New guide service

Press, 16 September 1986, Page 34

New guide service

Prompted by inadequate coach tours which glide tourists past interesting historic places such as the Sign of the Takahe rather than *ake them in, Mr John Jameson an avid Christchurch historian has set up a guiding service with a marked difference.

Operating under the name, the Personal Guiding Service, 32 guides are available through the Information Centre, opposite Noahs Hotel, to take city and riverside walking tours. These take in a two to two and a half hour walk through Cathedral Square, the Provincial Council Buildings, Christ’s College, the Arts Centre and, if there is time, St Michael’s Church, the Town Hall, Botanic Gardens and the museum.

Shortened walking tours are also available for coach tourists with a limited stay in the city, as well as rental vehicle and family vehicle tours with an experienced guide.

The main services offered, however, are the City and Riverside walk-

ing tours which currently must be booked ahead through the Information Centre. This ensures that a guide is available at the time you wish to do the tour.

Prior bookings will no longer be necessary after Wednesday, October 1, when tours will be held four times daily. Two of these leave the Information Centre at 9.45 a.m. and another at 1.45 p.m. Tours will also be conducted from the Southern side of the Christchurch Cathedral, adjacent the Anglican City Mission caravan, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The Historic Places Trust has been very supportive about the new service. “We welcome groups such as the Personal Guiding Service, because of the obvious interest with which they show people the many historical places that abound in Christchurch,” said Mrs Connie Wood the chairwoman for the Historical Places Trust’s Canterbury district.