Golden Key Academy graduate Sarah-Jane Day discusses her experience learning to become a London built environment tour guide

Why did you apply for the Golden Key Academy and what were you hoping to achieve in terms of personal and professional development?

I have always had an interest in history and had thought about becoming a tour guide in the past. As part of my current role at Peabody I started showing people around Thamesmead and heard about the Golden Key Academy from a previous Golden Key Academy participant Áine Grace who did her tour of Thamesmead, so I thought I would look into the course and here we are.

I was also really lucky that my employer Peabody agreed to pay for my course as part of my career development.

Making history and architecture accessible to all is important to me, so I thought this course could help me to create interesting but accessible tours. I really wanted to show that Thamesmead is so much more than concrete.

Part of the course is developing your own unique tour, exploring a neighbourhood or theme of your choice, to feature in the Open House Festival. What inspired the focus of your special Golden Key Academy tour?

My tour was centred around Thamesmead where I have worked for nearly five years as part of the regeneration team. Since I started working here I have developed a real interest in the town, its history and its architecture. It really is an incredible place – with all sorts of architecture, amazing green spaces, beautiful canals and lakes. It’s full of interest. People come here and are fascinated by the town just as was I when I first visited.  

The academy offers aspiring tour guides everything they need to deliver successful, insightful and engaging events exploring the built environment. What parts of the course did you find most useful in preparing your tour?

We did a rehearsal tour looking at the practicalities of a running a tour around the Barbican with Merlin from the Open City team and he talked about all the elements of a tour we would need to consider, such as how long you should stand in one place and where, health and safety, dealing with hecklers etc. Things I hadn’t really thought about in the past, which I now apply to any tour I do in my role.

I also really enjoyed the public speaking session, which helped me to think about how I convey information and how a message can land so differently when you change the delivery. All really useful stuff!

I also loved doing the research! Since university this is not something I had done and I forgot how much I enjoyed that part of learning. I also now know lots more about Thamesmead than I did, which is great for my job.

Tour guiding involves lots of highly transferable skills including public speaking, research, analytical judgement and customer service. Where else have your Golden Key Academy skills proved useful since completing the course?

I am definitely more confident when speaking publicly and I think all the skills I learnt on the course have bought new elements to the tours I do for work.

 A key part of the course is learning together and socialising with like-minded cohort of fellow course participants. What are your words of wisdom for all those signing up for the 2023 course?

Enjoy the social aspect, bounce ideas off others, take all the advice offered and don’t leave all your research until the last minute!