Taken from the Salisbury Journal 3rd January 2000:

Long-serving tourist guide Elizabeth Keating was honoured with the award of MBE.

Mrs Keatinge, who lives at Lake, in the Woodford Valley, is founder trustee of the Institute of Tourist Guiding and won her award in recognition of her services to the tourist industry.

She completed a training course in guiding at Salisbury College in 1984 and, for the past 23 years, has been a Salisbury City Centre Guide, working closeley with the Tourist Information Centre in the programme of organised city centre walks for visitors - including the festival walks and ghost walks.

She is also a Stonehenge guide and, on a national basis, is a trained guide for tourist attractions in many other parts of the coutry, including the south west, London, the south east, Wales and Cumbria.

Key to her success on the national guiding scene has been her ability to speak French and German.

"There is a desparate shortage of language guides. We need a lot more of them," Mrs Keatinge told the Journal.

During the 1980 and 90s, Mrs Keatinge served on the Executive Council of the Guild of Registered Tourist Guides, she was chairman of the Association of Wessex Tourist Guides and, from 2000, served as a founder trustee of the Institute of Tourist Guides (and its forerunner the Tourist Guiding Foundation) and was elected president of the Institute for the year 2003/4.

Since 2000, she has also been voluntary guide training officer for Salisbury Cathedral.

Mrs Keatinge said she was "delighted" with her honour, which she saw as recognition not just of herself, but the tourist industry and qualified guides.

"Anything that raises the profile of professional guides is just great," she said.