Westminster Guiding, Class of 2012

Mel Adams – Westminster Guide and professional tourist guide
When I first started the course I must admit I was of the mind: “I know London
really well, I work as a guide professionally ... what can they teach me?” I
could not have been more wrong and conceited if I'd tried. Caroline Dunmore
is a natural communicator with a huge bag of experience and knowledge to
back it up. I really enjoyed every tasty morsel of her teaching and was very
sad when the course came to an end.

Gianna Bowen – Westminster Guide and City Guide
You know, when I completed my City of London course, I felt I was missing
information on its next-door neighbour, Westminster. So I started looking
around for a history course and wasn’t expecting much else. After all, I had
already learnt to be a London guide by taken an excellent City course, so
what more was there to learn? I already had guiding skills … but, boy, was I in
for a shock! The Westminster course stretched the parts other courses
couldn’t reach! I learnt so much more than just the historical connections of
the area. I learnt how to act, I learnt how to dig deeper for my research, I
learnt about what made the people tick who played a part in Westminster. In
fact I learnt a lot about myself and it was all due to the superb teaching skills
of Caroline and John. Truly great teachers, giving their all. Caroline pushed
my limits, encouraged, raised my own expectations and taught me so much
on this course that I would be delighted to do it again and again! It was one of
the most exciting and mentally challenging years of my life (and believe me I
have been around the block), and I would not only recommend it to everyone
but believe it should be compulsory to everyone for life lessons as well as
history lessons!!! Caroline, thank you so much for all your input – I definitely
couldn’t have done it without you.

Sue Dennis – Westminster Guide and City Guide
Caroline, as someone who has worked in the political world at Westminster
for twenty-five years, I cannot shout loudly enough how much I gained from,
as well as enjoyed, your course on guiding in the City of Westminster, which I
completed in the summer. During 32 weeks from October to May, not only did
I gain an encylopaedic knowledge of the history of that area of London that
grew "up west" from the original Roman City, I also benefited from your expert
tuition on guiding and presentational skills - not to mention the stimulating and
convivial time with my class colleagues. The City of Westminster - which
stretches from Fleet Street in the east to Maida Vale in the west and from
Regent's Park in the north to the Thames in the south - is a cornucopia of
London life, both past and present. The way you organised the abundance of
information into both themes and geographical areas, through lectures and
practical walks, whilst at the same time exciting and encouraging us all by
setting us small projects to either inform our colleagues in class or to guide
them when out on our walks, made the course a perfect combination of
pleasure and learning. I shall now go forward with a spring in my step - feeling
confident and enthusiastic about showing both London residents and foreign
visitors the many exciting aspects of London that Westminster has to offer!
Thank you so much for giving me such a wonderful opportunity.

Cordula Galster – Westminster Guide
I was one of the few people on the course without any prior guiding
experience. In addition, at the beginning of the course I thought I was at a
disadvantage by not being a born-and-bred Londoner (or even a Brit).
However, the way the course was structured and taught by Caroline and John
and the fantastic atmosphere they created quickly dispelled my worries.
Caroline’s didactical skills made every lecture immensely interesting and fun.
The lectures and creative activities not only offered a huge wealth of
knowledge about all imaginable aspects of Westminster (from architecture to
learned societies to royals) but were also thought-provoking and the basis for
fruitful discussions. The amount of time and energy that Caroline put into the
preparation of each lecture and walk was incredible. On the practical side,
what developed and improved my guiding skills most was her honest and
detailed feedback after every walk. In short, it was one of the best courses I
have ever taken part in and I can only say a big thank you to Caroline!

Sean Gay – Westminster Guide and City Guide
If you are interested in the history of ancient and modern Westminster, this is
a highly informative, good fun course for improving your knowledge and
honing the presentational skills so essential in guiding. I got to know my tutors
and fellow students well over the course and was sad when it ended. Highly
recommended!

Mick Greenwood – Westminster Guide and Cab Guide
I found the course stimulating, challenging and rewarding and felt that the
classes had a great atmosphere. I got a job out of the course, too!

Daniella King – Westminster Guide and City Guide
I was a student on the Westminster Guiding course in 2011-12, three years
after I qualified as a City of London Guide. I would thoroughly recommend the
Westminster course to anyone who wants to discover so many unknown facts
about such a well-known area. And we had the added benefit of having two
tutors – Caroline Dunmore and John Finn – who showed such commitment
and enthusiasm on the course, which helped to make it an enjoyable and fully
worthwhile experience

Yukiko Kitajima – Westminster Guide and City Guide
The Westminster Guiding course has provided me with various ways to
approach Westminster heritage, theoretical methods of guiding and above all,
enthusiastic tutors full of knowledge and lovely colleagues full of character.

Ashley Lakey – Westminster Guide
As an American living in London, I found the course both educational and
welcoming. The course syllabus not only covered iconic Westminster
landmarks, but was also structured in a way that encouraged us to explore the
off-the-beaten-track Westminster. The course tutors Caroline and John were
superb, coaching each of us individually and pooling our strengths as a group
to help us develop our research and presentation skills. It was nice to have
two tutors whose research and guiding techniques complemented each other
so well, as this worked to the benefit of the class. As a team leader at a major
museum in London responsible for developing staff presentation skills for
public speaking, the course also improved my training confidence.

Joslyn McDiarmid – Westminster Guide
The University of Westminster course can seem intimidating to applicants
without a degree but I would say don’t let this discourage an application. I was
slightly worried but once in the class room the support using the resources the
university can provide was freely available and interaction between the
students was fantastic. I wanted to be a guide and thought I knew the job
description. The course taught practical skills but more than anything changed
the perceived job definition into that of interpreter. This was led by the
lecturers teaching the course and invaluable. I realised that all the research
and information in print is useless without the ability to translate that research
into a dialogue with the group of walkers tramping the streets with me guiding
them. Learning how to arrange, store and reference information was great but
I also gained an understanding into the diversity of its application. Depending
on interests all this knowledge could be adapted to any walking group for their
best experience. I learned, what to some may be obvious, that ten people
walking in Westminster experience the environment differently and a good
guide makes sure they all see or hear something that interests them.

Cristina Menduni – Westminster Guide
I really enjoyed the course and especially the walkshops where the theory
was put into practice and the positive feedback received helped me to
improve week after week. My fellow students were very supportive and I felt a
little lonely when the course ended.

Russell Nash – Westminster Guide and professional tourist guide
I studied on the City of Westminster Tour Guide course in 2011-12. The
lectures were stimulating and interesting, the walkshops challenging and the
guiding skills training invaluable. Inspired by excellent teaching and through
collaborating with fellow students I learned how to plan, research and deliver
walking tours in London's West End.

Steve Pratt – Westminster Guide
Definitely one of my better educational investments. If you’re interested in
working as a tour guide in London, but aren’t quite sure how to start, this
course is a must. What you get: practical guiding practice from Day 1, course
leaders who genuinely care about your progress and are not afraid to point
out how you can develop and improve, interesting and detailed lectures about
all facets of Westminster and your knowledge tested through a wide variety of
assessment methods. Moreover, the course provides a wonderful chance to
meet with like minds. The lecturers ensure that, throughout the year,
everybody has the opportunity to work with every other member of the class,
so it is a wonderful way to make new friends with similar interests. The first
evening of the course was a revelation: to be suddenly surrounded by people
“talking London” made me feel like I had come home. Felt a palpable sense of
loss when the course finished. The networking was invaluable and has helped
me launch my own guiding career. Don’t miss this!

Richard Watkins – Westminster Guide, now working as a tour guide
I did the City of Westminster Tour Guiding course 2011-12. I found the course
inspiring and challenging and I very much enjoyed the whole year. It has
equipped me with the technique, knowledge and confidence to go out and
guide in Westminster and London more widely. In fact in many ways it has
helped me to change my life, as I took voluntary redundancy from a 20-yearplus
career to start earning money guiding. The tutoring was of a very high
standard thanks to Caroline’s and John's sterling work, and the syllabus was
nicely varied, mixing written work and regular practice on the ground with
more traditional lecture-style teaching and other practical group work in the
classroom. It was great as well also to include interior guiding and work on
doing presentations.

Elaine Wein – Westminster Guide and City Guide
As a City of London Guide, I really enjoyed the Westminster Course. It
helped me develop my skills as well as teaching me about Westminster. I
thought the course was really well organised and planned and I loved the fact
that the social side wasn’t forgotten, too! Definitely recommended.

Rob Woodford – Westminster Guide and Cab Guide
I loved every minute of the 2011-12 Westminster Guiding Course - made all
the more enjoyable thanks to our lecturers, Caroline and John! It was a
wonderful experience!

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