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‘We left from the Waverley bridge and I got into the cab and I couldn’t talk,’ he confessed.
‘I just froze. When I got to the West End I said to myself I had to say something.
Inge Speitel, who was on the 1971-72 guiding course admitted she found Dr Barclay’s populist style of lecturing somewhat frustrating.
‘He was quite a personality.’ she said. ‘He found it very hard to stick to a subject. He started off lecturing on a subject and then went all over the place and I got quite impatient. I got really annoyed at him. He kept calling me his little rebel. I said it is all very well but what about the actual subject. He was used to entertaining elderly Edinburgh upper middle-class folk with lectures about Edinburgh history and Scottish history.
‘But I learned one thing early on - that entertaining is part of being a guide. He always said when he heard the first laugh he knew he had them and I have never forgotten that.’
A great help to the Association was its early recognition by the then Ministry of Works, which administered many Ancient Monuments. It was the predecessor of today’s Historic Environment Scotland.
Only holders of the diploma and badge were allowed to conduct parties through these historical buildings and lecture within the precincts.
In the early days the classes attracted a great number of students who had no aspiration of becoming full time guides and were attending the classes as a cultural pursuit.
The training class took the form of evening lectures, one evening per week from October to March. The lectures were supplemented by coach tours, usually on Sundays, where practical training was given and every student who entered the class had to be prepared to participate in all of these tours as part of their training.
Students were expected to read extensively and to have a working knowledge of history, geography national and local government, art, architecture, agriculture and be well informed on current affairs.
For the purposes of the diploma and badge, the country was divided into districts and first year candidates were expected to attempt four written test papers: General Knowledge, City of Edinburgh, Trossachs and Loch Lomond area and the Borders and Lothians.
Only after passing in all four papers could the student take the practical test which was in the form of a tour of the city by private coach, the students taking it in turns to guide.
Every guide who qualified for the diploma and badge was required to become a member of the STGA paying the annual fee which was two guineas at that time.
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