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number of walkabouts each guide undertook. It was all very low tech and simple! Enjoyed by locals as much as visitors.’
Meanwhile, Aberdeen’s full-time guides were also attending training courses and sitting exams to allow them to guide in other parts of Scotland. At that time, everyone’s results were sent to all guides - not pleasant when not all guides passed first time! Elma had to wait until 1985 for the next course and it was then being run jointly by the STGA and the University of Aberdeen. ‘The course consisted of lectures on two evenings per week during the academic year and several full days of practical coach work,‘ Elma explained. ‘Others who attended that course included Charles Anderson, Pam Connor (later Pam Wells), Walter Duncan, Rina Grant, Jim Grant’s wife, and Janet Maclaren, who worked with me at (by then) Aberdeen Tourist Board. The existing local guides took an active part in our training and practical assessments, including Lesley Miller, Anne Sinclair and Isobel Moir who were real branch stalwarts at that time. We also had written practical project work to complete and submit as well as written exams and of course the dreaded practical assessments and exams. One evening we had to attend the College of Education instead of the University, because they had video equipment to film us as we spoke about our chosen subject. This was something new to me, and I remember feeling my knees literally knocking together as I spoke about Provost Skene’s House, which was supposedly behind me. Janet and I, neither of whom had access to a car, were indebted to Yvonne for taking us out on the routes to be assessed, pointing out all the TVPs (long before that term was used) and giving us pointers on what we might say. I remember the day of the big practical exam, we had a coach with a microphone which did not work properly. For my job, I hired coaches regularly from this company and - this being long before mobile phones - we stopped at the phone box at Torphins for me to give them a piece of my mind and demand a replacement (mic, not coach!) This duly arrived by car a short time later. We received our Blue Badges and certificates from Councillor Alex Collie, at that time Lord Provost of Aberdeen and Chairman of Aberdeen Tourist Board, in a ceremony in Aberdeen Arts Centre in summer 1986.
‘The University of Aberdeen then went on to develop a Scottish Studies course’, Elma continued, ‘offering a rolling programme of modules in subjects including History, Geography, Scottish Literature and Art. Four modules were required to qualify and neither the Tourist Board nor STGA was involved in student selection, despite successful students being told the course would allow them to follow practical training to become tourist guides! There were also issues with the teaching quality. For example, the Scottish History taught was largely irrelevant to guiding and one student, who did become a guide, commented that she thought the academics just taught what they normally did and made no effort to make it relevant for potential guides. The first of these students to become a guide qualified in 1990, with another in 1992 and four in 1996. I was a part-time guide until I left the tourist board (by then Aberdeen & Grampian Tourist Board) in 1996, but during the 10 years between qualifying and then, I had used my guiding skills regularly for my job, which included setting itineraries and guiding fam trips for travel trade people and journalists.
In 1998 I became Local Director on the Board of the STGA representing Aberdeen & Grampian Branch and served for 4 years, including as Vice-Chairman from 2001-2002 and leading marketing efforts, such as they were, for at that time the Company had very little income and nothing to spend on marketing. During my time on the Board, I was approached by Toni McPherson, chair of Dundee, Angus and Fife Branch with a view to our two branches merging - at that time neither branch had many members. This we did and in 2002, Toni replaced me on the Board of the STGA as Director representing Aberdeen, Dundee & St Andrews Branch.’
By this time Pam Wells was involved in training and mentoring students for the STGA. She also was a source of work for many local guides, providing good bookings for conference work. She was also an inspiration and role model for both existing and new local guides. The year 2014 saw the first recruitment to the Branch for a decade with the arrival of Graham Bruce and Linda Mackay. Targeted advertising saw further guides progressing through the Blue Badge course with three new guides arriving in 2016 and another 5 in 2018. However, many new guides quite reasonably turned to extended tours to repay the
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