Born in “the Ancient Capital of Scotland” Perth .I started guiding as a “hobby” a complete change from my busy life in the Hotel Industry, I gained much experience and skills working with people from around the world with members of staff and visitors.
My life as a guide started in Edinburgh working on the open top tour buses in the early 1990s, became involved in the training of new guides in Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness, Stirling and Edinburgh. While I was still working in hotels I decided to study for my “Blue Badge”, the STGA qualification is a 2 year course in conjunction with Edinburgh University, studying Scottish History, Geology, Archaeology, Scottish
Customs, Architecture, Art, Tour Management, to name but a few of the classes, and of course submitting essays for each! At the end of our 2 year course there is a final examination. I gained my Blue Badge in the Millennium year 2000. The depth of knowledge the course gives to the individual is immense.
I qualified as a Scottish Parliament guide in our new Scottish Parliament at Holyrood when the new building opened in 2004.I guided in the building for 5 years. It is a very unique building in its design, and has won many architectural awards. I encourage all to take a look inside, saying “never judge a book by its cover!”
Guiding allows me to meet visitors from all over the world, making many new friends, allowing me to show hidden places in Scotland away off the beaten track, whether in cities or in the country.
Some of my interests are:
Golf
The Gaelic language
Ancestry research
Scottish Highland Dancing
Hill walking
Reading – past and present authors, particularly crime
Romans in Northern England and Scotland
Walking tours in areas associated with some of our famous Scottish authors, can be of interest, as an example, walking in the Pentland Hills to the south of Edinburgh where Robert Louis Stevenson used to walk in his youth.
Another interest I have is the Romans in Northern Britain, visiting these Roman sites from 2000 years ago is very interesting!