Matthew Griffiths - Manager
I am 40 years old and have been married since October 2011 to Julia, whom I met in 2006 while we were both working in Egypt. I have always had two passions; food and travel – and both since a very young age! I love to spend my time off in my kitchen; so much so that last year I won the Travel Weekly & Bourne Leisure Agent Masterchef competition at the Warner hotel, Nidd Hall, near Harrogate in Yorkshire. Definitely a personal highlight! Although I have travelled since an early age, my travel career started in earnest in my late twenties. After management positions in both the licensed trade and with a large online retailer, I took myself overseas to Sharm el Sheikh as a holiday rep. In 2007 Julia & I decided to come home to the UK to plan our wedding and, as Julia is from Chelmsford, this is where I came “home” to. So now I find myself in my new role, via invaluable experience gained with another high street travel company, and I have to say that I am really enjoying working with my new team - who have all warmly welcomed me into the fold! Now, I just can’t wait for, traditionally, our busiest time of the year in January and really making us even more successful!
Tracy Garner (Travel Consultant)
I have been working in travel since 2000. I started my travel career working for Going Places however I had a break of 3 years in 2010. After this time away from the industry I found my passion lies within travel, whereupon I started working for Chelmsford Star Co-operative Travel.
As a Walt Disney and theme park fanatic, I would say that I specialise in Florida – having visited Orlando & Walt Disney World 14 times.
Other destinations I have visited include Hong Kong, Dubai, Mauritius, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Madeira.
Chloe Brown (Travel Consultant)
I have been working for the Chelmsford Star travel team for just over 5 years, after studying a BTEC National Diploma in Travel and Tourism for 2 years. I was extremely lucky to have been offered my job with the Co-operative after completing a 2 week work experience through my college course.
As a passionate traveller, I have visited many destinations through work and personal travel across Europe, the USA, the Caribbean and Africa. More recently, in 2015 I was lucky enough to visit South Africa, spending 3 nights in Cape Town then a further 3 nights on a game reserve. Also I had the opportunity with Great Rail Journeys to travel from St Pancras across France and through the Pyrenees to Spain, where we spent 5 nights in Costa Brava. Also with having relatives live in Malta, I have had the luxury of returning to the Island on more than one occasion, therefore specialise in this particular destination.
Tola Arogundade (Travel Consultant)
I have been working with the Co-operative Travel in Chelmsford Quadrant for almost two years now. I have always had a great interest in travel, so I did a BTEC National Travel & Tourism diploma at Chelmsford College, before landing my first job in travel. After wanting to develop my career within travel, I attended university to study Events and International Tourism Management in London. This degree has encouraged me to gain more practical experience, which is why I chose to work with the Co-op. Starting as a Foreign Exchange Bureau consultant, I specialise in the buying and selling of foreign currency.
As a person who is always pushing themselves to be better I then took it upon myself to get more involved within the sales of holidays. I am now able to sell all types of holidays, as we are the only fully independent travel agency in Chelmsford. The last few years my favourite places I have been to are Amsterdam, Turkey and Africa. This year I look forward to going to Canada and Antigua. My dream holiday would be to tour around South America, preferably to the carnival in Rio de Janeiro, as well as visiting Mexico and Colombia.
