Page 157 - Microsoft Word - Guiding lights final version 0841 1007 big print.doc

Coll, Colonsay, and other islands and they came and did the course in Oban. They were then assessed by STGA examiners on their own island. Wilma Kelloe and Pat Dishon went round all those islands, and at the end there were about 12 guides who formed the Argyll Islands Tourist Guides Association, which became affiliate members of STGA. It was a Millennium project and the local tourist board produced leaflets, and brochures, and all sorts of stuff about the Atlantic Islands of Argyll,’ Ros continued.
‘Isabel Lennie went up to talk to a guy in Invergordon, who wanted guides trained for the cruise industry. We started offering some sort of training for them as well and that ended up as HOSTGA, Highlands of Scotland Tourist Guides Association, who are not affiliated to STGA, because they decided to operate on their own. Green Badges were formalised in 2003 and, all those people who had them, had to become individual members of the STGA as opposed to being members through their association affiliation with the STGA.
‘Jane Orde wrote the first regional workbook for trainee guides on the northern Highlands around 2000. She was a fantastic guide and it was a way of getting her vast knowledge down on paper before she died,’ said Ros. ‘She knew that, and that was what she wanted to do. The other workbooks were written by a team including Ros and Pat Dishon with the Geology provided by Con Gillen. We wrote workbooks then for every region of Scotland, and there were 13 in the end. Everybody got these workbooks when they did the course.’
Ros had also been running short courses through her own company, One Step Ahead, for guides and volunteers in various visitor attractions such as St Giles Cathedral. The STGA decided to offer a Yellow Badge for these organisations and among the first were Crathes Castle and Mercat Tours. Green Badges were formalised in 2003 and, all those people who had them, had to become individual members of the STGA as opposed to being members through their association affiliation with the STGA. Ros was elected President of the WFTGA in 2007 and by then Mary Kemp Clarke had taken over the practical day to day running of the Blue Badge guide course.
In 2008 chairman Toni McPherson reported that the latest training course, run in conjunction with the University of Edinburgh, had concluded in May and 26 students successfully completed their studies. Forty-four other students completed modules which qualified them for the Green Badge. This included students who were now qualified to guide in Russian, Mandarin and Hungarian. Financial support had been provided by VisitScotland and other funding bodies. Meanwhile 11 staff from Hill House, a National Trust for Scotland property in Helensburgh,
156