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collaboration with a colleague Evelyn Hutchison, which we ran on International Day of Tour Guiding before an invited audience of tour operators etc,’ said. ‘We involved several other guides in each production. The tours were highly entertaining, informative and with lots of audience participation. Our first tour was entitled Cigareets an’ Whisky – all about Glasgow, the drinking city. The following year the tour was entitled Glasgow’s Dead – a pun on the strapline Glasgow’s Alive being used by the City Council of the time. Other tours were ‘The Glasgow Style,’ coinciding with Glasgow being City of Architecture and Design, Four Weldings and a Urinal, Wally Closes an’ Big Hooses, Glasgow’s Trading Places and, lastly Wise Women and Wicked Witches.’
In 1996 Evelyn was joint course director of the STGA Training Course at the University of Strathclyde, along with Jennefer Riley (aka Jennefer Hutton), then her business partner. In the late 1990s, Evelyn Hutchison and Margaret Anderson organised a series of lectures and some outings for German-speaking guides, especially in the Glasgow area. They were based in the then German-speaking congregation's premises in Hyndland. ‘We met about once a week and had a series of about six sessions, which we did twice or three times, said Margaret. ‘ We got native German speakers, who were specialists in their own subject to lecture to us in German - on e.g. cetaceans, German government, wildlife, art. There was a German curator at the Paisley museum so we paid a visit there and got a tour by her.’
A big employer of guides was a company called Chieftain Tours and later Prestige Tours which were run by David Arthur and Euan Finlayson. David’s wife Linda later trained as a Blue Badge guide in 2012 and became chair of the association in 2018. David and Euan employed a lot of guides when they got contracts for big conferences in Glasgow. ‘We had the Rotary conference in Glasgow in June 1997 and it is still the biggest conference that has taken place in Scotland,’ said Jan? ‘At that time Rotary was one of the sixth largest conferences that moved around the world. Twenty-four thousand people came and and just after it was the ASTA convention – the American Society of Travel Agents. That brought a lot of work not just to Glasgow but to Scotland.’ Glasgow also benefited from becoming City of Architecture and Design in 1999 which attracted many visitors. Maggie McCann recalls that Glasgow guides ran city centre architectural walks.
‘Alec Pringle who was a guide was instrumental in setting up the Glasgow City Sightseeing Tours at the time, ‘ Alec provided the vehicles and we developed successful Alexander ‘Greek’ Thompson coach tours, visiting Holmwood House and St Vincent Street church.’
In recent times the cruise ship industry has brought thousands of visitors to the city with nearby Greenock becoming a key port. A highlight was the return of the QE2 in 2008 which had been built and launched in Glasgow 41 years earlier. Jan became a firm fixture as an organiser of guides for cruise ships in Scotland for many years.
The Glasgow branch has published its own excellent newsletter Branchlines for many years which is currently edited by Blue Badge guide Bruce Cochran who qualified in 2006. Margaret McCann and Bruce developed a coach and walking tour to celebrate the 20th Commonwealth Games being held in Glasgow in 2014. The specific focus was on Glasgow’s sporting heritage and the sports venues being used within the city. ‘We incorporated the new sports facilities and athletes village in the East End,’ said Maggie. ‘We attended the Games launch at Holyrood with Clyde aka ‘Thistle heid’! (photo attached). The Sporting Heritage walking tour on the Glasgow Green was led by Sheila May and celebrated the extensive sporting history and events relating to this area. We offered free tours on the Green during the Games,’ Maggie said. ‘Over 50 guides were trained over a two-day course and accredited by the STGA to deliver both tours. Due to the voluntary/non-profit making aspect of the Games, we did not receive the backing and promotion we had anticipated from the ‘Glasgow 2014’ organisers. However the course was a success and the information was well used by the guides during their Glasgow tours in 2014. Bruce and I led the Sporting Heritage walk as an ITGD event for the students at Glasgow College (photo attached) and also as a CPD for some of the newer guides in 2018.’
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