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Orkney Tourist Guides Association
Kathleen Hogarth was living in Orkney in the 1990s when she undertook a Blue Badge Guiding course. She was subsidised by Highlands and Islands Enterprise to fly down to Edinburgh to take part.
At the time Orkney was seeing the growth of cruise ship visits and in the mid-1990s there was demand for full-day and half-day cruise-ship work for about 50 days in the year.
STGA training manager Ros Newlands went up to Orkney with Kathleen and came up with the idea of running courses for new guides focused on the region and setting up an Orkney Tourist Guides Association. Accordingly Kathleen and Ros ran the first course in 1998.
Ros did most of the training, under the auspices of her own company One Step Ahead, but the STGA did the examining. Ros said: ‘I liaised with Con Gillen of Edinburgh University and we developed a training course. Kathleen then went out and dragooned anyone she could to attend a course - we ended up with 80 people who were trained in batches. Kathleen coined the now well-known phrase "Guiding is Fun" in her efforts to get the locals to join.
‘The trainees had a big variety of backgrounds - farmers, teachers, crafts-people. By the end of the year there were 50 new guides. I remember at one exam one participant asked to be first to speak because "The coo's aboot tae calf, I havenae got much time.’
‘We didn’t call it Green Badge then,’ added Ros. ‘They had a Yellow Badge, which had Standing Stones pictured on it. It was the badge of the Orkney Tourist Guides Association and Kathleen Hogarth was its first secretary.’
Green Badges were formalised in 2003 and all Green Badge guides had to become individual members of the STGA as opposed to being members through their association affiliation with the STGA.
Thelma Irvine, who qualified as a Green Badge guide in 2008 and is one of the STGA accredited trainers in Orkney, takes up the story of OTGA...
‘Over the years I have seen OTGA’s committee become the body that encourages our members to act in a professional manner towards each other, towards guests, and when using social media. If, for any reason, a complaint has to be resolved, the committee will adjudicate in a timely and fair manner.’
She adds: ‘OTGA liaises with other important bodies involved with Orkney tourism, e.g. Orkney Islands Council, Destination Orkney, Orkney Marine Services and the Meet and Greet initiative. But we also try to keep a sense of cohesion within the membership - especially outwith the busy guiding season. One of our members, Jack Drever, very kindly puts together an OTGA newsletter twice a year with interesting contributions from members. The committee arranges many CPD events and a sociable AGM, plus sometimes Christmas lunch or dinner. And just last year - 2019 - we welcomed a number of guides from Shetland on a happy exchange visit.’
Tina Smith, who qualified in 2013, was Chairman of OTGA from 2016 to 2019 and contributes the following update:
‘Like many voluntary organizations, OTGA experienced a “fallow period” but a new and proactive committee was formed in 2016. Apart from dealing with everyday matters to support association members, this committee created an Action Plan to address a number of priorities.
‘For example, the committee put in place a calendar of quality CPD events so that members could keep their guiding skills relevant and up to date.
It also evidenced these hours, as recommended and acknowledged by STGA.
‘With membership approval, the committee also reviewed and refreshed both the Constitution and OTGA website. Importantly, OTGA wanted to raise its profile in the local community and with partner agencies, but also to link more closely with the national body, STGA. There was a desire to forge stronger connections with STGA in order to address a number of issues where it was felt island members were not well represented. An opportunity to showcase Orkney’s role in cruise tourism was afforded when OTGA was
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