Glenys Bishop and Guides: Guiding at the ANBG – keeping them interested ?
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Glenys Bishop, convenor of the volunteer guides since December 2011, will set the scene by giving a brief overview of guiding at ANBG; a number of Guides will then provide snapshots of their experiences and share the strategies and anecdotes that they use to engage their visitors. The Guides are drawn from the training courses held from 1999 to the most recent one in 2013. A snapshot of their backgrounds follows – listing in alphabetical order:
- Dr Glenys Bishop is a retired statistician and holds an honorary fellowship at the ANU. She has been a Volunteer Guide at the Gardens since August 2010 and has convened the Volunteer Guides since December 2011.
- Jeff Brown is a new Guide. Having trained in 2013; he likes to use story-telling as part of his guided walks. He is a sociologist and retired Police Officer, who has served in the Middle East and Asia from his base in the ACT. He is a Member of the British Empire, having been decorated for Gallantry.
- Judith Erskine completed her Guide training in 2002 and in so doing, found it opened a new and absorbing interest. Previously, she trained at the Canberra School of Art at the ANU, with a major in Ceramics and then later gained a degree in Asian Studies, with a major in Indonesian, from the same University.
- Dr Beth Heyde trained as a Volunteer Guide in 2010 after she retired. Previously, she had been a research biochemist at ANU and later worked with the Australian Science and Technology Council and in the Corporate Centre of CSIRO. Currently, Beth is also a Growing Friend at the ANBG and is a volunteer on Stocktake 17.
- Kath Holtzapffel completed her guide training in 1999. She has worked mostly in secretarial roles in a solicitor’s office and on overseas postings in Kuala Lumpur and Rome. Her last employment was at the ANU, firstly in the Italian section and then as an administrator in the Arts Faculty Office.
- Doug Laing is a retired Public Servant who trained as a Guide in 2008; he is also an occasional volunteer at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.