60 Years of Rayburn Tours with Chairman John Boyden

A lovely office photo that was taken around 30 years ago. 

The three staff moved from Mr. Rayburn’s house into a small office and with the huge support of my wife (still then a music teacher) the growth and development of the company began. Several office moves ensued as the company grew. Performing concert tours was the first addition to our portfolio and these continue to provide exceptional music making experiences and esprit de corps for youth and adult groups.  With the wishes of our customers to add more and more educational focused tours and with the support of exceptionally talented teachers, we set about providing class leading curriculum-based trips which, to this day, continue to reflect the changing syllabus and educational needs. In 2001, we were asked to purchase Venture Abroad, a company dedicated to supporting the visions and purpose of Girlguiding and the Scouts.

One of the many successful Christmas Parties – this photo is around 30 years old. 30 years of sensational Christmas Parties!

Twenty-four years later, VA (as it is affectionally known) flourishes and continues to offer experiences in line with the mission and values of Guides and Scouts. To fulfil even more customer requests, we purchased a small ski company in 2009 and a few years later we started to develop our sports tours offering. In 2019, this side of the business was enhanced by a further company purchase, Sports Tours Limited, an events and tournament-based company which provides competition fixtures for all levels and abilities.

John and a former staff member, Sarah, who worked as a Tour Operator, visiting the breathtaking region of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France.

In 2003, we invited all staff to participate in creating a mission statement and our combined efforts resulted in the following: “working together to provide quality tours and memorable experiences. Delivering our promises time and time again”. This mission has not changed and is still instrumental in guiding the company’s work. It has been, and still is, a unifying goal that all our staff work towards achieving.

Our work is infectious, it’s interesting, and we feel a valued part of assisting the next generation to be more informed and to be a positive influence on our communities.

Red Nose Day at Rayburn Tours’ old office!

Very early on in my career I learnt that work would fill a large part of my life and, therefore, to be happy and satisfied with my life I should do what I believed was interesting and fulfilling work. I believe that being part of RT I have achieved that, and I believe the majority, if not all of our company, love what we do.

Now, in my retirement from day-to-day operations, I have handed the baton of control to the next generation of the family and a group of highly competent non-family directors and senior managers. I am immensely proud of our team and I feel confident that, in their hands, our company will achieve yet further growth, enjoyment and recognition.