Ponders boss calls for agents to train in CPR


Lucy Huxley


Ponders Travel owner Clare Dudley is calling on fellow agents to learn CPR and join a nationwide network to help in the event of nearby cardiac arrests. Dudley, whose agency is based


in Over, near Cambridge, is also campaigning for agencies to install defibrillators for their branches to support local communities. She took a two-hour training course


and joined the GoodSAM Instant Help organisation earlier this year after her husband suffered two heart attacks. Colleague Stephanie George has also completed the training. “I did it because of what happened


to my husband, not realising that heart attacks and cardiac arrests are actually very different,” said Dudley. “With heart attacks, the patient


feels a pain in their chest and/or arm, but often has time to get to hospital and be treated with a stent or blood-


Clare Dudley (left) and Stephanie George


thinning drugs. With cardiac arrests, it’s sudden and you have to restart the heart as quickly as possible.” Dudley said her training


highlighted that only one in 10 people survive a cardiac arrest in the UK, compared with three in 10 in Norway and five in 10 in Las Vegas resorts, where staff are trained. She explained how the GoodSAM network works, saying: “If the


HAYS MC-CALLS ON DAVINA:


TV presenter Davina McCall will be the ‘face’ of Hays Travel from May 1. As brand ambassador, she will appear in the agency’s new TV ad, on promotional materials in its 500 stores, on its website and on social media channels. Owner Dame Irene Hays said McCall was chosen as someone who could connect with loyal customers and attract a new audience. “Davina is an inspirational role model who embodies our own values – she is the perfect person to represent us at this point in our history, as we celebrate 45 years of caring for our customers,” she said. McCall is pictured with, from left, Stacie Milner, Sana Cousins and Ruby Starbuck, all of Hays Travel in Bromley, south London.


8 1 MAY 2025 travelweekly.co.uk


ambulance service gets called out to a cardiac arrest, volunteers on the GoodSAM network also get alerted if they are located nearby via GPS tracking. An alarm goes off on my phone if I am nearby and I have to drop everything and go.” Dudley has attended three nearby


incidents, but has unfortunately arrived too late on each occasion to revive the patient. “The last one was Tuesday last week and was actually a friend of mine,” she said. “I haven’t been able to save anyone yet, but it’s invigorated me more that I might.” She has raised £950 within her


local community to buy a defibrillator, which will be installed outside the agency in the coming weeks, and is calling on fellow agents to do the same. “Most paramedics arrive to cardiac


arrests too late, so if more people learn CPR and there are more easily accessible defibrillators, it would lead to fewer deaths from cardiac arrest across the UK – it’s so important,” she said.


Royal Caribbean takes


$4bn in wave period Royal Caribbean Group took a record number of bookings during this year’s wave period as its first-quarter revenue reached $4 billion. Net income for the first quarter was $700 million and adjusted Ebitda, a measure of profit, hit $1.4 billion. Royal Caribbean Group president and chief executive Jason Liberty said: “Our strong first-quarter results are a testament to the enduring appeal and attractive value proposition of our leading brands.”


Chalet specialist Ski Olympic closes


Doncaster-based chalet operator Ski Olympic, which was set up in 1986 and took more than 20,000 customers to the slopes, has closed. Nick Edwards, managing director at ski specialist agency Snowfinders, noted its closure “with great sadness”. He said: “Olympic has not failed financially but running a tour operation post-Brexit offers lower returns with higher costs, higher risks and a bemusing amount of paperwork and regulations. To lose another partner is depressing; to lose our friends, even more so.”


PICTURE: Steve Dunlop


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