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‘There was such a lack of linguists then, let alone decent linguists and they were happy to recommend me. So, I ended up pretty fully booked and decided to do the Blue Badge course, qualifying in 1996, having tried out my rusty study skills by becoming a York Minster guide and later adding a Blue Badge North East England qualification.
‘I remember meeting Archie Roy in the late 70s or 80s in the back room of Archie Shiel’s Tartan Gift Shop, which we supplied. My father, and later my husband and I, used to be invited to watch the last night Festival fireworks from the Tartan Gift Shop balcony overlooking Princes Street.
‘I still have a moth-eaten 100 per cent cashmere kilt from TGS, which I used when first guiding in the 90s – I don’t think any mill exists making 100 per cent cashmere tartan cloth for kilts any more. I was told in the 90s that it was prohibitively expensive.
‘Talking of moth-eaten – I remember arguably the most memorable STGA visit, to Megginch and the family of Lady Strange (ex House of Lords doyenne) – her widower and father of the present lady greeted us in his extremely moth-eaten tartan jacket and trews - family outfit, well over 100 years old!
‘I can’t quite compete outfit-wise, though I do have my Dad’s old 1920s/30s fancy breeks, which I used to wear in the early 80s, but my cooker just about can – I still cook on a 104 year old catering New World Radiation cooker, which my mother bought, “to do a turn” over 70 years ago!’
Afternoon tea with Rosamunde Pilcher
By Manuela Fraenkel
‘Little did I know when accepting a job, how far it would take me. It sounded intriguing - look after German-speaking lovers of the romantic novelist, Rosamunde Pilcher, who had won a competition to meet her. ‘Her books are especially popular in Germany because the national television station ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) produced more than 150 of her stories for television, starting with The Day of the
Storm in 1993. Most of them were filmed in England but a couple have been made in Scotland with Lennoxlove once used as a location and by coincidence, I was there visiting at the time.
‘They are regularly shown on Sundays in German-speaking countries – most people say they watch them for the amazing scenery and locations.
‘Rosamunde was a Cornishwoman, born and brought up in Lelant, and most of her books are set in south west England. Luckily for us in
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