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Mary Kemp Clarke, who was later to become a vice President of the WFTGA, was given the task of summing up the week-long event. In her opinion, three key themes had emerged from the gathering.
• ‘Firstly, responsibility - mine, theirs and yours!’ she said. ‘Responsibility to conduct our mission statement as professional guides in a legally correct way. ‘Responsibility to grasp, understand and celebrate our differences. We explored this in many ways- it was highlighted in every lecture. To understand and care for those positive differences will sustain our profession's viability.‘Responsibility to maintain and preserve our environments - be they natural, urban, rural, vast or the size of a small room.
• The second theme which ran through the Convention was best described as 'the dichotomies,' said Mary. ‘The dichotomy between global and local. The local is at the mercy of the global, unless sustainability is addressed at local, grassroots levels. The dichotomy between affluence and poverty. On this theme, Geoffrey Lipman clearly pointed out that, as guides, we should plant and nurture the idea of a linkage of sustainability as something which eliminates poverty. The dichotomy between economy and conservation were illustrated throughout the week, including by Con Gillen and his dramatic visual presentation of the geological stacks in Orkney, some now held together with cement and metal pins! The dichotomy between the urban and the rural explored through Bill Taylor and Bob Jones' lectures.
• The third theme had been awareness. ‘Awareness brings the necessary balance which is the framework for any sustainable development,’ she said. ‘Perhaps not all of us were entirely sure of what sustainable tourism involved. Well, now I think we're pretty sure that it permeates all aspects of our work as tourist guides,’ added Mary
Towards the end of 2003 Ros Newlands was asked by the then President of the WFTGA, Ruby Roy, from Canada, if she would come on the board, to sort out their training.
‘The World Federation had set up a training programme way back to train guides around the world but really it was going nowhere,’ she said. ‘I remember having one of my conversations with Jane Orde, when we were discussing the WFTGA and everything to do with it. And I said to Jane, I'd love to become a World Federation Trainer, and she said, you can't, and I said, why. And she said, because it's a closed shop, they won't let anyone else in. And I went, oh right, okay, fine, and forgot about it.
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