Sheila Harsant – My Life in Aviation – 31 July 2018

Sheila Harsant is undoubtedly a determined and ambitious woman who carved out a hugely successful career in the aviation industry. However, in her talk to the club last week she rather modestly attributed her success to ‘being in the right place at the right time’.

As a child, Sheila grew up with aviation – her father had been a pilot ‘by mistake’ having gone into the wrong building for a job interview! After his unfortunately early death Sheila travelled the world with her mother and, together, found themselves in the Balearic Islands where she got a job with Brittania Airways at a time when the airline was the largest in the UK and chartered flights were a booming industry. After many adjustments within the industry and consequent job changes Sheila began developing a tour business with many hotels across the globe. Later, for commercial reasons, she moved away from the hotel sector and back into the airline business.

Hers was an exciting life during which she had witnessed and been part of many major business deals and met with many important people. Now retired and back living in Prestwick she is vice-chair of Save the Children and tries to encourage young people to go wherever their ambition takes them.

Charles Gray congratulated Sheila on all she had achieved and for the world tour she had just taken her audience on.