Welcome to the 4th edition of Go Guiding for Parents, Carers and Families celebrating and sharing news of Guiding events, activities and opportunities from Bedfordshire and beyond.
GgLP_TR_C
ty ire Coun h s d r o f d Be
GO GUIDING
While they’re in Girlguiding, girls grow from being wide-eyed, new-to-the-world five year olds to young women who are learning to navigate the realms of adulthood. And we're with them every step of the way - offering support that gives them confidence, teaching them new skills and giving them chances to prove what they’re made of. Our programme is a huge part of that, and is the framework for all the activities girls benefit from. It supports girls as they grow through the sections, earning badges and developing skills for life.
The world has changed, and girls lives have changed – so the programme had to change. It is now more rounded, has clearer bridges between the sections, and gives girls challenging activities, whilst preparing them for the modern world. This way we can make sure that Girlguiding continues to be the go-to youth organisation for girls and young women in the future. Equipping girls to take on the world.
Girls can choose to work towards interest badges such as Entrepreneur, Inventing, Navigator, Animation, Craftivism, Self-care and Human rights and other activities include First aid, Survival skills, DIY and 3D Craft and design. In fact there are more than 800 badges and activities to choose from across the sections. The new programme of activities is divided into interest badges, skills builders, group activities and awards, all developed around six themes: Skills for my Future, Have Adventures, Be Well, Know Myself, Express Myself and Take Action.
As the leading charity for girls and young women in the UK, the new programme marks a significant investment in girls’ futures. More than £3m has been put into delivering the project, including support from partners and expert insight from organisations including the Council for British Archaeology, St John Ambulance, The Royal Horticultural Society and WWF has also helped shape the content of the activities. Girls can choose from a wide variety of interest badges such as Grow your own, Speaking out, Whittling, Saver, Digital design and Construction.
For the all new skills builder badges girls will take part in small group activities to develop their skills over six different stages. Each stage builds on the previous as girls progress through Girlguiding, from Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and on to Rangers, giving them the chance to take on challenges and develop their skills in camping, leadership and first aid to name a few. The new programme has been phased in over twelve months and will be fully rolled out by September 2019. Most units across Bedfordshire have either started the new programme, or at least have done some taster sessions from it.
Parents, Carers and Families!
Girlguiding has stood with girls on their journey to adulthood since 1910
Here are just a few things that Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Senior Section members from around the county have been busy exploring from the new programme... Rainbows
1st Limbury Rainbows have doing kitchen-less cooking from Camp skills builder stage 1 - making pancakes over tealights
Brownies
5th Sandy Brownies handed out 32 new interest badges and 2 skills builder stage 2 badges
Brownies and Rainbows at Woodcroft in Luton informed
us they used skills they learnt at tool school (from the Live Smart stage2)
3rd Stopsley Brownies, Luton, used the Unit Meeting Activity "Pop-up cards" to make some fantastic Mothers Day Cards 2nd Ampthill Brownies completed their camp skills builder on their Super Brownie weekend with the theme to ‘Own It’! Girls have had fun at 2nd Limbury Brownies, Luton, learning all about first aid and how to bandage and stop bleeding 12th Luton Brownies did stitch up your six UMA, and made a really good job of it 3rd Biggleswade Brownies presented Amelie, Lucy and Pippa with their Brownie Gold Awards 1st Brickhill Brownies, from Bedford, thoroughly enjoyed the DIY Shop Skills Builder, substituting screws for nails so they could use wood Jessica from 8th Leighton Buzzard Brownies did her Brownie baking badge!!! The three pigs story in cookies and self-designed emoji cupcakes which she shared with her six 1st Brickhill Brownies enjoyed the Know Myself activity from the guiding magazine Many thanks to Claire, a 2nd Ampthill Brownie Mum, who works for Willmott Dixon, a construction company, trying to encourage more women into the industry. Claire gave the girls a design task with a particular brief. Throughout the evening the girls went through many twists from having to build off another group’s design and extra items to add. They were given limited equipment and had to present their final house at the end! 1st Ampthill Brownies had a great time in London and at ICANDO one Saturday, taking part in a superhero theme afternoon to celebrate International Women's Day Members of the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th Biggleswade Brownies took part in the Biggleswade Gang Show in March. The opening video to the show was pretty cool with Tim Peake, the astronaut.
Guides
17th Priory Guides in Bedford have been working on the mixology, craftivism, photographer and aspirations interest badges Cranfield Guides held an Innovate activity weekend where all who attended gained their Innovate stage 4 skill builder badge
New Scout & Guide Project
In a revolutionary new project, Girlguiding and The Scout Association have recently joined forces to grow both organisations by opening units in new and existing areas to tackle waiting lists and extend reach to deprived communities. The project aims to help more young people to make a difference in their communities through social action, whilst offering the opportunity to learn new skills and have fun.
The new project marks the first ever joint funding bid for the two charities, which whilst run and managed separately, share a common heritage spanning over a century of enriching the lives of millions of young people giving them skills for life. The project aims to bring Scouting and Guiding together by working to share knowledge and expertise and promote sustainable growth by opening new groups in England. #iwill
Rangers
FAB Rangers ran Retro Revival and produced some lovely mind maps, Mix It Up also produced some lovely non alcoholic cocktails and Stop Thief, was a great hit Gemma would like to thank every who supported her in getting her Gold Duke of Edinburgh award Gemma not only got her Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, but she also received her Commonwealth Award, presented by County Commissioner Ann Crome. Well done also to Sarah on gaining her Commonwealth Award A Buddy Award was presented to Becky making a lovely start to Flitwick District Thinking Day Event Thinking Day (22nd February) can be celebrated in many different ways, but this year the date was marked throughout the county at varying Park Run events. There were events held and supported by Girlguiding Bedfordshire in Luton (Wardown Park), South Beds (Rushmere Park Run), Houghton Regis, Bedford and Great Denham Park Run. It was a great idea to get out into the public on such a special day for Girlguiding and be able to share our charity with others whilst give back to the community and support the runners.
Brownie and Guide units from around the county really enjoyed the new Mary Poppins Returns film, at the special Girlguiding only screenings around the county 7th Leighton Buzzard Brownies had great fun celebrating Parliament Week last year, they made rosettes, learned about how parliament works and debated and voted on several new laws they would like to see passed.Many topics were covering, including education, health, reducing plastic, caring for animals and stopping smoking. Parliament Week Packs for November 2019 are available now if you want to register your unit
Guys and Dollies? Do you know where to find these at Camp? Rainbow Winter Wonderland Yes? Then you might be interested in Girlguiding Bedfordshire’s recreation of a traditional Guide Camp at The Shuttleworth Collection Vintage Flying Day on Sunday 1st September 2019. (You will need to book tickets through The Shuttleworth Collection)
No? Then you may like to visit the camp to find out! As well as the camp, we are planning lots of displays and hands on activities for all ages, so come and join in the fun. All Girlguiding Members wearing uniform and visiting the camp will get a badge. More information is available on Girlguiding Bedfordshire’s website, in the What’s On section - bedsguiding.org.uk. If you would like to be kept informed please email events@bedsguiding.org.uk
We will also be offering girls 12+ the opportunity to camp overnight and help to run the activities. Information and Booking Forms available on the website – click on the 1st September or email the above address.
1st December 2019
SAVE TH E DATES!
Annual Bridge Walk - Bedford 29 September 2019
The Macmillan partnership with Girlguiding Anglia, our region, was launched on 2nd April 2019, giving us lots of badges to earn, and hopefully lots of fun things to add to our programmes, we'll be supporting people with cancer across Anglia and helping them to live life as fully as they can. The team hope to raise enough money to pay for 2,500 Macmillan nursing hours!
In December 2018 I joined a Cultural Event run by WAGGGS at the fifth World Centre – Kusafiri. This World Centre is unique as it travels around Africa, allowing people from many African countries to access the benefits of a World Centre. As Kusafiri doesn’t have a fixed location the buildings that host the centre vary. For this event we were in a hotel.
GG-PC&F No.4 May 19
Kusafiri Adventure
This event was hosted by Uganda Girl Guides and was the first Kusafiri event to have World Centre Volunteers. There were nearly 150 participants on the two programmes (Cultural and Juliette Low Leadership Programme) and 42 countries were represented within those.
During our trip we experienced many amazing things; from visiting the Equator; to spending an evening with a local family; to dancing, drumming and cooking; to a boat trip on Lake Victoria and the source of the River Nile. However there were two events that really stuck out for me. The first was a visit to SINA (Social Innovation Academy). It was an amazing place where they had such inventive projects; building houses out of bottles, using waste products to cook food or as fertilizer, making soaps that repelled mosquitos, creating a safe water filter and sending the idea to local communities and many more. Each volunteer or staff member brought a new project to run. I was humbled by one volunteer who had developed a project for people with disabilities. He did this because his father had a disability and it had been very hard for him to find work and provide for his family. This man wanted to change that, so he created ‘Fashionability’ where he taught people to use sewing machines and make products out of recycled materials to sell. They then went on to train others in their communities. This project not only helped society, but also the environment.
The other trip I was awed by was one to a Cultural Centre named Ndere. We were treated to a demonstration of traditional dances from different tribes in Uganda. The compere was an inspirational man. He was incredibly funny, but also got across some serious messages - for example the importance we place on material items over human life. One of the things that is really good about Ndere is that they don’t hold women back because of their gender. There is a traditional instrument played which was only to be played by men, however some women were interested in learning the instrument and this was actively encouraged, despite the culture still being quite patriarchal.
Running alongside our Cultural Event was a training event for people to run Juliette Low Seminars (JLS) in November 2019. Once again Kusafiri will host one of these events, but there will be 19 other venues across the world running the event at the same time. The Juliette Low Seminar (JLS) is WAGGGS’ flagship leadership development event for young people. Each event provides participants with adventures, cultural experiences and the opportunity to make friends for life. Elani- Brownie Leader
We hold regular International weekends in the county, to give guides a taster of what opportunities are available to travel with Girlguiding. At the most recent international event, with a who dunnit theme, Miss Thailand had been murdered. The girls in the photo are ready for their pageant, in tiaras and sashes ready to perform, representing their varying countries.
How you can help
Do you have a skill or experience that you can share with the girls? Know a language? Golf? How to cook jambalaya? Chess 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! GgLP_TR_C
Get In Touch...
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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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