How travel went La La for Abta LifeLine

Derek Jones, managing director at Kuoni, lip-synced to Bruno Mars’ Marry You – a track which is close to his heart.

“Anyone who follows me on Twitter will see that I proposed on the slopes recently so that might give you a clue as to why I chose the song.”

As a board member at Abta LifeLine, Jones knows the importance of the travel industry getting behind the charity.

“We are big supporters of Abta LifeLine at Kuoni; we promote its work internally to our staff and always try to get behind any fundraising activity.”

Not willing to let his colleague get the better of him, Dean Harvey, the company’s marketing director, filmed a nostalgic rendition of Randy Newman’s Birmingham.

“Clearly it's Birmingham in the Midlands and not the one in Alabama. I thought it would be perfect as [Newman] sings that there is no place like Birmingham – a place that I’m so passionate about.”

Lip-syncing isn’t the end of Harvey’s efforts for LifeLine, either.

“Later this year I’ll be participating in the Travel Trade Crusade and raising money then. Abta LifeLine is something that everyone in the travel industry should be aware of and support because you never know when you or a member of your team may need the support.”

Spicing up proceedings was Sarah Archer and the teams at Beachcomber Tours and Designer Travel, who donned charming wigs to perform Tina Turner’s Proud Mary.

“I’ve just come back from a holiday to New Orleans and the Deep South so it was sort of relevant,” explains Archer, adding: “I think everyone should try to support our industry’s own charity, even if they only donate a pound.”

Members of Midcounties Cooperative Travel got into the summer spirit with their entry, with two of the consortium’s teams bagging a place in the top five.

Regional manager Louise Devall was part of the Balearic-inspired medley group who performed Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday and two of the Vengaboys’ classic tunes – We Like to Party and We’re Going to Ibiza.

She says: “We chose the songs because we wanted our video to be fun and engaging. Abta LifeLine is such a great cause – we have colleagues that are already benefiting from its support.”

The second of the Midcounties Co-operative videos was comprised of a medley of tunes from Disney classics, including The Jungle Book’s The Bare Necessities and Let It Go from Frozen.

Aislinn Tilsley, product and marketing manager, says the team picked the songs on account of the majority of the office being “huge” Disney fans.

“As a co-operative we feel like it’s our responsibility to support charities that need funding. We support LifeLine year-on-year as so many travel agents can relate to the charity in some way,” she says.

Bringing in a touch of class was Graham Balmforth, national sales manager at SuperBreak, who performed Chicago along with his trusty puppet.

“I know the song and thought I could probably lip-sync it; afterwards I had the bright idea of getting the puppet involved,” he says.

As vice chairman of Abta UK, Balmforth is a regular participant in charity efforts.

“The charity is in place to benefit people within our own industry – if we can help out our peers who are having difficult times then that's great,” he says.