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Next we had to return to the coaches to give our guests the bad news about Iona. They were wondering what the delay was and sat stony-faced while we explained the situation and then tried to be upbeat about the alternative plan for the day.
It is a long drive from Craignure to Tobermory and we used the time to tell them all about Iona Abbey during the journey. We had also purchased a video on the Abbey to be shown on each of the coaches on the way home. In Tobermory lunch was understandably slow. After lunch, some came on a walking tour and others went shopping along the length of the bay. Late afternoon we boarded the coach to return to Craignure to catch the ferry back to Oban. It was a hair-raising day for the guides but we survived, with guests who were reasonably satisfied, if disappointed about Iona.’
The Reg Butler fan club
‘Myself and another colleague were asked to be guides on a Reg Butler Fan Club Tour.
For those unaware, he is a Hollywood film star brought up in Paisley and studied Law at Glasgow University. We guides travelled through to the west to do a reccy, to check out the key sites we would have to visit for the tour. What fun that was. When the tour day arrived, two old-looking coaches arrived with two rough-looking drivers. Soon the fans arrived; middle-aged ladies clutching effigies and photographs of Reg Butler. As we were about to depart on the tour, I checked the microphone, only to find it was not working! The driver fiddled about with the wires but achieved nothing. I demanded that we somehow get a replacement immediately. I explained the situation to the ladies and said that I would shout my commentary from the middle of the coach until the new mike arrived. The group leader stepped forward and angrily said: ‘This is ridiculous and unacceptable! We have paid a lotta money for this tour and you don’t even have a working microphone’. I checked with my colleague and her mike was ok. Off we went but at the next stop, her mike packed in too! Meantime my coach was supplied with a new mike and my colleague’s was fixed.
All went smoothly after that until we reached Greenock. A film starring Reg Butler, ‘Dear Frankie’, had been partly filmed in Greenock. The top-floor flat in a tenement block on one of the main streets was occupied by the hero and his family. We drove along this street which, by this time on a Friday afternoon, was busy with traffic. The flat was at a T-junction with traffic lights. We didn’t even have to point out the building – these ladies knew it immediately! We warned them it would be difficult to stop at this busy intersection but, oh no! They all leapt to their feet, demanding to get out. The driver dared not refuse these terrifying ladies and hurriedly opened the doors. Out they leapt and swarmed across the street like a herd of locusts, bringing the traffic to a complete standstill! The faces in the other vehicles were a study to behold – they could not believe their eyes. I shall never forget that spectacular day in Greenock – all because of Reg Butler.’
Ann’s Greatest ambition
In 2001 STGA stalwart Ann Lister was interviewed by the Guardian for an article about geriatric tourist guides (she was 88 at the time). The article was picked up by Radio Scotland and during the interview in response to ‘Of all the places you have visited, which is your favourite?’ The answer came immediately ‘Edinburgh’. To the question: ‘What is your greatest ambition?’ the answer was without hesitation. ‘To drop down dead on the Castle Esplanade and cause the greatest disturbance possible!’ She was awarded Honorary membership just before she died aged 89 in 2002.
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