Go Guiding for parents, carers and families!

Welcome to the 2nd edition celebrating and sharing news of Guiding events, activities and opportunities from Bedfordshire and beyond.

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fun, challenging, empowering, caring, inclusive and inspiring.

GO GUIDING

We want all girls across our county to have the space and opportunities they need to thrive, grow and take back to their communities. From age 5 - 24, girls are given the chance to develop new skills, to meet new people and to have experiences centred on our values -

Have a look and see what girls have been getting up to across Bedfordshire - you might even spot your local group in our news round up or see an event that you’d like to go to with your Rainbow, Brownie, Guide or Senior Section. To find out how to get involved yourself or to share news from your unit, you can find our details on the back of this newsletter. Thanks for being part of Guiding Bedfordshire!

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Girls having the space to have fun with friends, creating memories for life.

Mollivers became the Troll Village for the 1st Brickhill Brownies on their annual Pack Holiday. Three days of fun for girls and leaders and the opportunity for some quieter girls to blossom. Rainbow Winter Wonderland took place with Rainbows enjoying arts, crafts and winter games.

Narrowboating in September 2017 saw 9 girls and 2 leaders join together in Bedford for the biggest unknown adventure possible. They boarded their home “Tuptonia” a 70ft, 12 berth narrowboat, to chatter of “It’s narrow” and “It’s floating, I didn’t realise we’d be staying on it”. On Saturday morning they left the moorings and quickly met a swing bridge where the work began followed by a flight of 9 locks. They continued along the Grand Union Canal towards Kingswood Junction and travelled through Shrewsley tunnel and moored for the night, revived with stew and cake. The evening was spent painting pots, doing word searches and pampering (hand and head massages as well as hair plaiting). On Sunday they did the flight of locks super quick and got back early. Watch this space for news of a 2018 narrowboating adventure!

g! n i g Take part in activities that make us n e think and have new experiences! ll a h C Bedford Division celebrated World Thinking Day 2018 at Mollivers with a Communication theme. They even got their message out, 'On Air'. World Thinking Day is on 22nd Feb and has been celebrated since 1926, as a day of international friendship. It is an opportunity to speak out on issues that affect young women and fundraise for 10 million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 150 countries.

Parents, carers and families!

2nd Toddington Brownies have been working towards their Brownie Traditions badge. They had a great time trying on all the different Brownie uniforms and finding out about the history of Brownies. Does your group still have a toadstool?

2nd Harlington Brownies had a brilliant time at their Blackland Farm weekend. They took part in archery, low ropes, climbing and making a campfire.

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girls the chance to lead their own activities and ow Giving p develop their views and beliefs. m ESome of our Bedford Guides had a brilliant time visiting the Houses of Parliament and the Natural History Museum with girls in every age group thinking about Votes for Women during this 100th celebratory year.

Bedford Rangers had a visit from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to help design a new hospital service for 16-25 year olds and find out more about the NHS as part of their Great Ormond Street Hospital challenge badge.

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Learn about others and how you can support and care for the community and the world.

15th Luton Brownies have been lending a hand at Luton Foodbank. They listened to a talk about how the Foodbank works & then packaged up some of the many items donated. 1st Toddington Brownies held a MacMillan Coffee evening and raised £342.14 with South Beds Division units hosting their annual Carol Celebration with £795.57 raised for Keech Cottage!

e! v i awareness of others and supporting us Increasing l c all girls to get involved. n I

1st Great Denham Brownies have learnt British Sign Language as part of Sign2Sing Week, learning a song in sign language and putting on a show for parents raising funds to support deaf children’s health charity “Sign Health”.

g! n i r Giving girls the chance to think about their futures, developing their self-belief. i p Ins

1st Biddenham Guides have been testing out virtual reality and understanding how it all works, inspiring them to think about jobs in science and technology!

Some of our Brownies, from 5th Stopsley Brownies & 1st Stockwood Brownies, are centre stage in the launch of the new Brownie Aviation badge to be revealed in the summer as part of Girlguiding's new programme. The girls got to explore the easyJet cabin simulator, including the real-life replicator cockpit with two of easyJet’s female Captains, Marnie and former Brownie, Kate.

To earn the badge, girls will challenge themselves to think of 40 things that fly and put their engineering skills to the test, creating their own aircraft experiments with different building materials, structures and launch techniques.

Get involved! Opportunities for girls

SAVE TH E DATE!

Bridging the GAP is taking place on 18 – 20 May 2018 at Dell Farm Outdoor Education Centre for girls aged 12 ½

or over to find out more about The Senior Section with lots of adventurous activities, party planning and a limited edition badge! Girls can attend on their own or in a group from their unit. Cost £50 per person. To book contact bookings@bedsguiding.org.uk

Senior Section Service Crew Weekend will be held for members of The Senior Section aged 14-25 (attendance

without leaders) from 22 – 24 June 2018 for free! Tented accommodation, meals, one activity included in exchange for a service project around the Hautbois site. For more information please email angliahq@girlguiding-anglia.org.uk

Open Day (Members and their families) on 22 July 2018 at Foxlease Activity Centre. Fun for all the family at Foxlease's annual open day. https://girlguidingactivitycentres.org.uk/event/open-day/

Family Camp open to the public to experience our great facilities at Blackland Farm activity centre from Aug 11-31 2018. Tel: 01342 810 493 email: blackland@girlguiding.org.uk CampBeds is taking place from 31 Aug – 2 Sept 2018

at the Action4Youth Caldecotte Xperience Centre, 366 Simpson Road, Simpson, Milton Keynes MK6 3AG.

Bookings now open via bookings@bedsguiding.org.uk

Survival extreme for Senior Section. 31 Aug - 2 Sept 2018 £75 The ultimate test of your survival skills. Try shelter building, fire lighting and more. For girls without their Leaders. https://girlguidingactivitycentres.org.uk/event/survival-extreme/

Bedford Division Bridge Walk spend a few hours as a family walking the beautiful embankment of The Ouse in Bedford, raising funds for your unit by being sponsored for every bridge crossed or walked over! When Sunday, 30 Sept 2018 in Bedford

Brownie Arts Adventure Day a fun day of arts and crafts for Brownies across Bedfordshire,

learning new crafting skills and meeting and having fun with girls aged 7-10 When Saturday, 6 Oct 2018 or 7 Oct 2018 Where Ursula Taylor C of E School, Clapham, Bedford.

Big Gig - The 2018 Big Gig for girls aged 10+, is lining up to be the best yet! The Vamps, New Hope Club, Rae Morris

and The Cutkelvins are coming to the Big Gig stage in 2018 - plus more awesome acts still to be revealed. 20,000 excited girls (and their leaders!) will get to enjoy shows on 13 October 2018 at The SSE Arena, Wembley. Doors open for the first show at 11.45am and the show will finish at 3.45pm. Doors for the second show will open at 4.45pm and the show will finish at 8.45pm, the artist content for both shows will be the same! Tickets cost £30, including all fees, and are allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/what-we-do/events-and-opportunities/regular-girlguiding-events/big-gig/ BIGG - Come and Join us Girlguiding South Bedfordshire Division now have an Additional Needs Girlguiding Unit -

but you don’t have to live in South Bedfordshire, you can live anywhere to join us! We will be called: 1st Bedfordshire Inclusive Girlguiding unit. Girls will have the chance to do something really different and have fun. The unit is for girls aged 5 to 14 who may not be able to attend the usual weekly meetings*, but still want to experience the opportunities that Girlguiding has to offer and meet new friends whilst trying exciting activities and learning new skills. By joining you can become part of a worldwide community of girls who come together to have fun, learn and make things happen. We will be running monthly meetings on a Saturday morning (including school holidays if required) from 10.00 – 12.00 in Leighton Buzzard. For more information and details of our first meeting and venue please email specialneeds@bedsguiding.org.uk

* girls can attend both if they wish!

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Camping expert? Work in science and technology? Want to help run a group? Get in touch!

We are always looking for adult volunteers to help give girls in Bedfordshire the best experiences possible. We need your help, from one hour a year to one hour a week, it’s your choice!

Get In Touch...

We need volunteers and would LOVE to hear from you. It’s so easy to get in touch - You can contact us in so many different ways: Girlguiding Bedfordshire @BedsGuides

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Be A Volunteer and Start Your Adventure TODAY!

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0800 169 5901 www.bedsguiding.org.uk