My 2019 in Guiding
It will be no secret to anyone reading this just how much I love Guiding - it has given me, and the girls I volunteer with, so many opportunities. My Brownie unit meets weekly, and our activities this year have included a lot of cooking (this is a perennial favourite the girls always, always ask for), zumba, crafts (nail art (as in, hammering in nails) being one of the most noisy ones!), camping skills, toasting marshmallows, more cooking, games nights (I warn you, playing Dobble with 8 year olds gets very competitive!), and of course we've worked towards our Skills Builder badges and UMA (if you're interested, there is info on the Guiding programme here).
Whilst I enjoy the 90mins I spend with my Brownies on a Monday night, my favourite activities are always the weekend ones, where we can get out and about, do longer activities and really experience new things. Residential events are my absolutely favourites, and this year has included many nights away. As well as being a Brownie leader, I have a role within South West England and that's enabled me to become involved with more events - so here's a mini round-up of some of 2019's Guiding highlights.
I've already written about a Brownie holiday in the spring, a Guide/Ranger weekend near Bristol, and the night my Brownies and I slept on a warship with my lovely friend and her Brownies. Definitely a highlight of the year!
Each year, there is an INTOPS weekend (INTernational OPportunitieS in Guiding) for leaders interested in being part of a team taking girls abroad. I participated in this weekend back in 2016, from which I was selected to lead the Region trip to Iceland, undoubtedly one of the best things I've ever done with Guiding. I love helping to run this weekend, it's great to get to know leaders who are all passionate about giving girls the opportunity to experience more about international Guiding. There are lots of team activities (as we need to put leadership teams together and therefore need to see how different people work well (or not!) together). One of this year's challenges was to build a frame for cooking our dinner over a fire. The groups did very well, and the curry that we ended up with was delicious. I think it's true that dinners always taste better when cooked over a fire.
A couple of months later, once the leadership teams have been formed, we all head back to Foxlease for the girls' weekend - this year we had close to 100 Guides and Rangers who were interested in going abroad with Guiding. There simply aren't the places available for all girls to get to go on a trip this year, but we try and organise the weekend so that everyone has a fab time regardless. This year was an excellent weekend, the weather was glorious (I spent most of my time reminding girls to put on sunscreen and asking them how much water they'd drunk today) and the activities went well. 100 girls is rather daunting to begin with, but it's incredible to see how quickly they form friendship groups and get stuck in with everything - by the end of the weekend they just felt like a 'normal' Guide/Ranger unit, albeit a rather large one! I wish all the INTOPS teams all the best as they plan and head off on their adventures.
One of my favourite weekends of the year is Magic and Mayhem at Foxlease. It's a circus-themed weekend for Rainbows and Brownies. Some units attend just for the Saturday but many stay overnight in the Big Top circus tent - it's rather a squeeze but that's half the fun! Along with two friends, I helped to run the event, and we had an amazing team of volunteers ensuring we ran a brilliant event for the girls. I've been involved with Magic and Mayhem for a long time now, and I am sure this was the best one yet.
We spent quite a lot of time decorating the site, adding essential things such as signposts to key locations, and other pretty things such as windmills to mark out footpaths. All volunteers wear hi--vis so we can be identified by leaders/children needing assistance, and purple is always my favourite.
The leaders who came to Iceland with me have become very good friends, and when Ailsa asked Hannah, Kate and I if we would come and help her unit leadership team run a Brownie holiday, we said yes without hesitation. Hannah and I shared the catering (our first time doing it) and I think we did quite well. Our eggy bread production line was a thing of beauty (as was the finished eggy bread).
Have you ever seen Brownies wash up? I have no idea how they do it, but they touch a dry tea towel and within a second it's soaking wet. I learned early on to take as many tea towels to Brownie holidays as I possibly can, and if I'm driving, I always take a clothes airer. The weekend was quite sunny and I moved this airer around the building as the sun moved, trying to get the tea towels dry. It's a perennial image of a Brownie holiday! The airer also featured, at various points, various items of Brownie clothing as various sleeves were dangled in washing up water/drinks were spilt/I have no idea how other items of clothing got wet but they did.
I'm not sure any Brownie holiday is complete without a campfire, and so we had one on Saturday night. Many of the girls have never toasted marshmallows before, and have a sensible fear of fire, but we're able to give them the encouragement to be brave, and toast their own. We explain we have a bucket of water just in case, hair has to be tied back, only two or three Brownies at a time, no running, and of course an adult will do it if they really don't want to. It's great to see their confidence building, in a safe environment where they know they're looked after and can explore in a safe way.
Hannah and I were pleased we had each other to do the catering with, as it really is quite a big job (we had nearly 30 people to feed, with several dietary requirements to which we needed to adhere) but I think by the end of it we felt we knew a bit more about what we were doing. The hardest thing was learning the unique workings of the oven and hot plates! We got the Brownies to do as much as possible, and we were all delighted at how neatly they arranged our Sunday breakfast.
In August, nearly 150 Brownies, Guides and leaders headed to Paris and DisneyLand. I was responsible for the Brownie coach and I had a great time with the leaders and Brownies. It's tricky when there are so many of you, but everyone behaved admirably and top marks to the staff at Planet Hollywood who brought out our dishes in record time - I'm not sure what other diners thought when they saw us file in!
One excellent thing about going away with teenage girls is that chances are at least one of them will be very good at plaiting hair. I admired a few Guides' hair and one name kept coming up as 'the best' person to go to. She plaited my hair whilst we were queuing for a ride at DisneyLand and it stayed in place for several days. I was grateful!
What else? I attended the leaders' training weekend for the international trips and ran a session on risk assessments - they're really not as scary as some people think. I've attended Region meetings, a Region conference, and a national conference for outdoor activities advisers. I've helped leaders with questions about taking girls away on residentials, I've quashed by-laws (sadly rife in Guiding - that's why it's important leaders do our best to stay up to date with any changes, especially when the changes make our lives easier!) and attended training events covering a range of topics from child safety to GDPR. I've heard Brownies make their promise, badges have been awarded, I've been sad when 10.5 year old Brownies have left to go to Guides (although excited for the adventures they've got in front of them).
Possibly the best Guiding weekends, though, have been the weekends away with friends I wouldn't have met had it not been for Guiding - and those friendships are precious. I hope the girls in my units build these friendships and maintain them over the years - these friendships are what Guiding means to me, and I am forever grateful.
2019, you've been great. Judging by my calendar, 2020 is looking to be even better!
Whilst I enjoy the 90mins I spend with my Brownies on a Monday night, my favourite activities are always the weekend ones, where we can get out and about, do longer activities and really experience new things. Residential events are my absolutely favourites, and this year has included many nights away. As well as being a Brownie leader, I have a role within South West England and that's enabled me to become involved with more events - so here's a mini round-up of some of 2019's Guiding highlights.
I've already written about a Brownie holiday in the spring, a Guide/Ranger weekend near Bristol, and the night my Brownies and I slept on a warship with my lovely friend and her Brownies. Definitely a highlight of the year!
Each year, there is an INTOPS weekend (INTernational OPportunitieS in Guiding) for leaders interested in being part of a team taking girls abroad. I participated in this weekend back in 2016, from which I was selected to lead the Region trip to Iceland, undoubtedly one of the best things I've ever done with Guiding. I love helping to run this weekend, it's great to get to know leaders who are all passionate about giving girls the opportunity to experience more about international Guiding. There are lots of team activities (as we need to put leadership teams together and therefore need to see how different people work well (or not!) together). One of this year's challenges was to build a frame for cooking our dinner over a fire. The groups did very well, and the curry that we ended up with was delicious. I think it's true that dinners always taste better when cooked over a fire.
A couple of months later, once the leadership teams have been formed, we all head back to Foxlease for the girls' weekend - this year we had close to 100 Guides and Rangers who were interested in going abroad with Guiding. There simply aren't the places available for all girls to get to go on a trip this year, but we try and organise the weekend so that everyone has a fab time regardless. This year was an excellent weekend, the weather was glorious (I spent most of my time reminding girls to put on sunscreen and asking them how much water they'd drunk today) and the activities went well. 100 girls is rather daunting to begin with, but it's incredible to see how quickly they form friendship groups and get stuck in with everything - by the end of the weekend they just felt like a 'normal' Guide/Ranger unit, albeit a rather large one! I wish all the INTOPS teams all the best as they plan and head off on their adventures.
One of my favourite weekends of the year is Magic and Mayhem at Foxlease. It's a circus-themed weekend for Rainbows and Brownies. Some units attend just for the Saturday but many stay overnight in the Big Top circus tent - it's rather a squeeze but that's half the fun! Along with two friends, I helped to run the event, and we had an amazing team of volunteers ensuring we ran a brilliant event for the girls. I've been involved with Magic and Mayhem for a long time now, and I am sure this was the best one yet.
We spent quite a lot of time decorating the site, adding essential things such as signposts to key locations, and other pretty things such as windmills to mark out footpaths. All volunteers wear hi--vis so we can be identified by leaders/children needing assistance, and purple is always my favourite.
There are plenty of activities on offer throughout the day, and a friend and I managed to have a go at fencing when there were no girls waiting. It had been raining most of the day at this point, and all the equipment was rather damp, but it was fun nonetheless!
The leaders who came to Iceland with me have become very good friends, and when Ailsa asked Hannah, Kate and I if we would come and help her unit leadership team run a Brownie holiday, we said yes without hesitation. Hannah and I shared the catering (our first time doing it) and I think we did quite well. Our eggy bread production line was a thing of beauty (as was the finished eggy bread).
One of the activities was called Virus Attack. A scientist (me) has released a virus into the building and the Brownies will all be turned into sheep unless they complete a series of activities and earn sweets to build the antidote to my virus. This activity was shared online by another Guide leader and we used it on one of our Iceland pre-weekends. It's a fun idea that you can easily adapt to the abilities of the girls at the event, and the facilities you have. The girls had to do a variety of activities, including rearranging the names of Brownie badges, making a leader a cup of tea (under supervision...Hannah and I weren't letting the girls entirely loose in our kitchen!), blowing up a balloon, composing and performing a short song, collecting objects beginning with the initials of the girls in their team. The whole thing took about 2.5 hours and you'll be delighted to hear all the Brownies earned the sweets to build my antidote and no one became a sheep.
In the afternoon, half the Brownies had a mini-sports day outside (this was organised in a matter of seconds, as we had booked the climbing wall but the instructor had cancelled at the last minute) whilst the others made apple pie for dessert before they swapped over. Again, Hannah and I established an excellent production line of apples to peel and crumble to make. For many girls, they don't get to do things like peel apples at home - most girls didn't know how to use the peelers, but they learned quickly and were proud of themselves. No injuries, either. Brownies is about the high-adrenalin activities like scuba diving, but it's also about the life skills activities such as peeling veg and washing up. The apple pie they made was very good and there was enough to have for Sunday lunch, too.
I'm not sure any Brownie holiday is complete without a campfire, and so we had one on Saturday night. Many of the girls have never toasted marshmallows before, and have a sensible fear of fire, but we're able to give them the encouragement to be brave, and toast their own. We explain we have a bucket of water just in case, hair has to be tied back, only two or three Brownies at a time, no running, and of course an adult will do it if they really don't want to. It's great to see their confidence building, in a safe environment where they know they're looked after and can explore in a safe way.
Hannah and I were pleased we had each other to do the catering with, as it really is quite a big job (we had nearly 30 people to feed, with several dietary requirements to which we needed to adhere) but I think by the end of it we felt we knew a bit more about what we were doing. The hardest thing was learning the unique workings of the oven and hot plates! We got the Brownies to do as much as possible, and we were all delighted at how neatly they arranged our Sunday breakfast.
On the Saturday we had cooked fajitas - they're a great dish to do for a big group of people, as you can cater easily for dietary requirements by cooking everything separately and people can make up their fajitas however they like. We cooked a spicy chicken and a plain chicken, lots and lots of cooked veg and some raw veg, then tortillas and salsa and guacamole. As everyone has as much or as little as they want, and only the elements they like, there is little waste and everyone is happy. As shown by this feedback!
In August, nearly 150 Brownies, Guides and leaders headed to Paris and DisneyLand. I was responsible for the Brownie coach and I had a great time with the leaders and Brownies. It's tricky when there are so many of you, but everyone behaved admirably and top marks to the staff at Planet Hollywood who brought out our dishes in record time - I'm not sure what other diners thought when they saw us file in!
Our packed lunches were delivered to the hotel foyer every morning and leaders would come and collect the lunches their units had ordered. This is what the lunches just for the Brownie coach looked like - it was quite the operation!
One excellent thing about going away with teenage girls is that chances are at least one of them will be very good at plaiting hair. I admired a few Guides' hair and one name kept coming up as 'the best' person to go to. She plaited my hair whilst we were queuing for a ride at DisneyLand and it stayed in place for several days. I was grateful!
Next year I'm taking a group of Guides to Ireland for a community service project and we ran two weekends in September to select the girls coming along. I can't find any photos which don't have girls in, so I can't share any, but the end result is that we have 24 Guides very excited to come with us to Ireland at Easter! Planning for that is underway, flights are booked, and we have a leaders' planning meeting in January to sort out the final bits and pieces. It will be here before we know it!
What else? I attended the leaders' training weekend for the international trips and ran a session on risk assessments - they're really not as scary as some people think. I've attended Region meetings, a Region conference, and a national conference for outdoor activities advisers. I've helped leaders with questions about taking girls away on residentials, I've quashed by-laws (sadly rife in Guiding - that's why it's important leaders do our best to stay up to date with any changes, especially when the changes make our lives easier!) and attended training events covering a range of topics from child safety to GDPR. I've heard Brownies make their promise, badges have been awarded, I've been sad when 10.5 year old Brownies have left to go to Guides (although excited for the adventures they've got in front of them).
Possibly the best Guiding weekends, though, have been the weekends away with friends I wouldn't have met had it not been for Guiding - and those friendships are precious. I hope the girls in my units build these friendships and maintain them over the years - these friendships are what Guiding means to me, and I am forever grateful.
2019, you've been great. Judging by my calendar, 2020 is looking to be even better!
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