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Among the successful exhibitions he staged were ‘Scots in Italy in the 18th Century’, in 1963; ‘Shakespeare in Scottish Art’, 1964; and the Sir Walter Scott Bicentenary Exhibition, held in Parliament Hall, Edinburgh, in 1971.
He also wrote a book about Scots in Italy in the 18th Century which was published in 1966. His great passion was local history and one story of his research studies was related by the former Scottish MP Tam Dalyell in his obituary of Basil Skinner in The Independent.
Skinner led a team who were studying the old turnpike roads in the city, and particularly a stretch of hilly roads in the Pentland Hills. A horse-drawn coach was used for this purpose, and the students had to get out of the coach and help push it up hills. This exercise brought home to students the difficulties of travel in the 1700s.
Skinner also helped to stop a five-mile section of the Union Canal in Stirlingshire from being filled in, in his role as convenor of an Edinburgh University Conference on the future of the Union Canal.
Sadly he died in 1995 before being able to see the building of the Falkirk Wheel which would never have happened had it not been for his earlier action.
Dalyell also paid tribute to his role as saviour of Hopetoun House in 1979.
Hopetoun House had been neglected for many years and it was in crisis.
‘It was fortunate indeed, therefore, that a man with a passionate zeal for local history should urge the setting up of a Preservation Trust and become its chairman.’ he said. ‘That man was Basil Skinner. If Hopetoun has returned to its former glory, the Hope family would be the first to say how much is owed to Skinner, and his rescue operation. And as a much- involved local MP and fellow council member with Skinner of the National Trust for Scotland at the time, I know they are right. Skinner was a champion of local history in Scotland - erudite and a conveyer of enthusiasm.’
Guide work was always seasonal and participation in the course and success in examination did not in themselves guarantee employment.
However in 1967 the STGA said that in the height of the season the demand for guides often exceeded the supply.
Indeed 1967 was a watershed year for the STGA.
In September that year STGA chairman Douglas Russell announced that after careful and lengthy consideration and consultation with the Glasgow Education Authority it had been decided, regretfully, to suspend the training classes in Glasgow.
‘It is an unpalatable fact that there is not enough employment for Glasgow based guides to justify turning out more guides,’ he said.
‘The result of this unhappy situation has been that new guides in Glasgow have mostly resigned their membership after a year or two.’
Russell included figures relating to the Glasgow training classes since 1960 and they show how challenging it was to qualify.
In 1960/61 some 17 candidates enrolled for classes and only four candidates passed their tests. They were Miss M Ferguson, Miss J.R. Wright, Miss M.S.Hutchison and Mr H.M.Hutchison. Only Miss Wright worked as a full time guide.
Even more people started the course in 1961/62 – 33 of them – but only five candidates passed their tests and only one of them, Miss J Watson, went on to work as a full time guide. The other four cancelled their membership between 1964 and 1966 because of a lack of work.
The pass rate continued to be low with eight out of 30 passing in 1962/63, two out of 21 passing in 1963/4, seven out of 33 in 1964/65, three out of 39 in 1965/66 and only one out of 30 in 1966/7.
In November Bill Nicholson wrote to Russell to tell him he had had a meeting with Glasgow councillors Wilkie and Methven to discuss the future of guide training classes in Glasgow. A few Glasgow guides including William Davies were also present.
“Considerable dissatisfaction” was expressed by the decision of the STGA to cancel the classes.
“I told those present that the primary interest of the (Scottish Tourist) Board was to get qualified Guides who, having obtained the diploma and badge, could be available to act as
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