Yorkshire Travel Trade Ball pays tribute to ‘warm and caring’ Sandy Murray

This year’s Yorkshire Travel Trade Ball featured emotional tributes to the event’s long-time organiser, Sandy Murray, who died on Saturday following a period of ill health.

Murray was part of the committee which organised the first-ever ball in 1998 and had attended every iteration of the event.

When it became clear the 78-year-old would not be able to organise this year’s annual gathering of the Yorkshire travel trade, Idle Travel owner Tony Mann stepped in to take up the reins.

Addressing the 130 attendees as he kicked off the event, which took place yesterday (Thursday, September 25) at Thorpe Park Hotel and Spa in Leeds, Mann paid tribute to Murray as he declared the evening “a celebration of Sandy”.

“Sandy was a very warm, lovely, caring person," he said. “She was a legend, a travel mum, a special woman. She brought the industry together like nobody else."

Mann added: “She called me last week and said, ‘Have a good night at the ball, and make sure you send everybody my love’, which summed her up. Those were the last words I spoke with her.”

Susan Rhodes of Oakwood Travel, a fellow member of the ball’s inaugural organising committee after befriending Murray on a Star Clippers fam trip in the Caribbean, described the night as a “lovely tribute” to her close friend.

“Sandy would have been thrilled with how tonight has gone, it’s been a really special,” she said.

“Although, having said that, she wouldn’t have liked the black tablecloths because she loved colour.”