Meet the team

Silver Travel Advisor is a friendly website run by a team of mature travel industry professionals with more years of experience than we care to number! Our backgrounds are diverse, but we are all united by our passion for travel, and our aim is to gather and offer impartial advice, information and recommendations which can be trusted.

The team includes ...

Debbie Marshall
Managing Director

Debbie has 30 years travel experience including Crystal Holidays and Jetsave (where she was Managing Director until 2001), and from 2004 until 2010 at the helm of the award-winning villa specialist CV Villas (formerly CV Travel), and its sister company Ski Verbier. A keen skier, walker (read her Kilimanjaro Blog) and adventurer, her favourite destinations, in no particular order, are Switzerland, France, Corfu, the Amalfi Coast, the Caribbean, the Dolomites and Alderney. She is also a non-executive director of The Thinking Traveller and Bailey Robinson, and has been inaugurated into the '60 for 60' influential women list at the Association of Women Travel Executives. She was a finalist in the 2018 Everywoman Travel Awards in the Entrepreneur category, and at the 2018 AWTE Business Impact Awards.

Taki Sirianos
IT Director

Taki, is of Greek origin and has spent many years working in the travel industry developing reservations systems and websites. He looks after everything to do with the website and has endless patience! His favourite destinations are those with architectural and historical significance such as Istanbul, Epidaurus and Granada (besides London, Paris and Rome of course). He also enjoys visiting the Greek Islands and his native Princes Islands in Istanbul, as well as touring & trekking in national parks & nature reserves including Jasper in Canada and the Grand Canyon.

Jennie Carr
Creative and Communication Director

Jennie, a member of BGTW, presents The Silver Travel Show on The Wireless interviewing destination experts and Silver Travellers. A keen traveller herself, with experiences in the Caribbean, Europe and Africa, her notable overseas moments include hill climbing in Gocek & Kalkan in Turkey and two treks in the Namibian desert. Jennie has worked with people from many countries and has a good knowledge of cultural differences, and what to expect when travelling to Japan, Russia and Kazakhstan! She loves islands and her challenge is to equal Ben Fogle, 'The Teatime Islands'. Her favourite quote: "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page", St Augustine.

Gill Haynes
Partnerships & Promotions Director

Gill has over 30 years experience in the cruise industry, resulting in her being a dab hand at Trivial Pursuit blue questions so long as they are about coastal geography. After learning the ropes with Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises, Gill led the marketing team which launched the Ocean Village brand (‘the cruise for people who don’t do cruises’) and as head of global PR, masterminded Cunard’s 175 anniversary celebrations when the fleet performed a ‘riverdance’ on the Mersey. Gill’s favourite destination is South Africa where one of the highlights was climbing trees to avoid an approaching rhino. A keen skier, mountain biker and windsurfer, Gill loves the great outdoors. Still on the wishlist are canoeing the Great Lakes in Canada and swimming with manta rays in the Maldives.

Lynn Scrivener
Head of Partnerships (non cruise)

Lynn has over 30 years’ marketing experience in the travel and cultural tourism industries. Travel business lessons were first learned at Lunn Poly, British Airways and Hertz Europe. A wide range of tourism development projects followed for such iconic venues as Somerset House, Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Chelsea Physic Garden. Most recently Lynn has enjoyed several years’ rambling (and ambling), leading the marketing team for Ramblers Walking Holidays and Adagio. Thanks largely to business trips and conferences, Lynn has been fortunate to travel extensively including to most of W. Europe, USA, French Caribbean, Egypt, Australia, Thailand and Indonesia. This past year or so, Lynn has enjoyed puffin-watching on Skomer, hiking in the Austrian Tyrol, canoeing the Charente near Poitiers and yet more culture-vulturing in New York. Hurrah for holidays!

Roger Bray
News Editor

Roger is one of the UK's longest serving travel journalists and former Chair of the British Guild of Travel Writers. A veteran skier and hiker, he is a former travel editor and aviation correspondent of the Evening Standard. He has contributed to major newspapers including the Financial Times, the Guardian and Mail on Sunday and has his own blog. Roger has covered major news events in travel and aviation over three decades, winning recognition for his special contribution at the Travel Press Awards and as Best Travel Writer on France.

John Carter

Our patron

Veteran TV presenter John Carter has been our patron since the very early days of Silver Travel. A familiar face from the days of Wish You Were Here and The Holiday Programme, John is a much-loved and respected member of our team. These days he still be found globetrotting, although at a slightly slower pace, ambling rather than rambling. His popular 'Now and Then' compilation of amusing articles about his latest travels can be found in our Features section. Read more about John.

Jane Silk
Research and Training

Jane (MA Marketing) is a CIM Chartered Marketer and senior marketing professional, who has worked in marketing, branding and publishing for over 23 years. She is an acknowledged expert on how to engage with the older generations – for many years she was director of Mature Times newspaper. She is frequently called on by national and local media as a key representative of her audience.

Jane is a specialist in communications, research, marketing and sales for the 50+, and we’re delighted to welcome her to the Silver Travel family where her huge wealth of knowledge is invaluable for our research projects. Jane also runs a range of tailor-made training courses for our partners to ensure that they better understand the needs of silver travellers.

Social Media - meet Steve & Carole!

Steve Newman
Social Media Manager (Cruise)

Steve is our Social Media expert who looks after our Facebook and Twitter pages when it’s all about cruising. Steve is a former teacher who gave it all up at the tender age of 30 to become a writer and photographer specialising in adventure travel. Be it jumping out of zodiacs to walk with penguins, swim with sea lion pups or walk across the deserts and mountain ranges of the world. A keen birdwatcher and walker he is passionate about the history, food and culture of his beloved Northumberland.

Carole Tidball
Social Media Manager (non Cruise)

Carole worked as a Senior Manager and Consultant in Education before taking early retirement to become a writer and award-winning photographer, and to indulge her passion for global travel. She loves exploring new destinations on foot and finds the best adventures and photographic opportunities are often away from the beaten track. She is a keen runner, hiker and bird/wildlife watcher, regularly seen trekking, splashing and skidding along the hilly footpaths around her home on the edge of the Peak District. Carole looks after social media for Silver Travel Advisor in all areas except cruise, working closely with Steve.

Some of our Silver Travel Advisors

Our Advisors are a very special team of vastly experienced and wise travellers, who between them have visited an impressive list of countries and enjoyed a whole range of different experiences, from cruising to elephant riding. They have contributed some fascinating reviews to our site, and are happy to share their experiences with you and to answer any questions that you may have to assist with planning your next trip.

Alan Fairfax
Cruise Specialist & Forum Moderator

Alan is a passionate ‘cruise ship’ expert and travel journalist, with over 100 cruises completed, sailed and visited nearly 70 ships of 22 cruise lines. He has travelled all over the world from the Arctic to Australia, USA to Russia, Asia, Baltic, Caribbean, Middle East, South America and most Mediterranean ports. Sailed several oceans plus the Arabian, Black, Baltic, Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Alan who is a member of The International Travel Writers Alliance says "There is something magical about stepping aboard a beautiful cruise ship, visiting multiple countries and ports but only unpacking once". Alan, a regular contributor to Holiday and Cruise Magazine, Your Holiday TV and several newspapers, has appeared on television travel shows and delivers talks on cruising at various national venues. He enjoys answering questions from Silver Travellers and is is also a moderator on our Forum.

Chrissy Nason
Boutique Hotel and Luxury Specialist

Chrissy spent several years in the late 70s living and working in Greece, then returned to London where she worked for a wide range of tour operators before becoming a specialist consultant in all aspects of the quality of the product. She was also a hands-on director of an upmarket Kensington apartment hotel for five years. A great lover of travel and adventure, each summer Chrissy would set off with her family to drive a different route through Europe to the Greek island of Lefkas, via Istanbul, Spain, Holland, and Berlin - why go straight there when there are so many wonderful places to see en route! Adventure is still high on the list, but now she likes it to be ‘stylish and comfortable’ and writes about some exceptional hotels in beautiful locations.

Gillian Thornton
France Specialist

Gillian writes about a wide variety of destinations, but is known as a specialist on France. She studied at the Institut Français in London and says that whilst her French is still fluent, her French shorthand is a tad rusty! A freelance writer for nearly 40 years, Gillian wrote parenting articles when her two children were small, moving on to personality interviews as they grew up. In 2018 she celebrated 20 years as a travel writer by winning the Best Cultural Article in the French Travel Media Awards. A regular contributor to France Today magazine and a variety of women’s weeklies and customer magazines, Gillian travels to France regularly, and particularly loves exploring on foot, both on city streets and rural tracks. Favourite part of France? "Usually where I’ve just been!" she says.

Enjoy Gillian's French Collection, an eclectic and fascinating mix of cultural and destinations features which showcase her love of la belle France.

Peter Lynch
Rail Specialist

Peter is our specialist Rail Advisor. He is an author, travel writer & hotel reviewer and has written internet travel guides to England, Albania, Macedonia, Luxembourg and the cities of, Darwin, Dubrovnik Oxford and Reykjavik. He spent four years working as a freelance travel correspondent for an American newspaper and now writes regularly for the West Australian. He is also a contributing author for Great Train Journeys of the World (Time Out, 2010). He has travelled widely throughout America, Australia,
New Zealand, Europe and the Far East. His areas of special expertise are rail travel and wildlife conservation volunteering.

Sally Dowling

Sally has worked in travel industry since the age of just 16 in her local travel agent, followed by some happy years working for Pan Am & Continental, and then ten years at Tropical Places, travelling throughout the Caribbean, Far East and Kenya. Away from work she developed a love of walking holidays in the Pyrenees and Mallorca and European city breaks. The USA also became a firm favourite; especially the quiet side of Florida that often gets overlooked. In 2003 came the chance to source holiday prizes for Take A Break magazine. This led to writing and researching travel features and in 2006 she won the Visit USA award for best consumer magazine feature.

Petra Shepherd

Petra Shepherd is a freelance travel writer with 30 years experience in television, 19 of which were were with Travel Channel International, the leading global travel broadcaster, where she was responsible for award winning documentary style travel programmes. Prior to this Petra was a celebrity booker and has met everybody from Dame Edna Everage to Donald Trump! She's visited over 100 countries, has lived in Hong Kong and Italy and is a great advocate of solo travel, in 2013 she spent six months travelling alone around South America. Petra is a member of The British Guild of Travel Writers and when not getting of the beaten track and being as adventurous as possible divides her time between London and visiting her 12 god-children around the UK.

Dinah Holland

Dinah spent the first few years of her working life in France and Italy. Her first job was with Thomas Cook and then followed several years in Italy, France, Austria, Greece and Switzerland, returning to the UK in 1974 where became Product Director for Italy. Now retired, Dinah has more time for travel, and has visited both polar regions, dog sledged in Norway and Sweden (sleeping in a tent in -5C), been horse riding in Mongolia, in the Sahara in Tunisia, Wadi Rum in Jordan, Mexico, Costa Rica,the Thar desert in Rajasthan, India and across the Andes. She also enjoys small ship cruising in the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, French Polynesia and the South Pacific islands.

David Powell

David has been an editor and travel writer for regional papers and magazines for over 20 years. He travels regularly and loves short breaks both in the UK and abroad. He visits Europe regularly and has taken well over 80 cruises. He loves both ocean and river cruising and reporting not only on the latest amazing mega cruise ships, but also the more intimate smaller ships. A member of the team since the start, David's many reviews can be easily found and read by typing his name in the search box. He hopes you enjoy his travel features and videos on Silver Travel Advisor!

David Graham

David has been a professional journalist all his working life, starting as a provincial reporter, then moving to national newspapers (18 years with the Daily Mail in Manchester), national Sunday newspapers and the Manchester Evening News for 20 years and has been fortunate enough to travel widely. A keen skier, his favourite spots are in Switzerland and Austria. He and his wife Dorothy - she ran their home in the Pennines as a thriving guest house for many years - have two daughters, one who specialised in travel and worked in Majorca and the other lived in Greece, both providing a perfect excuse to spend as many weeks a year as possible in the Med.

Steve Aldridge
Forum Moderator

Steve retired from his job as an IT Programme Manager some years ago and decided it was time to indulge his love of travel with his wife Linda: cruising (big and small ships), trekking, camping (mobile home), city visits, finding things off the beaten track. They have been to the Maldives, Bahamas, Thailand, Malaysia (including Borneo), USA, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Greece, Turkey, France, Germany and many other countries. Steve has written about many of his travels and his series about Malaysia achieved recognition when he won the award for the Best On-Line Media at the Sabah Tourism Awards 2013. He is also a moderator on our Forum.

Ship Visits Coordinator

Peter Godliman

Peter caught the travel bug relatively late in life, only flying for the first time after achieving silver traveller age in order to spend one week cruising the River Nile. He first discovered cruising in 2007 to celebrate his silver wedding anniversary, and became hooked. He now has 49 ocean and 4 river cruises to reminisce over. When not cruising, Peter’s main hobby is ship visits –arranging them, as a volunteer, for members of Ocean Liner Society (OLS), for whom he has organised 100+ visits over seven years. Peter brings this experience to Silver Travel Advisor where, in partnership with OLS, he has taken on the role of Coordinator for our Silver Traveller Advisor ship visits programme.

Silver Travel Book Club Literary Editor

Andrew Morris

Andrew may have spent a lifetime working with numbers, including spending most of the 1980s in a rum-induced haze in Bermuda, but he is now enjoying a second career combining his real passions of travelling, writing and reading books. He gravitates towards mountains and adventurous activities when travelling. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, skiing around the pistes of Europe and flying above the cloud forest canopy in Costa Rica on zip wires are just a few adrenaline-fuelled highlights. But he is equally happy exploring the quieter corners of the world, meeting local people and trying to understand their history and culture, whilst enjoying authentic food and drink. And as a lover of literature, he is thrilled to have the opportunity to combine travel and books as Literary Editor of the Silver Travel Book Club, thanks to his association with TripFiction. He still enjoys drinking rum.

Film & Video

Cathy Bartrop
Video advisor

Cathy has spent her entire career in the travel industry, starting out as graduate trainee at Saga Holidays in 1983 before becoming Sales & Marketing Manager for Thomas Cook Faraway Holidays in 1986. A few years later she set up her own media and promotions company, initially focused on print and radio but eventually moving in to video production. When video finally became accessible online (only 13 short years ago), everything changed. Cathy saw an opportunity to create her own online TV channel, www.travelguru.tv which, like Silver Travel Advisor, is focused on the more mature traveller - it's a natural partnership! Cathy's passion is to take full advantage of the latest compact camera technology, creating videos that share genuine first hand experiences and trusted travel advice. When she is not travelling, she can be found on the golf course, seeking out wild swimming locations and enjoying the delights of her home county, East Sussex.

Other regular and valued contributors to Silver Travel Advisor include Eleanor Wasley, Glynis Sullivan, Paul Brown, Maria Meredith, Pamela Walker, Jacqueline Jeynes and Kay Wiseman. Put their names into the Search box and you can enjoy reading their wide-ranging and varied articles.

Our UK offices are based near Euston in central London. Postal address:
Silver Travel Advisor, c/o Age UK, Tavis House, 1-6 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9NA.