Visitors to Shrewsbury during the 2009 Darwin celebrations will be met with a wealth of knowledge from the town’s taxi drivers, shop assistants and even traffic wardens.

Everybody working in the town centre and beyond who comes into contact with the public will be fed information about the county town’s famous son during a special training day to be held later this month.

This year Shropshire celebrates a number of prominent anniversaries, including the 200th anniversary of the birth of Darwin in Shrewsbury and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species.

Visitors from all over the world are expected to visit Shropshire.

And, to ensure that the county is ready to welcome the world, a training day is being held on January 29 at the Morris Hall, Bellstone in Shrewsbury.

Three information and customer welcome sessions, each lasting an hour and led by trainer Angelena Boden, will take place on the day from 10.30am to 11.30am, noon to 1pm and 1.30 to 2.30pm.

Sessions

The sessions are open to anyone who comes into contact with the general public. This includes staff, managers and business owners in tourism, hospitality, transport, retail and leisure. It also included taxi drivers, shop assistants, car park attendants and traffic wardens.

The focus of the training sessions is to make sure that everyone knows about the 2009 Shropshire birthdays including the Darwin celebrations.

Sarah Whittall, of Shropshire Tourism, said: “The aim of the sessions is to give attendees the opportunity to impress visitors with their local knowledge, demonstrate fantastic customer service and become an ambassador for Shropshire encouraging visitors to recommend businesses to their friends and families.”

The training sessions are free and no pre-booking is required. For more information, contact Angela Boden on 07834 735403 or Ann Blackmore on (01531) 634745. Or email peoplecomefirst@hotmail.com

Shrewsbury’s Darwin celebrations will take place throughout the year and include varied programme of events, workshops, lectures, special guest speakers and World premiere performances.

For more information, visit www.discoverdarwin.co.uk

By Rhea Parsons