02 Jul 2024
The St Albans Tour Guides welcomed the Mayor of St Albans, Cllr Jamie Day, and the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Jenni Murray, to a dinner celebrating the 60th
anniversary of the founding of the Tour Guides Association.
The organisers of the 1964 St Albans Festival decided to recruit volunteers to help show visitors around the historic sites of the city. These early guides were trained by local history experts, including the former mayor Dr Elsie Toms.
So successful was the venture that the tour guides became a permanent fixture in the city, and the early informal training was eventually replaced by a professional qualification through the Institute of Tourist Guiding.
The Mayor, as patron of the association, thanked the guides for welcoming both residents and visitors to St Albans, guiding them through the long history and entertaining them with plenty of stories. He also revealed that he knows quite a lot about guiding as his brother-in-law is a qualified guide for the city of Portsmouth.
Chairman of the St Albans Tour Guides Association, Terry Turner, said: “We’re grateful to the Mayor, our patron and also 480th Mayor of St Albans, for coming to help us celebrate our diamond anniversary and thank him for his kind words.”
The St Albans Tour Guides lead public and private walks around the city and district throughout the year covering the 2,000 years of history, with stories behind the historic buildings and the people who have lived in them. They also bring history to life at some of the city’s historic sites, including Verulamium Museum and the Clock Tower.
For more details and to book, visit www.stalbanstourguides.co.uk
