Guiding at St Mary's

As many of you will already know, I was awarded the Queen’s Guide at the age of 14. It was an award for which I, along with all those before and since, had to toil hard – putting in extra work over and above the ‘normal’ badges for which one laboured.

The years that I spent within Guiding, as well as those supporting the local Cub Pack (particularly on camps as First Aider!) were really important ones for me – contributing to an awareness of the wider world through participation in a world wide organisation, long before the world wide web ever came along (goodness, I really am that old!) In addition to this linking into a much wider organisation was the sense of being a team-player – giving and receiving support to and from others; the development of leadership skills (just look at where they have got me!); and the increase in a broad base of skills from axe-sharpening to scone making and anything in between…

Why am I telling you all of this though?!

I know that many of you enjoy seeing the uniformed organisations in church on Parade Sundays, and are proud of the long associations they have with St. Mary’s. Guiding at St. Mary’s has reached pretty much a crisis point. One of our Brownie Packs closed before Christmas due to a lack of adult leaders (certainly not children) and our Guide Company will have to do the same this summer unless new leaders come forward – now! The current Guiders live some distance away and family and private commitments mean that their time is not going to be available, and they have kindly given us notice during which time we need to try to do something…

Guiding plays an important role in raising the broad educational experience of the children who participate, as well as raising self-esteem levels and confidence. Leaders and unit helpers are provided with training – both before and after taking up their new roles – and adults involved in work with uniformed organisations speak of the many rewards they receive from working with and supporting young people in their development.

If you or anyone you know might be interested in taking up the challenge, and privilege, of working with the young people connected with our Guiding units – from Rainbows through to Guides, please speak to me – urgently. I was immensely disappointed to learn of the closure of one Brownie Pack, I really don’t want us to lose another – or the Guide Company either.

If you’d like to make a visit to find out more, before committing yourself, then please contact me about this too – I know that the current leaders would enjoy making you welcome and explaining more of what they do.

To give you some idea of an average level of commitment though:

You may also like to visit the Guiding website: www.girlguiding.org.uk

Let me know if you’d like to know more, I look forward to hearing from you!

Deborah