UNITE THE UNION FOR YOU GGUUIIDDEELLIINNEESS A NEW WELCOME WELCOME AT ST PANCRAS Groups arriving by Eurostar into St Pancras station will be greeted with a new welcome TO THE NEW GUIDES from the well known artist Tracey Emin. APTG/GuideLondon welcomed the newly qualified guides from the London blue Underneath the clock is Emin’s message spelt badge course at a reception in March and we hope they will join the Association in out in pink lights: “I want my time with you”. the near future. Health and Safety rules meant that the The following passed the 2018 exams to become London blue badge guides: message had to made from LEDs rather than Emily Baker, Sarah Bovill, Muriel Carre, David James Collins, Jill Cook, Emily Dell, Emin’s preferred neon and that the colours Monica de Mello, Rowan Freeland, Laura Fusari, Mark Godowski, Ahram Hwang, red, green and orange could not be used in Craig (Chia-Lang) Hao, David Kelleher, Catherine Raggett, Mark Stakem, Leila Sukiur, case they distracted the train drivers. Charlotte (Lottie) Thurlow, Mehru Ugur de Belder, Mark White, Katie Wignall, Sue Sturges, David Ji Wei Sun, Mingying Dong. The message will provide a welcome to visitors from Europe and will be seen by an The names and contact details of those who join APTG will be sent out in the estimated fifty million people. It will remain at next mailing. St Pancras for a year and may then be moved THE NEW FOURTH PLINTH STATUE to Emin’s home town of Margate. The latest occupant of Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth is the work of an Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz who has used 10,500 date syrup cans to recreate a treasure destroyed by Isis. Titled The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist, the statue is a life size copy of winged god that stood at the Nergal Gate of Nineveh from 700 BC until its destruction in 2015. It is part of a project aimed at re-creating all 7,000 objects destroyed either deliberately by Isis or as a result of war since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. Also in this issue • CHAIR’S LETTER – PAGE 2 • GUIDE LONDON REPORT – PAGE 2 • SUGAR AND SLAVERY IN DOCKLANDS – PAGES 4/5 • GUIDING NEWS – PAGES 6/7 • BEING BRUNEL – PAGE 8 ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL TOURIST GUIDES www.guidelondon.org.uk May 2018 Union news LETTER FROM THE CHAIR GUIDELONDON WEBSITE Easter has come and gone, the season has started together with the first peak of three Bank Holidays and the anxiety March was a good month for the GuideLondon of the increased rate. It is clearly stated on our Fee Sheet site with over 21,000 unique visitors. This is the which is widely used to set fees within the industry. highest in any month and a major contributor is the blog content which accounts for 40% of For most tour operators this is accepted as our fees are traffic. There were 355 leads with most clear, transparent and easy to understand - but one Guide requests via the individual tour pages. The had their next six months bookings abruptly cancelled as leads figure should actually be higher, but we the tour company had not factored in increased costs over Easter. Branch Council contacted the company directly are missing seven days’ worth of data due to and, since jaw-jaw is preferable to war-war, our influence technical problems so the real leads figure for resulted in prompt reinstatement of our colleague's forward The Chair and Hot Air March is closer to 450. bookings. APTG is focused solely on protecting the interests of London-based Blue Badge Tour The top five tours requested via GuideMatch: Guides - and it is this single focus which is so valuable. We have an enviable track record in 1. Westminster Abbey Tour - 74 leads chasing outstanding fees for guides too - we are here to help you in your daily work and make 2. Tower of London Tour - 25 leads sure you are properly paid for it. Please contact any member of Branch Council for help or advice and we will ensure you get a response from the most appropriate source. 3. Classic London Tour - 17 leads 4. British Museum Tour - 8 leads Earlier this month we hosted the New Guides Welcome Meeting at the Unite HQ. We were able to 5. Hampton Court Palace Tour - 6 leads provide a warm and helpful welcome, including a practical on 1001 ways to do the Guard Change. A key part of our presentation was GuideLondon, our online guide booking service which in March New Blog Posts include: achieved over 21,000 unique visitors and 450 requests for Guides. These are record breaking new - Trooping the Colour peak numbers and we have committed to developing the web site still further with more blogs - Top Ten Things to See at the Imperial War and foreign language content to raise our search engine rankings still higher and bring in more Museum work for colleagues. By the time you read this the new guides will have their Blue Badges and I - Take a Walk on The Wildside: Top Ten Things will be presenting a prize for Best Practical on behalf of APTG at their graduation ceremony. to See in London’s East End I am sure that all members will welcome their new colleagues and pass on a job or two to help - The Birth of London’s Museum Quarter in them along in their new career. We have given the new guides some written suggestions on how South Kensington to create their new electronic signature with links to our Fee sheet and Guide London availability. - A Starter’s Guide to London Football Please contact Anna in the office if you would like a copy too. Ursula Petula Barzey Whilst our Fee sheet is clear and transparent it is in strong contrast to the so called “free-tours” being promoted across London and elsewhere. Their guides are variable and they are uninsured but the ambush request for tips during the tour leaves many visitors with a bitter taste of tourism BRANCH COUNCIL in Britain. The Guild and APTG will be shortly reissuing guidance on reporting breaches to the Advertising Standards Authority. Nick Hancock (Chair), Ruth Polling (Secretary), I look forward to seeing as many guides as possible at our May Members Open Meeting which is Alfie Talman (Treasurer), focused on forward setting fees for 2019-20. Nick Hancock Steve Szymanski (Vice Chair), BRITISH COACH TOURISM Angela Morgan (Marketing) AGM Danny Parlour (Site Liaison) AWARDS 2018 Ruth Rossington (Website) The APTG Annual General Alex Hetherington (CPD) Meeting will take place at the Sue Hadley (CPD) Diskus Suite in the Unite Office Dominic Burris North (Social Events) on Monday, 10 December. Liz Rubenstein (Fees) Edwin Lerner (Guidelines) This will be followed by the Anne Marie Walker (Membership) annual guides’ carol service. APTG member and traffic maestro Leon Preston was one of the judges at the NEXT OPEN MEETING ANNE MARIE WALKER British Coach Tourism Awards together The next members’ open meeting is with other representatives from the Anne Marie is on Tuesday 8 May at the Diskus Suite travel industry. The ceremony took place responsible for at the National Motorcycle Museum with in Unite at 6:30 at which there will membership former BBC newsreader Angela Rippon be a discussion of fees for the matters for presenting the awards. The things Leon 2018/19 season. APTG. does for the blue badge! 2 union news ADVECTUS PRIVATE HIRE MOVERS & SHAKERS Advectus have contacted us to promote their car service. They cover all London airports and are available for private hire work throughout the UK. Advectus has twenty years experience, is licenced by TFL and uses Mercedes S (three passengers) and V (seven) class vehicles. Contact NEW ADDRESSES Martin Jackson on 01582 345558 or go to advectuschauffeur.com SUSAN PETTIT 15 Gordon Road, Shenfield, Essex, CM15 8LR TOURS OF ETON COLLEGE VANESSA SILCOCK After successful pilot tours in 2017, which received high approval ratings, Eton College has Garland Cottage, Church Lane, Hambledon, decided to continue their tours in 2018. These are conducted by a rota of Blue Badge Tourist Waterloovillle, PO7 4RT Guides, all of whom have the Windsor and Eton Endorsement. NEW MEMBERS The tours will operate on Friday afternoons only, between 4 May and 7 September (with the SARAH BOVILL exception of Friday 18 May). They start at 2pm and 4pm and last an hour and a half. These tours are 26 Garfield Road, London SW11 5PN intended primarily for individuals and family groups and there will be a cap of six on any group with T: 020 7738 2256 M: 07770 661794 a maximum size of twenty. The cost is £10 (adults), under 16s free. E: [email protected] Mother tongue: English The tours of Eton are designed to give the general public access to the College’s collections, so along with School Yard, the Chapel, Lower and Upper School, they will include the Museum of CATHERINE RAGGETT 10 Shute End, Wokingham, Berkshire Eton Life and the Verey Art Gallery, which was founded in 2011 thanks to a bequest from Sir David RG40 1BJ Verey. The gallery holds two exhibitions a year. Further details at: etoncolllege.com T: 07532 114275 Barbara Askew E: [email protected] Mother tongue: English CHARLOTTE THURLOW BRITISH MUSEUM 144 St Andrews Road, Coulsdon, Surrey Some guides with groups of less than ten have been refused entry at the front of the Museum CR5 3HE and have been told that all groups must enter via the Montague Place North Entrance.