Page 16 - Microsoft Word - Guiding light final version 0955 1506 big print.doc

In the early days the classes attracted a great number of students who had no aspiration of becoming full time guides and were attending the classes as a cultural pursuit.
The training class took the form of evening lectures, one evening per week from October to March. The lectures were supplemented by coach tours, usually on Sundays, where practical training was given and every student who entered the class had to be prepared to participate in all of these tours as part of their training.
Students were expected to read extensively and to have a working knowledge of history, geography national and local government, art, architecture, agriculture and be well informed on current affairs.
For the purposes of the diploma and badge, the country was divided into districts and first year candidates were expected to attempt four written test papers: General Knowledge, City of Edinburgh, Trossachs and Loch Lomond area and the Borders and Lothians.
Only after passing in all four papers could the student take the practical test which was in the form of a tour of the city by private coach, the students taking it in turns to guide.
Every guide who qualified for the diploma and badge was required to become a member of the STGA paying the annual fee which was two guineas at that time.
The badge which originally was designed with a blue background with thistle and saltire superimposed, required a deposit of five shillings from the guide and remained the property of the Scottish Tourist Board.’
In 1964 a series of 20 lectures costing one guinea was started for those wishing to extend the scope of their diplomas by passing tests for districts not already covered by the diplomas.
These were on: Glasgow and the Clyde, Burns Country including Dumfries and Galloway, Central Scotland including Angus, Fife, Kincardineshire and Kinross-shire, the Central and Northern Highlands, the Western Highlands and Islands, the North East and Orkney and Shetland.
In 1965, according to the STGA seventh annual report of the Executive committee, classes for guide candidates were organised and held, normally at weekly intervals in both Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Owing to the change in the policy of the Extra-Mural Department of Edinburgh University, the Edinburgh classes, previously held under the auspices of that department, were held, from the beginning of the 1965/66 session under the auspices of the Edinburgh Council Education Department with the co-operation of the Workers Education Association. Glasgow classes were held under the auspices of the City of Glasgow Council Education Department and were organised by committee member Hugh Hutchison.
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