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of work to provide schedules for the guides each day. I have to say, as the Project Manager, I was so proud of what we achieved. From the very first day our guides provided superb professional tours. The combination of STGA and Mercat worked very well and I believe we learned a lot from each other. ‘Mercat guides’ ability to ‘tell a good story’ was certainly something I found invaluable. Tom and I were invited to a Reception for Parliament suppliers and were so delighted to be drawn aside by the chief executive, Sir Paul Grice, and told that our contract was one of the best they were handling.
‘In the early days we had a lot to contend with. Most of the visitors initially seemed to be locals who were coming in simply to voice their outrage at the building. It often felt as though we were personally responsible for everything they didn’t like. We nearly always managed to send them on their way totally converted to the building and how well it worked. There was a constant check kept on our tours and we had ‘mystery shoppers’ on a regular basis reporting back to Parliament Visitor Services. There were rarely any issues but all were quickly dealt with at our Monthly Contract Meetings with Parliament. Once established, we then offered Art and Architecture Tours and foreign language tours if reserved in advance. There were, however many visitors from farther afield and we had lots of very special tours and lots of fun providing these tours.’
Ros Newlands recalls doing ‘hard hat tours’ just before the opening and trying to work out where guides would go and what they would say and, what’s more, where everything was. ‘On my very first tour on the opening day I discovered to my horror that Benedetta Tagliabuie, widow of the deceased architect of the building, Enrique Miralles, was on it,’ she said.
‘She was absolutely charming wearing her sporran as a handbag as she always did after her husband died. She didn’t interfere, just wandered round near the back of the group and thanked me with great charm at the end. I also did a tour with the Prime Minister of Thailand who gave me a lovely scarf.’
Jean Blair said she loved guiding in the building. ‘I feel that it was such a turning point for our Association,’ she said. ‘We all worked as a team, we bonded with fellow guides who we previously didn’t really know very well unless we had studied in the same year together. The training was intense and much to remember in a short space of time! It was also good to meet and work with the Mercat tour guides. It also gave me a much better understanding of politics and of contemporary art. ‘I loved that we were able to change visitors’ perception of the building after their tours. They came from all walks of life and from all parts of the world. I learnt much from overseas visitors regarding their parliament buildings.
‘I had Benedetta Taglibuie on a VIP evening tour and, when I pointed out that the railings outside had a Rennie Macintosh style as Miralles had been an admirer of his work, she quipped ‘aha Mockintosh!’
‘The MSP Margot MacDonald was always friendly when she came by any group I was with. Also First Minister Jack McConnell, the Presiding Officer David Steel and many of the politicians who started out in this first Parliament, the majority were encouraging. I also had the Icelandic Prime Minister, and if I remember the Malawi president and officials, and lots of school groups.’
Tom Caskie said he loved learning about the subtleties and symbolism that the architect Enric Miralles and his Scottish Associates had designed into the fabric of the building.
‘The tour started in the main hall at the model of the parliamentary complex and moved off to the beautifully stylised sculpture representing the “Honours of Scotland” created by jeweller Graham Stewart,’ he said.
‘Miralles was a Catalan from that fiercely independent part of modern Spain. He had travelled extensively throughout Scotland before he started his design of the Parliament complex and was aware of Scotland’s unique cultural traditions and history.
‘He ensured that much iconography and symbolism was built into the fabric of the building. The tour led us past Art works and into the Garden Lobby where generally there were gasps from the visitors at the beauty of the place. The Garden Lobby gives access to Queensbury House, which Miralles was desperately anxious to incorporate into the Parliamentary
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