The City of London Guides Lecturers Association (CLGLA) is made up of qualified City Guides There are 500 members all of whom have undergone training via the year-long course administered by the Corporation’s Adult Learning Department and accredited by the national body, the Institute of Tourist Guiding. The CLGLA is the professional association for these guides and its members have been promoting the City of London, its heritage and activities to visitors, residents and workers for 40 years.
At this year’s AGM in July the current Chairman, Louise Grainger, is standing down after seven years in the role, here are some of her thoughts about her experience.
“I came into the post following the footsteps of a series of experienced and effective previous chairmen and I was fortunate that the immediate outgoing post holder, Tony Tucker, was generous in sharing his knowledge with me. This was hugely helpful and I will be spending time with my successor after they are elected at the AGM to pass on anything that may be of use to them whilst recognising their right to disregard any of it!
One of the big challenges is getting organisations, companies, institutions to understand that everyone involved in running the CLGLA is an unpaid volunteer and no-one is managing the Association during usual office hours. This labour of love has to be fitted around their income-generating activities, so sometimes it has to come a bit lower down the to-do list, and of course volunteers always have the right to say no. Having said that, I cannot think of a time when ‘no’ was the response! I am proud of the professionalism and flexibility of the CLGLA and the way we have developed strong partnerships across the City which provide paid guiding opportunities for members as well as wonderful experiences for the thousands of people who come on tours.
On becoming Chairman one of my aims was to build upon existing relationships and create some new ones to underscore the value that working with City Guides can bring. The long history and cultural wealth of the City of London is a key difference between it and other financial centres around the world and I have always seen CLGLA members as an important element of promoting this aspect to established or incoming businesses. This is why the relationship with the Corporation’s fairly new City Belonging initiative which is primarily aimed at workers, has been important to me. It has been a great pleasure to develop tours for specific months such as LGBT+ history, Black history, Women’s history and recently the Breathing Spaces series of walks for mental health awareness. I look forward to seeing how this relationship continues to develop as there are so many stories within the City just waiting to be uncovered.
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Other highlights of the past seven years include working with the teams for the Billingsgate Roman Bath House, Illuminated River, the ‘Old Bailey’, the London Landmarks Half Marathon, Guildhall Art Gallery, Leadenhall Market, the City Information Centre, Destination City, City Giving Day, The Lord Mayor’s Show, Open House, and to see the rise of the BID areas and the green shoots of collaboration with those. These successes are due to the people working at these sites and initiatives and to CLGLA committee colleagues who have taken these projects from ideas (sometimes just my flights of fancy) to reality. I am in awe of their patience, good humour and organisational skills and urge anyone coming into the role of Chairman to nurture those.
A feature of my tenure was the pandemic. We had to get very creative. Professional guides are freelances and as a workforce, freelances were hit hard as there was very little government or other financial support available. Looking back, I would include the CLGLA response as an achievement: staying in regular touch with members especially those living alone; sourcing and sharing links to digital content; producing a bumper issue of the magazine to while away some hours and more. I hope I never forget the lockdown CLGLA Zoom Christmas Party when people willingly went running around their homes to get materials to make City-related objects against the clock.
With the lockdowns came a shutdown of earnings for guides so a nimble shift to the digital realm had to happen. I am so proud of everyone involved in putting together training for members on creating and delivering virtual tours and finding new income streams. We then worked with the Corporation’s culture team on a virtual programme called See The City From Your Sofa which showcased the City’s history, sites and spaces and engaged an audience from the UK and beyond. I have subsequently met visitors who have included the Square Mile in their travel plans as a result of those Zoom events.
I think the big thing I am taking away from my time as Chairman is the extraordinary openness of City institutions of all kinds to engage with the City Guides. I have had one-to-one meetings with the Lord Mayor and also with the Lady Mayoress; bounced ideas around with Corporation staff; been allowed to borrow artefacts from a Livery Company to use as visual aids; given interactive sessions on presentation skills to 6th formers in City schools; set up a stall in Guildhall Yard to mark a CLGLA anniversary; created a rowdy re-enactment in St Lawrence Jewry; contributed to Cambridge University’s Medieval Murder Map, met so many people and had so many opportunities to raise awareness about the City Guides. I would say to my successor that being elected as Chairman opens many doors but it should never be taken for granted. It is an honour and a privilege. I wish them the best of times.”
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