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Member, had attended the WFTGA Train the Trainer Course and had become the first new National WFTGA Trainer in Scotland after Iris Barry, who trained in 1998. Viola passed her exam to become an International WFTGA Trainer in Cairo in 2007. Viola prioritised her work as STGA Training Manager and didn’t immediately start to train internationally. In 2010, after having delivered a course in Cyprus, Viola was made a Lead International Trainer.
After helping on the 2003 Dunblane Convention committee, Mary Kemp Clarke spent several years as a WFTGA Area Representative for Latin America and later became the Area Rep Coordinator for the WFTGA. In 2008 she also became one of the few WFTGA Lead International Trainers, having done her course in the Cyprus Regional Centre in order to enhance her skills to work as a trainer in Scotland. Ros also became a Lead International Trainer in 2014 after retiring as the WFTGA President.
Mary was voted WFTGA Vice President at the WFTGA Convention in Tehran in 2017. After graduating in archaeology at Glasgow University for several years she was a freelance archaeologist, excavating, directing and writing about Scottish sites and objects. Her other talents include being an illustrator and former Sangstream singer. Mary is fully bilingual in Spanish and English, having grown up and lived in Buenos Aires for 20 years, nurturing both Latin and Celtic roots. She completed the Blue Badge qualification from the Scottish Tourist Guides Association (STGA) in 1999 and rapidly became involved on the STGA National Board (twice) and as Chairman of the Edinburgh and SE Scotland Branch. As a FEG trainer since 2009, Mary was also on the initial FEG Training Consultative Group. In Scotland she has trained tourist guides towards professional qualifications since 2001 and is a former Course Director for the Scottish Blue Badge courses.
Mary said: ‘The Standard Definition of a Tour Guide is now not only a European Standard but it is also an International Standard EN13809:2003 / ISO18513:2003 - a very important landmark for professional Tour Guides and formulated, developed and brought into being by many experienced guides, our own STGA ones too. Mary says that the UK Blue Badge is held in high esteem around the world though ironically not so well in the UK.
‘As examples, since becoming VP for the WFTGA I was invited to Batalha in Portugal (2018) to talk about the WFTGA. However, I was also specifically asked about the UK and Scottish Blue Badge guides. The reason was mainly that Portugal is becoming a deregulated country when it comes to tourist guides. Tourist Guides there are concerned about job security and the future. I was asked to explain how we operated and to discuss how/why we exist so prominently and
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