Stuart Weaving, Founder and International President of the Friendship Associations said he was very proud of the achievements over the past forty years through its subsidiary organisations, The Friends of the Springbok, Friends of the Koala, Friends of the Kiwi, Friends of Canada and USA and the Friends of the Lion.  Mr Weaving went on to say "During the early seventies we opened offices throughout the UK and also in South Africa, Rhodesia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA and during the last forty years we organised over one million reunions between these countries."

Stuart Weaving said: "As I travel the world I am often struck by the similarities between the countries that are embraced by the Friendship Associations and I am certain that our organisation has helped considerably in maintaining the strong ties between these countries, not only with our specialist travel arrangements but also through our International Gift Schemes, exchange of sports and cultural groups and many other links, especially our members' Serious Accident Emergency Travel Benefit."

Stuart Weaving went on to say: "During the early days I found our members were looking for cheaper travel to visit their loved ones and I was amazed to find that whether we had one passenger or a thousand passengers the airlines had the same price with a set commission to a licensed travel agent.  In those early days I tried to negotiate special fares but the airlines cartel would not budge.  I found a couple of European airlines, who really needed passengers, to co-operate with my publishing and marketing companies, thereby giving us funds to subsidise our members' fares.  Once we achieved in excess of seventeen thousand passengers a year the big boys wanted some of the cake and came to the party.  This proved to be a first break in the cartel and our members benefitted substantially and both our members and the general public continue to benefit today from our actions of breaking the cartel in the early seventies."

Stuart Weaving continued: "In the present financial turmoil in the world people are rightly concerned about their money and our members are no exception.  I can assure our members that they are very safe with the Friendship Associations and our specialised travel agency, Lion World Travel, which is a fully bonded and financially secure member of the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) as well as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the holders of a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued Air Travel Organisers Licence (ATOL).  Apart from all this, neither the Associations nor Lion World Travel (UK) have ever had a bank overdraft and they never will.  Any funds placed with Lion World Travel (UK) are clearly ring-fenced until we pay the airline and immediately that happens our members are fully covered by our Scheduled Airline Failure Insurance."

Stuart Weaving told his audience: "Early in 2008 one of our preferred carriers was grounded.  Our wonderful staff immediately contacted our would-be stranded members overseas to tell them they were re-booked on another carrier.  Many of our members did not even know that the airline had collapsed."  Stuart Weaving said: "All members who had paid deposits or full fare immediately had the option of changing their flight to another carrier or having a full refund.  This is the value of belonging to an organisation such as ours."

Stuart Weaving concluded by stating: "We have made a positive decision not to participate in the depression.  Our members will continue receiving the care and personal service and support they have always enjoyed.  Let us look forward to the next ten years and beyond."

The guests at the banquet were entertained by a male Voice Choir and soloists with songs from Around the Friendship World, in which everyone joined in the choruses.

YOU'RE SAFE WITH US!
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS OF THE FINANCIAL PROTECTION WE OFFER TO ALL WHO BOOK WITH US