Next up in our occasional series commemorating our first 10 years is David Charnick:

The first I heard about Footprints of London was in 2013, when I was training to be a City of London guide. One of the founder members, Dave Brown, came to talk to us about Footprints at an evening training session. It seemed like an excellent idea, so after establishing myself as a guide, I applied to join Footprints in 2014.

Over the seven years since then, I’ve had a wealth of interesting experiences because of the high profile Footprints of London enjoys. Our outreach has gained us a range of regular clients, meaning I’ve had the chance to meet a healthily diverse range of people. Also, our development of virtual tours since the March 2020 lockdown, has challenged my approach to guiding and to my audiences.

There are two things about Footprints of London I’d like to highlight here. Firstly, having been a student of literature to doctoral level and beyond, I’ve always had a keen interest in literature and language. I create literary tours featuring readings because I like to explore how writers depict London. So you can appreciate that I’m more than ready to participate in our annual Literary Festival. Guides are encouraged to contribute tours based around writers and writing, and this is so much my kind of thing that I always have to hold myself back in case I offer to swamp the schedule!

Secondly, because we’re a co-operative, there’s no company line. Footprints guides offer tours throughout Greater London, and in some cases, beyond. This allows us to develop our local specialities. For me this means Tower Hamlets, the original East End. I was born here and still live here, and I’ve been teaching tour guiding through the local authority since April 2014. The flexibility and high profile of Footprints of London have allowed me the chance to promote the East End to an ever-increasing audience.

But it’s not just about me. As a co-operative there’s room for all to contribute in our own ways to the overall success of Footprints of London. We’re all ready to promote others’ work and indeed we join each others’ tours. Also the blog offers us the chance to share our insights into London’s story and character, developing ideas beyond the scope of our guided tours.

Footprints of London is a unique organisation. No other organisation, in my view, offers the breadth and depth of coverage that we do, with each tour on our schedule unique to the guide who offers it. It’s a privilege to belong to an organisation that guarantees such a range of truly authentic explorations of this most complex and vibrant city.

Editor’s note: Dave is far too modest to talk about this so I’ll do it for him: The additional contributions he has made, up until recently as a Director and beyond that with his continued help in the running of our organisation, has been (and continues to be) absolutely invaluable. Thanks Dave ?