Guild History

Like many good things, it started over a few beers between some like-minded battlefield buffs with an overriding concern for the future standards of battlefield guiding.  Cambridge, England was the venue.

On the following day, 30^th November 2001, the idea of a guild blossomed in the hotel car park, when an Englishman approached a Scotsman and discussed setting up such an organisation. They next discussed the venture on Utah Beach in Normandy the following March. Over a period of a weekend, they came up with a plan which would hold at its very core the desire to maintain and promote the standards of battlefield guiding.

Some 50 guides and organisations were consulted and expressed interest in the future of such a Guild. After two brain-storming sessions and a great deal of encouragement continent-wide, 29 interested parties from the industry met for the Guild’s Inaugural Dinner and Conference at Royal Air Force Marham in mid – November 2002. There they debated whether such a Guild was required, feasible, and sustainable and would be of benefit to guides, the industry and not least the customers themselves. The process and standards of validation were also debated at length before there was unanimous agreement to form The Guild of Battlefield Guides.

Today the Guild has grown to over 250 Members.