International Tourist Guide Day 2004

Guided sightseeing tours with a blue badge tour guide in London and the the UK

Blue Badge
Tourist Guides throughout the
United Kingdom

The national professional association for Blue Badge Tourist Guides
with members in every part of Britain

Saturday 21. February 2004

Report - London

"Three days I was upon the road; then my heart danced at the sight of London." Dr Samuel Johnson

Organisers

The Quiz - with great London prizes
Did you take part? How well did you do? Click here to see the answers
All winners have been notified.

On a cold but sunny Saturday in London, groups gathered at various points to celebrate ITG Day. Throughout the day Blue Badge Guides offered free guided walks for the general public - most with a "blue" theme. Some of the delights on offer included:

Looking at modern architecture (Blueprints)

Exploring "Blue"msbury

Hearing about "Cordon Bleu" cookery

Singing nursery rhymes (Little Boy Blue) in the streets of the old City

Exploring the Docklands area (Blue Collar)

As for the female gladiators in Guildhall Yard . . . all we can say is you were good sports!

Blue Badge guides were on duty at strategic points on the two DIY self guided pedestrian-friendly routes close to the River Thames. Guides were on hand to point out and explain objects of interest; from famous landmarks like Big Ben to the less well known - such as the Firefighters' memorial near St Paul's, where a firefighter from the time of the Blitz was also on hand to talk to visitors.

We are very grateful to the London Development Agency & Susan Briggs of Tourism Network providing very generous funding to help us promote the day. This enabled us to produce some very smart maps for the DIY routes - with a quiz devised by Hazel Docherty to keep participants' interest focused. We were also able to re-print Blue Badge Guide promotional leaflets explaining the benefits of using professionally qualified Blue Badge Guides and to pay for the services of a professional photographer to record the events of the day. We now have some great photos of Blue Badge Guides in action!

We ran a prize quiz which was most generously sponsored by The London Pass, who gave us prizes with a retail value of over £400. Radisson Edwardian also supported us by offering discounted rooms for prize winners. Totally London pins were handed out (courtesy of Visit London) and the remaining helium balloons (Blue Badge Guide & Totally London) from 2003 were inflated and distributed.

The Japanese Guides Association offered a range of well publicised and attended events, and we also offered a walk in Polish around Old Chiswick - highlighting the range of fully qualified foreign language speaking Blue Badge Guides available in Britain.

There were numerous special charitable events, including:

	Yeoman Warder "Beefeaters" from the Tower of London swapped palaces for a trip to Blenheim Palace
	Westminster Abbey staff had a trip to Salisbury
	Volunteers from a Marie Curie cancer hospice (Eden Hall) had a coach trip and a tour of St Paul's.
	15 children in wheelchairs enjoyed a wonderful day out including a flight on the London Eye.

These events would not have been possible without the generous support of coach companies in providing free or subsidized transport and the free admissions offered by places involved. A complete list is below and our grateful thanks as always.

This year saw greater press coverage and increasing use of websites and emails. London events were featured in various publications including Time Out, Evening Standard's Metro Magazine, The Guardian, SE1 News, Country Walking, and even Digital Camera Photography!

This year also saw a dramatic increase in the number of e-mail inquiries - we were able to deal with inquiries quickly and effectively by referring them to our website.

Visit Britain in South Africa downloaded list of events - several people came to us that way.

The day was an undoubted success; thanks to the hard working organising team –

Ali Bennett, Roger Bailey, Peter Bloor, Hazel Docherty, Simon Good, Tim Hudson, Trevor Phillips and Mehmet Ahmet in the office - and all the volunteer guides. We hope all who took part enjoyed the day as much as we did. We did manage to show that Blue Badge Guides add an extra dimension to a visit to London!

Eileen Cox

London Events

Walks for the general public -

Trevor Phillips Blues & Royals - a walk around Whitehall area

Eileen Cox

Little Boy Blue - the story of the City of London with a little help from nursery rhymes.

Simon Rodway The Chelsea Cordon Bleu Walk

Peter Bloor

"Venite et Videte" - "Come and see..." - the Roman walk

Rose Pockney American London . . from George Washington to Benjamin Franklin

Brigid Crawford Blue Collar - Old Port of London & Docklands Walk -Tower Hill to Canary Wharf

Ian Gibson The Blues - Stockings, Films and Jazz - a walk in Bloomsbury and Soho

David Thompson City Blue Prints - an architectural walk in the City

Tony McDonnell Blue Stockings and Blue Blood - a walk around Bloomsbury

Simon Rodway

Oscar Wilde's Soho Blues

Ursula Butterfield In Polish - A walk around old Chiswick and Hammersmith

Self guided walks

From Fierce Lady to My Fair Lady

Falling and wobbling - A Tale of Two Bridges

Guides on rota:
Tim Hudson, Margaret Machin, Nick Morrison, Jane Majoubian, Suzanne O'Kelly, Barry Bennett, Jo Hoad, Ross Knox-Holmes, Sonya Grist, Hilda Matthews, Tony Anderson, Danielle Cooper, Fiona Attrell, Ian Glennie, Jocelyn Lewis, Rosaleen McEwen, David Thompson, M. Tracy, Liz du Parcq, Alec Wilson

Private Tours
We are very grateful to the following coach companies for providing free or subsidised coaches for some of these outings

Armchair Coaches, Epsom Coaches, Evan Evans/Redwing, Tellings Golden Miller and Windsorian Coaches.

Pauls Trust
15 Disabled Children from the Windsor Area
A day out to London including free flight on the London Eye followed by lunch provided by Macdonalds in Slough
Guide: Sonja von Scanzoni-Haines

Eden Hall - Marie Curie Cancer Hospice.
Afternoon out for volunteers. Coach tour of London and guided visit to St Paul's
Guide: Suzanne Whitting

Guild of New West End Synagogue
Panoramic tour of London and visits to Spencer House and Tower of London
Guide: Valerie Richman.

Tower of London
Employees on day out to Blenheim Palace
Guide: Ros Hutchinson.

Westminster Abbey
Group taken on a day trip to Salisbury
Guide: Ian Godfrey

Girl Guides
A walk for Sanderstead District rangers “Fires and Plagues -disaster in the City!”
Guide: Eileen Cox

Group from Pinner Parish Church, Middlesex
Tour of the British Museum and Kings Gallery
Guide: Wendy Myers

The Japanese Guide Association The Japanese Guide Association organised a very full programme again this year which was well publicised and well attended - our grateful thanks to all the guides involved.
British Museum (30 guests)	Yumiko Tyvers Miki Bartley Atsuko Sato
National Gallery (50 guests)	Kinuko Hirahara Megumi Hishiya Junko Yamazaki
St. Paul Cathedral (14 guests)	Hiroko MIller
Hampton Court (20 guests )	Hiroko Wrigt
Dulwich Gallery (12 guests )	Yumiko Inagaki
Panoramic Tour by coach ( 44 guests )	Masako Emori "

ITGD Introduction

Guild Home Page

Use a Blue Badge Tourist Guide to make the best of your visit

The Guild of Registered Tourist Guides
The Guild House, 52d Borough High Street, London, SE1 1XN
Tel: 020-7403 1115 . Fax: 020-7378 1705
E-mail: guild@blue-badge.org.uk