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‘The association booking service gave the new guides tours - city and extended. I wrote to several companies, corporate and other companies like Globus.
‘I was interviewed and within my first year, I was well on my way to being established as a guide and I was on a firm footing. It was a time I had to be determined, work hard to prove myself. I got the chance, by reputation, in later years to work for other companies. Some have gone to the wall since then. I work for Globus almost 100 per cent now and I have been with them since I began. I was with a group of guides who were the “old school” and they were great mentors to us new guides and I started at a time when the STGA was becoming bigger, more professional and better known.’
Early in 1989 STGA members conducted walks to coincide with the Science Festival in Edinburgh and received publicity in the local press. That year the STGA celebrated its 30th anniversary with a buffet and wine supper in Edinburgh City Chambers in the presence of its then honorary patron, the Lord Provost.
The following month Glasgow branch ran a study visit to Orkney. Towards the end of the 1980s it was clear that new technology was about to have an impact on guiding.
Jane Orde announced that, in order to maintain an up to date record of members’ details to enable it to produce a register of qualified guides which could be updated quickly in the event of any changes and used as a basis for future guide lists, the STGA would like to ‘computerise’ the names and addresses of members. It was the beginning of another revolution which would change the face of guiding forever.
Insuring the future
For guides today it is essential to have public liability insurance but until 1981 they would have to buy their own individual policies. Details of a proposed insurance scheme for personal accident and public liability cover were circulated at a meeting and the treasurer asked all members to give them serious consideration. The cost for comprehensive cover was £9.59 which was a remarkably low figure. A phone call to one insurance company asking for an individual quotation for the same cover brought a quick quote of £45-£50.
The scheme needed a minimum of 100 members to sign up. In later years the STGA provided public liability insurance as part of the benefits of their subscriptions.
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