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With a lot of hard work, major sponsorship deals then followed from Morrison Bowmore Distillers Ltd, Royal Burgh of Stirling Council and AILLST (Stirling Tourist Board) office amongst the many organisations in the tourism industry donating gifts and free entries to many tourist attractions for the event and pre and post tours, free coaches, etc. ‘Sustainable Tourism was the official theme of the Convention, but with the horror of 9/11 later that year, it was felt the Convention was in jeopardy when it became clear that the USA was going to invade Iraq. The Steering Committee, consisting of Wilma Kelloe, Sally Spaven, Ros Newlands, Mary Kemp Clark, Fiona McLaurin, Jan Philip and Doreen Boyle, worked tirelessly with Dot Wylie in the office. Tom Caskie looked after the finance.
After much deliberation, Dunblane Hydro was chosen as the base,’ said Doreen.
Speakers were invited, including Geoffrey Lipman of Green Globe, Bill Taylor of Scottish Natural Heritage, Bob Jones of the Forestry Commission, Ingvall Maxwell of Historic Scotland, Piers de Salis of the National Trust for Scotland, David Adams McGilp of Kilmartin House Trust, Dr Con Gillen of Edinburgh University and John Downes of the University of Abertay.
‘By coincidence the keynote speaker, Geoffrey Lipman, was brother of the actress, Maureen Lipman, and was greatly entertained to hear that STGA trainers used a BBC film featuring her as a guide as an example of ‘how not to guide’. He phoned to tell her during the Burns Supper - much to her amusement! Many of our guides and those attending from other countries also gave lectures and workshops. The event programme was finally established, and pre, post and spouse tours planned. At last the event was publicised and the bookings started to come in. We were working so frantically and tirelessly that we never had time to consider the enormity of what we had taken on.’
‘By 2002 total sponsorship support in cash or in kind had reached £37,000 and bookings were coming in from many different countries’, Doreen continued. ‘It was astonishing that such a small Association with no funds managed to run such a wonderful Convention here in Scotland which is still highlighted today as one of the most successful World Conventions that WFTGA has ever run. We brought together members from 28 different countries world-wide who thoroughly enjoyed the six days they spent together in Dunblane and many enjoyed the additional pre, post and spouse tours we laid on for them. This was all done without the help of an event management company – we did it all ourselves and made a substantial profit!
Norma Clarkson, who was to become chair in 2009, had her first stint of service on the STGA Board during the first few years of the Millennium.
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