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to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and the Borders. Many ‘second class’ hotels left much to be desired and private bathrooms were provided mainly at a high cost at first class hotels only. Guides also had to cope with some very dilapidated coaches without microphones. Attempts were made at various periods to have closer liaison with guides from other parts of Scotland and England.
In the mid 1970s the STB began organising courses and excursions for guides to new locations and regions including Perth, Dundee, Arbroath, Angus, Inverness, Loch Ness, Fort William, Glencoe, East Lothian and Stirling. Later the Edinburgh committee arranged the precursor to CPDs (Continuous Professional Development) - programmes of lectures on subjects of interest to guides and visits and excursions which covered places as diverse as the Island of Inchkeith, Holy Island, the petrochemical plant at Grangemouth and Aberdeen. There were also lectures given by guides to their colleagues on tourist centres in both Scotland and England.
The Edinburgh and Glasgow branches started working closely together and usually sent observers to each other’s AGM. But the radical idea of forming a national STGA was rejected by the Edinburgh branch in 1975 though sadly no written record of the proceedings has been found. In 1976 a group of guides from the English Guild of Guide Lecturers visited Edinburgh and a reception was held for them at the Caledonian Hotel where several of them were staying. They were taken on tours of the city, Trossachs and Borders.
A shock was in store for the STGA in 1976 when BBG Don Pottinger intimated that both of the badges which had been worn up to that time were illegal. The first one was illegal because it incorporated part of the Tourist Board symbol, and could only be used by people engaged by the STB. In fact, both badges had Scottish Tourist Board engraved on them and it was illegal to use either of them as freelance guides. In 1977 a new badge was issued and the STB was no longer responsible for them. The new post of Public Relations Officer was introduced in 1976 and Jean Duncan, who had suggested the idea, was appointed to the position.
Jean was born in England, had a Scottish mother, and studied French at St Anne’s College in Oxford. She taught in Newbury for two years and spent most of her holidays in Scotland. She married Ian Duncan, a Scot working for the Colonial Service who spent 13 years working in Nigeria before moving to Edinburgh to work with the Scottish Development Department. Jean, who had two sons and two daughters, qualified as a Blue Badge guide in 1972.
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