SCHOOL FOR GUIDES

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 97, 21 October 1936, Page 9

SCHOOL FOR GUIDES

NOW OPEN IN LONDON

A. school for guides'to London'is to be opened at: the North Western Polytechnic at Kentish Town,: says' the "Daily Telegraph." It has been approved by the London County Council, and will be the first of its kind established in Britain. •'. , "7 The realisation that hundreds of thousands of visitors will be here for next year's Coronation has led to the discovery that qualified London guides are rare. In fact there are^nly about 20 capable of acting as couriers to large parties, and the majority of them are attached to tourist agencies. By September 17 sixty students had, enrolled for.the course at Kentish Town, and the response made it necessary to establish two classes,instead of one, as was originally intended.: Applications have been .reaching, the Polytechnic at the rate of 20 a day, but most of the applicants have been under the misconception .that positions would be found fpr them when they gained their diplomas. Although tourist agencies agreed to support ■ the course, most guides are employed on a day-to-day basis. , ■ , , ~..-'.' Many of those who will be taking the course are already guides to London, but are not-graded in the. highest category by the tourist agencies. Several agencies have agreed to place the men on their "A" lists as soon as they have gained diplomas. ' Apart from the small number of guides on the permanent staffs of ,the tourist agencies,, each firm keeps a list of approved men, graded into two or three .categories. , , ' MAY TAKE ANYONE. Class "A" includes'those who'can be entrusted with any type or size ' of party. They are mainly men with a knowledge of several languages, and the history and topography of London and places of interest throughout the British Isles. • ' - To aid them are approved local guides at. Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Canterbury, and the Shakespeare country, whose local • knowledge has been thoroughly tested. Guides graded as "B" and "C" are employed mainly for day trips,. where only a superficial knowledge of "objects and places of interest is.required, or when a large number of guides is required for an occasion such as a cup final. .■■■•■' ■ ./- '• First-class guides are recruited mainly from the professional ■ classes. Schoolmasters, soldiers, actors,- and men 'of small independent /.means, whose inclinations have , led them to study and travel, have in recent years become guides to' London. •• Thousands of applications are received by the agencies ■ for enrolment on their lists of approved guides, but many people applying are found to have an insufficient knowledge of London when they are put through their tests by the firms' Chief Guides. The aim' of the.tourist agencies is ultimately" to employ, only those who have gained the Polytechnic diploma, and to improve the standard until it reaches that attained in the foreign capitals. . In Moscow guides are required to pass a State examination before. they are allowed to conduct tourists through the city. In Rome and the Baltic capitals also guides are highly organised.