This generation travelled with paper maps, flight planners, the latest version of a Lonely Planet guide, and a wodge of cash and travellers’ cheques. There were no mobile phones and no internet, but there was a lot of trust in fellow travellers met along the road. Today, many of our members are enthusiastic embracers of digital apps, social media and recommendations from all sorts of resources that would not have been possible in 2006, never mind 1986.
We always welcome TCC members to join us at our meetings if they happen to be in the UK. Be prepared to stay longer than you thought, to have a good laugh, and, as David says, enjoy the craic.
