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‘We were really hands-on and Edinburgh was a close-knit group of people. We were very involved in the student training, mentoring and days out. The winter visits were all over central and west and east coast of Scotland. They were great days in the STGA. Anyone who rocked the boat, causing unnecessary trouble, would be asked to refrain and if not willing to, then just leave the association. That worked well’ Richard added.
‘David McCrae was my vice chairman and he was great. Sheila Devlin Thorpe was the public relations officer and she was incredible.’
But changes were on the way for the STGA on a national basis. Sally Spaven, who was STGA chair between 1998 and 2001, takes up the story in a speech she gave in 2007.
‘Pre-1996, the STGA was run by a National Council (set up in 1986), an august group of over 20 of the branch committee members who met from time to time. Unfortunately, the Chair rotated at each meeting and the attendees varied, so decision making was tortuous, especially when the rugby internationals were showing in the pub next door in Dundee. Also with no office, we had no quick mechanism for dealing with any form of communication with us. So we decided that the status quo was not an option.’
At the STGA’s national conference in 1994 the majority of members supported a motion to
ask the Scottish Tourist Board about the possibility of a feasibility study being carried out to see how the STGA could benefit from being a more national organisation rather than regional. A National Council meeting at Perth discussed the idea with Mike Williamson, a market research analyst from market research company, TMS. The majority vote at the end of the meeting was that TMS should go ahead with its survey of members and subsequent proposals. National chairman Robin Hodge, and committee members Kevin Connelly and Catherine Martindale worked with the consultants who carried out their study between December 1994 and February 1995. The Scottish Tourist Board funded three quarters of the market research with the STGA national council paying one quarter. TMS pulled no punches.
‘The Scottish Tourist Guides Association has achieved much since it was formed in 1959,’ it said. ‘However, shortcomings in its national strategy and structure are now being exposed, and the association’s reliance on a branch structure and on the commitment and voluntary effort of particular members can cause rivalries and misunderstandings. Despite the misunderstandings and disagreements that do surface, there is a real camaraderie among many STGA members – but this ’club’ feeling must now be accompanied by a more business-like approach. The STGA needs to become a real trade association devoted
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