Celebrations for Manchester’s new Green Badge tour guides

Manchester's newly qualified Green Badge tour guides met with Lord Mayor Mavis Smitheman earlier this week, to celebrate their success following the completion of a six month training course with the Institute of Tourist Guiding.

The Green Badge authorises guides to carry out public walks and coach tours within the Greater Manchester area.

The part time course was subsidised by Visit Manchester, with funding from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). The course ran every Wednesday and Saturday between September and March.

Paul Simpson, managing director of Visit Manchester said: "This is the first time that Manchester has delivered a Green Badge course and I'm delighted that we now have a new generation of tour guides.

"Guides are an important part of the visitor experience and they're often the first point of contact for visitors to Manchester. I'm sure these new ambassadors will do the city proud."

A combination of seminars, coach tours, walking sessions and personal study prepared the students for three final exams; one written and two practical assessments.

Jonathan Schofield, course director, said: "At the interview stage we'd deliberately selected as diverse selection of candidates as possible from those who'd applied. This was to reflect the nature of the city with all its foibles and eccentricities. The result is that Manchester will have a broader a range of guides than any other city in the UK, with a broader range of speciality subjects too."

For details of Manchester's walking tours, please visit the Tourist Information Centre in St. Peters Square. Call +44 (0)871 222 8223. Details of the new Green Badge Guides will also appear soon in an updated version of the current Manchester guided walks leaflet 2009. Please see www.visitmanchester.com/document/bluebadgeguideweb.pdf