Our team

Martin Randall

Creative Director

Martin founded the company in 1988 to combine his background and continuing passion for art history and music with what he had learnt from ten years in the travel business. He has a BA (Hons) in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London University, and studied aesthetics in the Philosophy Department York University. After a number of temporary and part-time posts in the museum world, and spending a year in both Italy and Germany, he turned to specialist tour operating. He stepped down as Chief Executive in April to take on the new role of Creative Director. This allows him to retain a leading role in the planning of the company’s tours and festivals and in shaping company strategy, policies and practices. He has been on the board of ABTA, the Association of Independent Tour Operators, Classical Opera and History Today. 

Fiona Charrington

Chief Executive

Fiona joined Martin Randall Travel in 1997. She has had a variety of roles during her career here within our Operations, Client Relationship and Marketing Departments and has seen the company grow to become one of the world’s leading providers of cultural tours and events. She joined the board in 2005 and soon after became Chief Operating Officer. In April 2019 she became Chief Executive, working closely with Martin in his new role as Creative Director. Together, with the whole staff and management team, they continue to push the boundaries of travel and cultural activities and to hone the experience we offer clients.

Charlotte Crow

Director, Academic & Content

Charlotte joined MRT in October 2015. She was formerly Deputy Editor of History Today magazine, where she worked with many leading academics and historians, a number of whom have also lectured for MRT. She has a great interest in heritage and historical sites and has written articles for Britain magazine, the organ of the UK tourist board. She has also freelanced at The Times, working on the obituaries desk, and for the Europa World Yearbook.

She is fascinated by historical documentary and has been a regular judge for the history category of the Grierson Documentary awards. She is delighted to find herself supervising the Middle East and Scandinavia, and has recently experienced a trip of a lifetime, journeying with Martin Randall to prospect in Iran.

Edward Fairbairn

Operations Director

Edward is an Operations Director for MRT and has a wide-ranging role covering Spain, Portugal, France and the Low Countries. He has been involved in a number of our music festivals in Spain, France and the UK, and in 2022 he managed Polyphony in Portugal. Further responsibilities include the pricing of our tours and events, and shaping policies and procedures.

Prior to joining the company in 2016, Edward studied French and Spanish at Durham University. This included a year spent studying in the Loire Valley and working for a French travel company based in Barcelona, which inspired him to pursue a career in travel.

Maddy Nicholass

Operations Director

Maddy has worked for Martin Randall Travel since 2010. Over the years she has supervised our programmes to Italy, German-speaking lands and Russia. She has managed several of our festivals, including The Danube Festival, The JS Bach Journey and Vivaldi in Venice in 2017. She is now an Operations Director dividing her time between tour operations and finance.

Maddy is half Sardinian and grew up in Dorset with a 4-year stint in Munich. After spending time in Frankfurt and Venice she graduated with a first-class degree in German and Italian from Cardiff University. She returned from maternity leave mid-2022 and is the proud mother of Aria, Rosie and baby Emilio.

Sarah Pullen

Operations Director

Sarah has worked for Martin Randall Travel since 2007 and is one of our Operations Directors. She has overall responsibility for our UK and Ireland programme, which she has also been instrumental in researching and expanding over the years, as well as our tours to Japan, South East Asia and Scandinavia.

Sarah has managed various Martin Randall Festivals, including The Divine Office, multiple times, and our festivals in Suffolk, Yorkshire, the Cotswolds and The Tallis Trail, which we will run again in 2023.

Before she joined MRT, Sarah spent a year teaching English in Vietnam and travelling through South East Asia. This was followed by a degree in Music at Cardiff University where she specialised in the clarinet.

Lizzie Watson

Artistic Director

Lizzie is the Product Development Manager for gastronomy tours, music tours and Martin Randall Travel’s private classical music festivals. She joined MRT in 2008, and so far has worked on and accompanied fifteen festivals. In 2014, she devised A Festival of Music in Bologna, an entirely new festival for the company. Before university, Lizzie spent a year studying the violin and living in Munich, and then read Italian and German at Bristol University. After a year abroad in Hamburg and Verona, she decided to take another year out after graduating to train as a chef.

Sophie Watts

Operations Director

Sophie joined MRT in 2007. As an Operations Director she helps to shape the policies of our Operations department, with a particular responsibility for health and safety on tour. She operates and has developed new tours in France, Spain, India and Latin America. She has managed our Music Festivals on the Seine, Rhône and Rhine as well as in Seville, Santiago de Compostela and Oxford, and in 2023 takes charge of The Thomas Tallis Trail.

Sophie’s background is in languages – she studied French and Spanish at Durham University. Before becoming a mum to Toby in 2021 she was a keen musician, but now devotes most of her free time to playing netball.

Gary Whyte

Director, Marketing & IT

Gary joined Martin Randall Travel in 2011 and is responsible for marketing MRT’s growing catalogue of cultural tours.

He grew up in the Scottish Highlands and moved to London in 2004 to study Criminology at City University – the first course of its kind to run in the UK. After graduating, he worked for a leading customer experience research agency in Islington.

Outside of work, Gary is a fitness fanatic. He also loves to cook, and wander around London’s museums. He recently visited India and is now looking forward to his next long-haul adventure in Japan.

Gary has accompanied several MRT tours, including Gastronomic Andalucia, The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, Connoisseur's New York, Music in the Cotswolds and the West Country Choral Festival.

Jo Felton

Senior Marketing Manager

Jo joined MRT in 2006 and, having worked in several areas at the company, is now Senior Marketing Manager. The majority of her time is spent on design and branding, managing production and mailing of our printed marketing materials, and working on projects such as video production. She also provides technical support for our series of online talks (occasionally stepping in as a chair), as well as general assistance to our Marketing Director. She has worked on our annual series of UK Chamber Music Breaks since she began at MRT, minus a hiatus from 2017–21. She has also worked on several of our music festivals over the years, including the very first Divine Office, and most recently Music in Suffolk Churches in 2022.

Her first love is music – Jo obtained her degree at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama – and she still plays her flute regularly with various non-professional groups. When not playing in concerts, she enjoys running, and crafting of all descriptions.

Liz Roe

Senior Client Relationship Manager

Liz completed her undergraduate degree in Ancient History at Royal Holloway, UoL, before going on to complete a Masters in Classical Art and Archaeology, with Roman History the centre of her studies. She started at MRT in September 2017, 4 days after submitting her MA dissertation. Liz is extremely passionate about travel and spent three months in Greece and Turkey prior to university.

In her spare time Liz enjoys playing the violin, and has been a member of various orchestras and quartets. Alongside this, she likes to keep fit by going for runs on the South Downs and playing rugby. 

Aniko Szucs

Senior Finance Manager

After studying travel and hotel management in her native Hungary, Aniko came to the UK, where she started studying accountancy. In September 2018 she joined MRT as a Finance Assistant.

She is currently responsible for managing supplier invoices and contracts, as well as helping prepare management accounts and updating the booking statistics. She particularly enjoys the opportunities this provides for putting her studies into practice. “Every day I learn something new, and that’s really important to me.”

Aniko describes herself as someone for whom accuracy is important, but who “brings a lot of enthusiasm and who is very happy to help others”. She’s keen to develop her skills within the Finance Team, but also to accompany tours where her Hungarian and German speaking abilities will be valuable. Most of her free time is devoted to further study, but she also likes reading and exploring London’s many parks. 

Margherita De Fraja

Product Manager

Margherita joined MRT in 2017 and is now Product Manager for Italy, working on and coordinating our extensive programme of tours. She also works on Portugal, France and the UK, and has been involved in various Martin Randall Festivals, including The Divine Office in 2021 and Polyphony in Portugal and Music in Venice in 2022. Alongside her operational responsibilities, she has chaired a number of our online webinars.

Margherita graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in French and Italian, and having been brought up bilingually she has strong ties to Italy. She loves to read and cook, and spends her remaining free time in London’s many museums and galleries.

Fred Gold

Product Manager

Freddie joined Martin Randall Travel in the Autumn of 2017 and is responsible for operating tours to Germany, Central and Eastern Europe as well as the UK and India.

Having graduated from the University of Exeter with a degree in History and German, Freddie has a particular affection for Berlin where he spent his year abroad. During his time there he studied History at Humboldt University for a semester before working on the famous Kurfürstendamm at an IT solutions distributor.

Outside of work, Freddie enjoys playing bass guitar, live music and going to the cinema – and is especially fond of silent films.

Domenico Laneve

Product Manager

Domenico was born and raised in the UNESCO town of Alberobello in the heel of Italy. He studied Philosophy before moving to Rome to complete a Masters in Event Management. He began his career in an event agency but refocused on art exhibition organisation, coordinating exhibitions in Italy and worldwide. He moved to London in 2013 where he joined the Guildhall Art Gallery team.

Domenico was recruited by MRT in 2016 to organise tours to the USA and Italy, gaining great pleasure from introducing his home area of Puglia to new visitors. He has worked on various music festivals including our 2017 festival Vivaldi in Venice, and in 2019, Opera in Southern Sicily. In 2022 he managed Music in Venice.

His remit has widened over the years and he is now the Product Manager for our Middle Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean programme, as well as for the USA. He has a great passion for all things American and dreams of driving across the country. He is fascinated by astronomy; one of his favourite trips was to the deserts of Jordan with their unpolluted night skies, somewhere he would like to return in the future.

Sarah Stallbohm

Product Manager

Sarah joined MRT in 2017 and is our Product Manager for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2022 she managed the Martin Randall Festival Music along the Danube and in September 2023 will manage The JS Bach Journey.

Sarah is bilingual; she was born in Hamburg and grew up in Fontainebleau. She moved back to Germany at the age of 13 where she completed her education. Her undergraduate studies were in History of Art during which she spent six months at the University of Siena as an Erasmus student. She went on to an MA in Language and Cultural Studies before moving to London in 2014.

With fluency in four languages, Sarah works across many geographical areas for us. When not working, her interests are in theatre, art and French cinema. She also enjoys sketching and going on long walks.

Lydia Collier

Senior Client Relationship Executive

Lydia joined Martin Randall Travel in 2019, having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in Archaeology and History, and a Masters in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester. As well as having a keen interest in history, Lydia plays the violin and piano, and enjoyed playing in university orchestras during her studies.

As a member of the Client Team, Lydia loves the opportunities she has to speak to clients whether over the phone or in person. She has accompanied our 2022 festivals Music in Suffolk and Music in Venice, along with our Chamber Music Breaks in Taunton, and our Whitehall London Day.

In her spare time, Lydia enjoys exploring London’s museums and galleries, trying out new restaurants, and she is also a keen baker.

Holly Abrahamson

Operations Executive

Holly studied Italian and German at the University of Oxford, with a focus during her Masters on medieval and early modern lyric poetry. After graduating, she joined MRT in June 2022, and is responsible for operating tours in Italy, Germany and the UK. Originally from the Gold Coast, Australia, she is enthusiastic about foreign languages and travel. In her spare time, she enjoys walking and reading fiction from all ages. Along with this, she travels to the coast to swim in the sea as much as possible.

Tom De Souza

Operations Executive

Tom studied Spanish and French at the University of Southampton, including a year at UPF in Barcelona, sparking an interest in the sociolinguistic landscape of Spain and its autonomous communities. 
At MRT he operates tours to Spain and France, as well as some going further east to Malta, Turkey and Oman. 
Tom has also worked as a researcher in the South American department of a legal directory and within the performance marketing team for an online vocational training provider. Prior to joining MRT, he spent a month taking the shinkansen through Japan, with stopovers in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Now sitting top of Tom’s travel wishlist are the Philippines, Istanbul and the Scottish Highlands.

Romey Kinsella

Client Relationship Executive

While studying English at the University of Nottingham Romey developed a keen interest in literature and drama. She looks forward to extending and diversifying this appreciation of the arts during her time working at MRT.

Prior to and during university holidays, Romey spent as much time as possible living and working in the French Alps. This has inspired a love of mountain sports and the French language – which she has hopes of learning to speak fluently.

Outside of work, Romey enjoys reading, painting and going to the theatre.

Kent Pringle

Marketing Administrative Executive

Kent joined the marketing department of Martin Randall Travel in 2022 having studied History at the University of Exeter followed by a Master’s in Cultural Heritage Studies at University College London.  His post-graduate studies covered a wide range of topics from medieval archaeology of Britain to post-industrial heritage and he complemented these by volunteering at House Mill in Bromley-by-Bow.

Academic endeavours aside, Kent enjoys visiting his family in Japan, having been raised within both English and Japanese contexts. Closer to home, he enjoys planning walks in the East Anglian countryside, typically ending with a pub lunch.

Freya Williams

Client Relationship Executive

Freya joined the Client Relationship Department of MRT in the summer of 2022. Shortly afterwards she submitted her dissertation on English Literary Tourism, with a focus on children’s literature, for her Master’s degree in Cultural Tourism and Policy at Goldsmiths College, University of London. For her undergraduate degree, Freya studied Japanese and English literature at Birkbeck College, University of London, and spent a year abroad in Tokyo, where she developed a keen interest in cultural tourism and travel.

In her spare time, she enjoys reading fiction, watching a wide variety of films and trying to keep up with her Japanese studies.

Lucia Di Cicco

Operations Executive

Lucia joined the Operations team at Martin Randall Travel in 2022, shortly after submitting her Master’s dissertation in Translation Studies. She has a background in languages, having previously read German and Italian at Durham University which included a year split between Bielefeld and Mirandola near Modena.

Lucia has a keen interest in German exophonic literature and Italian neorealist cinema. She plays the violin and has been a member of various orchestras, one of which she had the pleasure of performing with at the Vigadó concert hall in Budapest.

In her free time, Lucia is a project manager for the Erasmus Student Network, liaising between the UK and international levels of the organisation.

Iona Godfrey-Faussett

Operations Assistant

Iona joined the Operations Department at Martin Randall Travel in 2022 having recently completed a Master’s in Translation at Goldsmith’s College, University of London. Prior to that she studied French and Italian at Durham University which included a year in Modena, a city she loves and returns to as often as possible. She has also spent time teaching English as a foreign language in both France and Italy.

She has a life-long passion for the arts, having played in numerous orchestras and chamber groups, and being a keen artist and dancer. While originally from Scotland and at home in the outdoors, she loves making the most of all the art galleries, concert halls and theatres on offer in London.

Lily Graham-Stewart

Operations Assistant

Ryan Gralton

Operations Assistant

Nia Kile

Operations Executive

After completing her degree in Spanish and Italian at Durham University, Nia joined the Operations team at Martin Randall Travel in 2022. She was born in the US and frequent trips to visit family there mean she has always fostered an international outlook, fuelling her desire to explore other countries and their traditions.

Nia’s love for European culture deepened during her studies, with a year abroad in Siena and Seville. Here she experienced first-hand the art she had learnt about in her lectures. A keen musician, Nia plays piano and clarinet, and has sung in choirs since she was a child.

Food and cooking occupy much of Nia’s free time. She also enjoys running, sampling London’s best bakeries and reading historical fiction.

Maryam Taha

Finance Administrative Assistant