Gazette Gossip

Posted on April 26, 2008

Let's give Eaton Bray man Stuart Harding a big hand, as he bows out of the company he founded, Theatre Breaks Ltd.

The 70-year-old managing director, pictured on the right of our picture, is stepping out of the spotlight, and his son Simon is now taking centre stage.

Stuart isn't just a groundbreaking businessman, he's also a singer, actor and musical director.

When he set up the company, in 1980, it was called Theatre Rail Club.

Stuart launched it at the Royal Opera House, at an event packed with VIPs.

It was the first time that entertainment, travel and independant business had been combined into a one-stop shop.

That was a brave move - his background was with British Rail, where he was senior sales marketing manager for the whole rail network.

Anne Main MP dropped into the St Albans office to wish him well on his retirement.

I hear that he'll be keeping in touch with the company and the theatre world.

And as the curtain is brought down on Stuart's current Theatre Breaks role, I rather think he deserves a standing ovation.

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Source: Anne O'Donoghue, Dunstable Gazette, 23 April 2008