Wardle Travel is putting up a bursary to fund travel arrangements for budding travel and tourism students keen to attend the annual ITT conference.
The agency was founded in 1984 by Doug Wardle, his wife Ruth and son Chris, who all attended a recent ITT Leadership Dinner to formally hand over the donation to ITT chair Steven Freudmann.
Doug, 91, and Ruth, a former headteacher, have been married for 68 years and are ITT conference regulars, with Doug known for having the last word in many a debate.
Their intervention comes after two travel and tourism students – Ethan Scriven and Sinead Edwards – lit up the 2025 ITT conference in Sardinia, reflecting maturely and compassionately during an ITT Future You panel on the advent of AI and the likely impact it will have on how their careers unfold.
The Wardle family pictured with ITT chair Steven Freudmann (second from left) (Credit: Arif Gardner / AG Studios / ITT)
Doug said their contribution had inspired him to do something to help young people with the cost of getting to the conference, which can run to several thousand pounds.
"I thought it was a shame we're not doing more to encourage younger people to come and learn about the trade and meet the many knowledgeable people in ITT," he said.
"That's how I came up with the idea for the bursary – they're [ITT] going to use this money to sponsor young people in the travel industry to enhance their education – my wife was a headteacher so it's a cause close to us."
Wardle revealed his bank had waived its usual big cheque fee (Credit: Arif Gardner / AG Studios / ITT)
Doug said "meeting the right people in the right circumstances" could make an invaluable contribution to their acquisition of knowledge, adding he was looking forward to meeting the first beneficiaries of the bursary at next year's conference.
He's also hopeful the contribution will encourage others to come forward and make a similar pledge. "It's a very affordable way of giving these young people the sort of knowledge they don't always have access to. They learn a lot from talking to experience people."
Freudmann said: "Doug and Ruth Wardle are marvellous supporters of ITT, attending all our overseas conferences for the past 20 years. Encouraging ITT student members to attend our overseas conference has always been a challenge, primarily because of cost.
"Doug and Ruth's bursary will help us address this problem by enabling us to offer complimentary places to selected student members. It really is a wonderful and generous gesture for which we are very grateful."
