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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. ‘It was a rocky time for the STGA financially as we toiled to put the Association on a sustainable and professional footing’, she said. ‘One year we lurched alarmingly into the red, but under the chairmanship of a financially astute colleague, Ken Fyfe, we got back on an even keel the following year.
It may have seemed an unpropitious time to be bidding to host a WFTGA Convention. Under the rules the host association has to cover any loss incurred in running the event, but gets to keep any profit, but we were confident that Scotland would be an attractive venue. Accordingly, a separate subsidiary company to the STGA was set up to run the Convention and Sally Spaven and I were the only board members willing to become directors of it and take on the attendant statutory and fiduciary responsibilities, ie we as directors would be personally liable to cover any loss incurred, if the STGA parent company did not have the funds to do so.
‘However, I felt that Scotland would be an attractive destination for the Convention and I certainly had every confidence in the commitment and enthusiasm of Sally Spaven and Doreen Boyle, who headed up the Steering Committee and worked their socks off getting sponsorship from various companies and organisations for the event.
‘The first Iraq War was the cloud on our horizon. If President George W. Bush launched the UN coalition attack on Iraq before the deadline for payment by the participants, the Americans wouldn’t have come in their usual numbers as, certainly at that time, their tendency was very much to stay at home if there was any trouble or conflict whatsoever in the World. To this day I have never told my husband the risk I ran and I dare say Sally didn’t either! I’ll never forget the relief I felt when the date of the deadline for returning deposits in cases of cancellation passed and President Bush still hadn’t announced the date of the Iraq invasion. We had been lucky, but “A damn close-run thing”, as the Duke of Wellington said of his last victorious battle.”
‘The Convention was attended by more than 160 delegates plus more than 50 day delegates mostly from Scotland. A highlight of the event was the attendance of the first recipients of the Jane Orde Scholarship Fund. Jane died on 9th October 2000 and this coincided with Deborah Androus' Presidency of the WFTGA. As a Director of the Androus Foundation, Deborah and the WFTGA agreed to establish the Jane Orde Scholarship Fund in her memory, administered by the Androus Foundation which already existed for charitable purposes. The Jane Orde Scholarship was created to help tourist guides from less affluent countries to attend its biennial Conventions. Jane had spent some of her young married life in Africa including the Gambia so it was particularly appropriate that the first winner of the Jane Orde Scholarship was from the Gambia. The very first recipients of the award came from the Gambia and Guatemalia. Since then our successful Jane Orde Scholars have come from Egypt, Jordan, India, Mozambique, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Peru, Georgia, Ukraine, Argentina, Bhutan, Bahamas, Barbados, Philippines, Uruguay and Uzbekistan. Jane’s husband Martin was invited to the WFTGA Convention and met the first recipients of the scholarship. He had helped his wife in compiling the so-called “Jane Orde Document” which was the result of her research into guide conditions, training and licencing worldwide. As she became frailer, he completed much of the document.
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