Ex-Guide Fibs

Common fibs adult former members tell about their youthful Guiding experiences . . .

 

“I was thrown out of Guides . . .”

Well, if I’d a pound for every person I’d heard tell that one, I could retire tomorrow.  Sadly, I can assure you that my ‘retirement do’ is not imminent.

 

Guiding’s rules in this regard haven’t changed much for decades, and the fact is, then as now, people could only ever be thrown out of a unit and barred from attending meetings if the Leaders had sought and received the Commissioner’s permission to do so (even as a short-term suspension, far less as a permanent one).  And even on the few occasions when such permission was granted, it was normally reserved only for illegal/morally inappropriate actions, or for an ongoing catalogue of bullying or inappropriate disruptive or abusive behaviour to both the Leaders and to other unit members.  So if you actually were ‘thrown out’ of the unit, or if they did insist upon you leaving, with no alternative offered you, then you must have done something pretty major - and were probably lucky if there wasn’t police involvement.

 

Of course, what’s far more likely is that one of the Leaders asked you to consider whether Guiding was still the hobby for you, given you didn’t seem to be enjoying it any more - and you agreed her suspicions were correct, you were no longer keen and were now bored – and having reached that conclusion you chose to leave.  Or, you simply stopped turning up without anything amiss being said or done by anyone.  It’s a fair bet that the scene you want people to imagine when you claim to have been thrown out - the vision of teenage you stomping out of the hall throwing your Promise badge back over your shoulder as the hall door slammed behind you, leaving a shocked-but-admiring crowd of open-mouthed young Guides to stare at your display of bravery - or your bold resignation letter telling the Leaders precisely where they could stick their unit – never actually happened.  I know, it doesn’t sound half so rebellious to admit you ‘just stopped going’, or ‘resigned’, does it – and the fibs about ‘being thrown out’ you now choose to tell would seem to suggest that you’re still a bit insecure about it all . . .

 

“All we ever did was play games/do craft/ . . . “

Yes, the quality of unit programmes does vary from unit to unit, I’d be the first to agree that.  I could vouch as much myself, as the Guide unit I belonged to in my youth wasn’t great by any measure – no residential events, one outing per year, no outdoor skills taught at all.  But - some units have more resources – they have enough staff to run all the activities they would like to be running both at unit meetings and at other times.  Unit finance is sufficient to provide the equipment to allow a range of opportunities without constant economising.  The Leaders have enough experience, ideas and knowledge to run a varied and interesting programme of activities, indoor and outdoor, active and sedentary, using both brain and brawn.  The staff have the time to spend planning larger events and are able to take the units to events outwith the unit meeting time.  The unit is located within travelling distance of a wide range of locations which can be used for indoor and outdoor opportunities.  And many more factors.  Some units don’t have all those advantages, or even any of those advantages, in which case they have to do their best with what they can do in an hour or so, indoors, on limited budget and with minimal staff.  But even the least fortunate units don’t literally do craft, or games, or whatever it happens to be perceived to be, all night and every night, 36 weeks a year.  And even where there is a varied and interesting programme of activities being provided, as there may well be, if you ask any child what they did at school or at their hobby they will tend not to give a full list of everything in the schedule, but will just mention what first springs to mind, usually a one-word answer, or the same answer as given on previous weeks. Be it “craft”, “games” or something else.  I’m willing to bet there were some meetings where you spent at least part of the time doing something else, perhaps even most of the time doing something else.  It’s just not the answer that comes uppermost when viewed at this distance . . . 

 

“It was babyish . . . “

It may seem so now, but if it was babyish then – were you?  The Leaders do work hard to tailor their programmes to the age group they are working with.  When you were young, you enjoyed the things young children enjoy, which are different from the things older children or adults enjoy.  So dressing-up and pretending was really fun at the time.  Running races and joining in silly action songs were great fun.  Playing in the sandpit or paddling pool could happily occupy you for hours – even if it seems dull now.  As you get older, your tastes change – you want something more adventurous, more challenging, more advanced.  It is natural, and is exactly what should happen as you mature - and it can’t be helped or prevented.  The activities you loved most when you were three or four will be a little different by the time you are 5, 9, 13, 17 – of course they will be.  Some may be similar on-going interests that develop with you as you grow, and may even last you a lifetime.  Some hobbies you will drop, and perhaps you will take up related ones or entirely new ones instead.  Just because it may seem a bit twee when looking back, just because it was starting to feel a little babyish to you when you started to outgrow it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t right up your street for much of the time you were doing it – just as, in time, you will likely outgrow some of the things you really enjoy doing today.  I look back at my instrument tutor book and wonder how the early tunes seemed so difficult to me then – and have real gratitude for the patience of my teacher who suffered my mangled versions of such simple tunes with so much patience.  Of course, it’s possible that sometimes the Leaders did misjudge what stage of maturity you and your pals had reached – or perhaps they were catering for the majority at a time when you liked to think yourself more mature than those just a year or two younger than you were.  But, taken overall, it probably wasn’t so very far off the mark.  In past decades, young people did choose to carry on playing ‘children’s games’ to an older age than they do nowadays, there’s plenty of photographic and film evidence to confirm that in the 1940s and 1950s – and sometimes later - children up to 13 or 14 were still playing skipping games and ball games in the street, and were usually playing with them in mixed-age groups alongside the primary-age children.

 

“Our Leader was ancient . . . “

It’s like the old saw about policemen getting younger every year.  When you are young, everyone over 20 seems ancient - regardless of how far past 20 they may happen to be!  What happened 10 years ago is ancient history on a par with that which happened 100 or 1000 years ago so far as children are concerned.  So the Leader you thought was ancient may have been in her early sixties – but could just as easily have been in her fifties, forties, thirties or twenties, and you wouldn’t necessarily have been aware of it – when you are young, ‘old is old’!  The upper age limit of 65 for Leaders was around for many decades, so no matter how old you imagined your Leader to be, she had to have been under 65 at the time you were in the unit – perhaps by quite a margin?

 

“I felt excluded/overlooked/wasn’t the Leader’s pet . . .”

It can’t be denied, that personality does affect all relationships.  It’s natural that there will be some personalities which each adult finds appealing, some they get on okay with, and some which really rub them up the wrong way.  But, being adults, they try hard to hide their feelings, and to treat each individual fairly regardless of whether it comes easily or not.  I still remember when I was a young YL, one older Brownie who was leaving the unit was trying to push me to comment on the topic of my favourite Brownies amongst the pack – I wouldn’t answer.  She was sure I must have a favourite amongst those in the batch who were leaving (and in truth, I did) – in the end she said she didn’t need me to answer her question, because she knew all along she was my favourite – still I said nothing to confirm or deny.  To this day, she doesn’t know that actually, she couldn’t have been more wrong.  I hated all sorts of aspects of her personality very strongly indeed - I just tried not to let it show, and aimed to give her fair turns regardless.  Equally it’s a two-way street - sometimes the girls are quick to imagine slights from Leaders where none was intended, or perhaps even existed.  And no matter how hard we as Leaders try to treat everyone equally, sometimes limited places mean we have to choose some to get opportunities and thus automatically, some to not get those same opportunities.  We try to use reasonable and transparent criteria to choose – oldest first, or names out of a hat, or first come-first served, or using relevant reasons such as the girls who have the specific skills being sought - in order to choose representatives as fairly as possible.  But whichever way choosing’s done, it’s fact that some will get chosen, some will not, and those who miss out may be upset about it.  It’s something that will continue on through every other area of life too.  Maybe your Leaders weren’t as skilled as they might have been about making things both fair and seen-to-be-fair.  Maybe you were unlucky over your name coming out of hats, or maybe your parents weren’t quick enough at replying to first come-first served opportunities?  Or – or maybe you are forgetting the times when you were one of the ones who was chosen?  I recall one unit which had two large jam jars, and a set of straws, each straw bearing the name of a girl in the unit.  Each time someone had to be chosen for an opportunity, the Leaders would choose a straw from the ‘picking’ jar, and that person would get the chance.  Their straw would then be placed in the ‘chosen’ jar, alongside everyone else who had had an opportunity of some sort.  Only when the ‘picking’ jar was empty, would all the straws be transferred back across and everyone given the chance of another turn at being chosen – yet in spite of the care that was taken in this way to both be entirely fair and transparent, there were still complaints from parents that their girl had missed out and was never picked for anything . . .

 

The Guider’s daughter was always got to go to everything . . .

Invariably, the Guider’s daughter is in a no-win situation.  I know – I am one.  Sure, some Leaders may have struggled with handling favouritism, and perhaps ended up being over-generous.  But most ‘go the other way’ and in their desire to be seen not to show favouritism to their own child, end up actively discriminating against.  Fact is, at many events, for childcare reasons alone, the Guider would have had to bring her daughter along whether daughter was a unit member or not, otherwise none of the unit members would have got the chance to attend the event at all.  And yes, this did mean the daughter getting to go to a lot of events.  Or, one could equally say, it meant her having to go to a lot of events.  Whether she wanted to or not, and perhaps at the cost of missing other clashing events she would have preferred to attend instead.  You got the choice or whether you wanted to go or have your name put in the hat, she had no choice but go.  You could tell your folks fibs about whether uniform was needed, she had to wear it every time, and correctly too else her mother would be judged.  Anything which you achieved in Guiding, you got the praise and glory for achieving it all by yourself.  Anything she achieved in Guiding, there would always be folks claiming she must have got loads of help from mum (whether that was true or not), it could never have been all her own work (even if it was).  So, looking at it in the round – yes, she may have got some opportunities that worked to her advantage - but she had to put up with plenty too.  It’s not all jam.

Programme Change

“We cannot always create the future for our youth, but we can build the youth for our future.”  It’s a quote which has been attributed to Franklin D Roosevelt.  And there’s a lot of truth in it. 

 

We’ve had word that Guiding programmes in the UK, for all sections, are going to change.  So far, the first big announcement has been made, a change in age groupings for Senior Section.  For quite a few years now, it has tried to encompass the full age range from 14 to 26.  And although a few units did make this work, and did have active membership from across the range, by far the majority of units served either 14-18, or 18-26 - but not both.  We have, of course, already started going through all the stages which feature in every ‘change management’ diagram ever drawn.  We’ve had the upset, and the anger.  We’ve had people complaining that the information provided to date is far too limited to be of any use, and simultaneously others complaining about the age change as if it was a done deal and totally non-negotiable.  We’ve had people pleading to have this or that part of their section programmes preserved in formaldehyde, and others begging them to scrap the existing programmes entirely and start building from scratch.  Some saying that a 2-year process is far too rushed, others saying that it’s ridiculously dragged out, they want change tomorrow (if not sooner).

 

Fact is, since the last universal change in 1966-1968 (yes, fully 50 years ago), there have been rolling and piecemeal changes to each section’s programmes.  Tweaks and more significant changes have been made to each one in turn, but at no point has Guiding actually sat down to look at the youth programme as a united whole, and considered changes to apply across all the sections simultaneously.

 

Over those 50 years, a lot has changed in society.  Back in 1968 there weren’t any of the equality acts we take for granted – no guarantee of equality for gender, race or disability.  The role of girls and women in society has totally changed – back then most women only worked until they were married and then were housewives, the minority who stayed single had a full career but few of those earned a full pension.  Education has changed – now girls and boys alike do both technical and home economics subjects, but that wasn’t the norm in the 1960s.  Back then not everyone was ‘on the phone’, television was in black and white, and career options for girls were limited.  Now we’re not just on the phone, but on the smartphone.  Computers and televisions are widespread, and in theory every career is equally open to girls and boys.

 

In Guiding, too, uniforms and programmes have changed – cotton blouses and polished shoes have given way to soft shell hoodies and trainers.  Typed newsletters and landline phone calls have been replaced by emails, texts and facebook.  We spend less time on domestic skills and more on science, and adventure.

 

The changes in 1966 were introduced because the world had changed a lot in the 50 years since Guiding was first created.  Guiding’s leadership felt that the old system of fixed tests for Tenderfoot, Golden Bar/Second Class, and Golden Hand/First Class had served well in it’s time, but in spite of piecemeal updating, was obsolete.  So they were replaced by annual badges in each section which offered choices.  Now, another 50 years have passed and once again piecemeal updating has been done over that time, but the programmes were once again becoming obsolete.  So time for another 2-year period of review and change.  Once every 50 years doesn’t seem too often, does it?

 

Things did not go entirely smoothly in 1966-68, despite a lot of preparation work being done.  The biggest objections were to the ending of Sea Rangers, and in the end a breakaway Sea Ranger Association formed, which still exists albeit on a very small scale.  And undoubtedly, whatever changes end up being introduced this time round, there will be a lot of anguish once again, and perhaps even breakaways once again.  But, viewed from a distance, the 1968 changes did turn out to be positive, and did succeed in updating the programme whilst retaining the key elements of it.  And it may be that the coming changes, however painful the process of deciding and implementing them may be, and however much initial upset is caused by change, will end up as positive ones too.

 

As the quote says, we can’t create the future for our youth.  We can try to help shape it, but we can’t create it, nor can we choose exactly how it will develop.  We can’t control the outside factors, and the future is going to be theirs, not ours.  But building the youth for it?  We can certainly make a significant contribution to that.  Provided we accept that Guiding is, and has to be, a movement.  It is constantly changing with us or in spite of us, and will continue to be constantly changing regardless of us.  The world will still spin around every 24 hours, standing still isn’t possible.  So it needs us to embrace change, to work to make change, to constantly be working to update what we do to ensure we are serving the needs of the future, not just the needs of the past or of the present.  We are merely the current custodians, but just as we received it from the generation before us, in time it will pass from our hands onto future generations of members.  We are training the girls of today to be ready to replace us tomorrow.

 

The changes in 1966 were the result of a review of programmes – and a report was published summarising the results of the review and the reasoning behind the proposed changes which were then implemented.  I think we would do well to bear in mind the title of that report, for it described the person they were planning for – who is equally well the person we too should be planning for.

 

It’s name?  “Tomorrow’s Guide”.

Age-Appropriate Activities

Yes, I know what you think I’m going to say.  No effing and blinding from the Rainbows, and don’t let the Brownies smoke until they are outside the hall.  Or something of that ilk.

 

But actually, you’re wrong.  I’m not thinking about activities which are too old or too mature for the girls.  But actually, about activities which are too young, too immature, too twee.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve no problem with the Guides or Senior Section occasionally having a ‘silly night’ where they do finger painting, play in sandpits, blow bubbles, and do all the things they loved doing in their nursery days.  It’s great fun as a one-off.  And of course Rainbows should enjoy singing games, and the younger Brownies enjoy dressing up and imaginative play, for such things are age-appropriate to them.  And there will always be a small proportion of girls whose developmental age is less than their biological.  But actually, what I’m referring to is pitching the regular unit programme at the right age group and the right level of maturity for the girls in the units nowadays.  And as far as Guides and Senior Section are concerned, ‘Silly night’ should be an occasional treat once a year or so, not what happens at most meetings.  As an educational charity we’re meant to be focussed on developing the skills of the unit members, and that means maintaining a level of challenge, seeking to have an element of educational value in all of the activities we do, ensuring the girls are progressing and developing their skills and knowledge.  That needn’t preclude fun, indeed fun is often the best way to sugar the educational pills, the whole idea behind Guiding (and Scouting) is “learning through games”.

 

I guess the thought behind this blog post was prompted by a post I saw on a forum the other week.  This Leader was looking for Remembrance ideas for her Guide unit, to do at her meeting nearest to 11^th November.  She had one idea, which was a painted handprint wreath, and she wanted some more ideas to fill the meeting.  And my immediate thought was ‘handprint wreath?   but it’s a Guide forum – so this is meant to be a remembrance-themed programme for 10-14 year olds, not for 5-6 year olds.’    I recalled what my Guide unit had done to mark remembrance over the last few years – last year we researched the one woman on our local war memorial, a war nurse who had worked in a military hospital in central Scotland during WW1, only to die of flu in 1919.  And we made large laminated poppies and then origami peace cranes to stick onto them, these were then laid on each of the war graves in our village’s cemetery.  The year before we used the education pack from the Royal British Legion to investigate the different roles women had in both world wars – working on farms and in forestry, working in factories, working in hospitals and rest centres, working as first aiders and fire watchers, serving in the ATC, WRNS and WAAF, working in factories, etc.  The year before that, the Guides had made a collage with a background of green fields and blue sky, and each Guide had made a paper poppy and written on it the people they especially chose to remember, before placing it onto the landscape.  One year, we told the Guides of how, in 1939 with war imminent, many adults had been ‘called up’ so the PLs should be ready to run the unit meeting the following week.  Although my Assistant Leader and I turned up on the night for insurance’ sake, we made it clear that other than in the case of genuine emergency, we were “not there” – the PLs had to run the meeting as they thought best, while we sat on chairs in the corner of the room.  I left a bag on a table which contained the attendance register, a G-File and a few other relevant forms/reference books – the sort of thing I might have dropped off at a PL’s house before heading off for ‘somewhere in the country’ – it gave them a feel for the situation that genuinely happened at a lot of Guide units in the first week of September 1939, and though surprised, they carried out the meeting in full, including opening and closing ceremonies.

 

And I found myself wondering – were we going too ‘deep’?  In asking them to think about what some aspect or another of war might have been like, in asking them to take an interest in someone else’s real-life experience, in drawing their attention to quite how many war graves there were for the size our village was in 1914 or 1939 and letting them see what age the people were when they died, of making it clear that if war had broken out in our country both their Leaders were liable to be called up and they would have had to carry the unit on not just for one night but for the foreseeable?  Or, perhaps, were others going too shallow, and expecting too little of their unit members?  So I again considered the age group we deal with.  And I concluded that as the older Guides in the unit are only two years off being able to sign up for the forces themselves, given that Guides during WWII served in after-the-raid squads helping people to recover property from  bomb-damaged houses despite the danger and served hot drinks to injured survivors of bombing many of whom would have been traumatised if not slightly injured, given that Guides during WW1 were involved in both making and also laundering used hospital dressings, and worked as confidential messengers for the predecessors of MI5 at the Ministry of Defence and at the Versailles Peace Conference, given that the Guides in the Channel Islands continued meeting in secret throughout WW2 in spite of the occupation of their islands and the threat of execution if they were caught in uniform or gathering – that actually, remembrance is something we can take fairly seriously at Guide age, and we can seek to enlighten the Guides and Senior Section members, to an appropriate extent for their age group, to the sort of real experiences which girls and young women just like them had when war came to the UK.  It’s up to us to pitch it at a level which enlightens without unduly upsetting the more sensitive individuals, and to tailor what we do to the age group we are working with whether it be Rainbow, Brownie, Guide or Senior Section – but nevertheless, to fulfil our role as an educational charity, we should seek to educate and enlighten the girls, on this topic as much as on others, and to try to make it as relevant and meaningful as we can.

 

Thing is, though, it’s not just remembrance that this applies to.  We should constantly be seeking to challenge, and stretch, and encourage achievement from the girls in our units in all the activities we do, all year round.  And to do that, we have to keep tailoring and tweaking our activities so that they remain at that ideal challenging-but-just-attainable level, so that the girls will get a personal sense of achievement from a tough challenge met, a worthwhile task completed, a genuinely useful skill attained.   That can only happen if the tasks we set are at just the right level for them.  If too much of the work is too easy or half of it has been done for them, there is neither challenge nor the reward of achievement, and they become hard work of the wrong sort – a chore.  Something to get through in hopes of the next thing being something worth doing or something fun.  Equally, too difficult can be demoralising.  But – as the girls change, so what is challenging changes, we need to keep revising what we do and which activities we use with which age group.

 

I reckon that if you took any unit’s programme for the term, and stripped out all the obvious giveaways like badgework, you should still be able to tell at a glance what section the unit is in.  Literally at a glance.  Because the activities themselves should smack loud and clear of the age group they are aimed at, and there should be clear distinctions between the sort of activities which would be done by 5-7 year olds, 7-10 year olds, 10-14 year olds, and 14-26 year olds.  There can be a few things in common between the age groups, absolutely, and some things are good fun for any age - but the majority of activities should differ in what type they are, in how they are run, or in both.

 

So, although I’d agree that Rainbows shouldn’t be effing and blinding, and Brownies shouldn’t be smoking in the hall – I’d also suggest that other than as a one-off ‘nursery night’ theme, Guides shouldn’t be doing finger painting, and Senior Section shouldn’t be playing singing games (unless they are serving as Young Leaders at the time).  Because there is plenty of age-appropriate fun out there which they could be enjoying . . .

Should UK Guiding stop having uniforms?

Sure, I’m asking a controversial question.  And I’ve probably shocked you by even asking it.  But I think it’s justified nevertheless.

 

Since the first “Girl Scout” uniform option was proposed in the 1908 edition of “Scouting for Boys” there have been arguments about Guiding uniform.  Style, fabric, cut, quality, practicality, colour, durability, laundering, the lot.  Yes, every possible cause for objection was and is given by Leaders  with unfailing regularity about every version of the uniform from the first version to the current.  Nevertheless, until recent years all members accepted that, whether we cared for the uniform of the day or not, part of the deal we accepted in joining the organisation was that we would wear the organisation’s uniform.  At all weekly meetings, on all outings, and during arrival, departure, and any offsite activities when at camp/holiday.  The only time uniform would not be worn whilst at Guiding events, would be when carrying out those outdoor activities which made it impractical to do so, in the case of recruits who were given a few weeks’ grace whilst they were deciding whether or not to become full members and saving up towards getting their uniform, and during the onsite time at camp - where clothes in Guiding colours sufficed.

 

Why did we have a uniform at all?  The aim was to camouflage social difference, and make all of the girls equal in appearance regardless of background or social standing.  In the twenties and thirties, for some girls in poorer areas, their Guide uniform was the smartest outfit they owned, hence the number of studio photos from that era which feature girls wearing their Guide uniforms.  For those who hadn’t the money to buy their uniform from the Guide shop, there was the option of buying a dressmaking pattern and a length of fabric – many more girls then were taught practical dressmaking than nowadays.

 

From the 1970s onwards, there grew a custom in some areas, of participants getting matching sweatshirts or t-shirts made for wearing when on a trip abroad with a Guiding group.  The idea was that it would be impractical for them to wear their uniforms every day, as the logistics for laundry would forbid – but they still felt that they should appear as a unified group, in matching clothing.  It was always made clear that during the trip, on any given day, all participants would wear the same garb whether uniform or group fun-top – and that post-event, the fun top would be a leisure or camp-wear garment only, not to be worn at unit meetings, or at any other occasion where Guiding uniform would normally be worn.

 

Since then, in some units at least, things have changed significantly.  Some blame it on mix-and-match uniform.  Some claim there is a more relaxed attitude to uniform-wearing in society (although most evidence seems entirely to the contrary – nowadays more schools and clubs are enforcing uniform rules, or creating rules where none existed, than have done for many years).  Yet for whatever reason, in Guiding we now see adults turning up at unit meetings wearing non-uniform garments, and making no apology for doing so – and naturally, the girls copy their example.  We see some units claiming that an unofficial unit fun-top counts as uniform despite the manual making clear that that is 100% untrue.  And as a result we see parents in some units being pressured to buy not only the uniform the girl will need, but to also go to the expense of buying an unofficial unit garment as well!  It’s unnecessary duplication, not to mention the environmental and moral questions which are raised by all these extra garments being made which can only be worn a few times a year at most – and with no guarantee they are sourced from the most ethical or safe of factories.  And of course, they will be outgrown within a couple of years anyway. 

 

Given the increasing proliferation of unofficial garments, and the lax attitude to the wearing of Guiding uniform at unit meetings on the part of some Leaders, I think that we in the UK are rapidly approaching a crossroads, and now need to decide which path we are going to take.  There are a lot of assumptions being made – for instance, that because we always have been a uniformed organisation, we thus will always continue to be.  But – that’s an assumption, and it need not necessarily be so.  Like any tradition, it’s only worth retaining if it can be justified in both current and all foreseeable circumstances. 

 

And I don’t see any sign of us going down the US route of semi-uniform, such as the wearing of a uniform sash or waistcoat over mufti.  After all, the sashes we’ve got haven’t proved terribly popular (the Guide one was dropped many years ago, the Brownie one still attracts as many complaints as fans despite the tweaks that have been made to it over the years.  And there has never been a tradition here of wearing buttonless waistcoats.  No, I think the decision we face is a straightforward either/or choice. 

 

If we want to continue being a uniformed organisation, then each one of us needs to proactively sign up to that, in our Districts and in especially in our units.  To start with ourselves and our personal example, which after all is more influential with the girls than we might expect.  Deeds are more powerful than words.  Leader uniform is a legitimate unit expense.  And it isn’t difficult to keep a top in one’s bag or at the hall, and to quickly change into it on arrival.  And once all the unit Leaders are setting the example every week, we then have to ensure every girl in our units also has the opportunity to own and wear proper uniform.  So we should make sure they all know where it can be bought, whether that’s a Guide shop, depot, local shop or mail order.  We should offer help and advice on sourcing second-hand for those who would find that useful.  We might have a stock of spare tops for those who ‘forget’ theirs.  We should have an awareness of the hardship funds which are available locally for those who might find cost a barrier.  We should be ready to contact Trading to enquire about placing a ‘special order’ for any girl who would not find the usual sizes a good fit.  Oh yes, I’ve heard all the complaints about the garments themselves, heard them every year since I joined the Brownies myself all those years ago, through each of the umpteen versions of uniform we’ve had in that time.  After all, there were complaints about the quality of Promise badges back in 1912!  Nevertheless, as a movement we have a clear choice - either we have a uniform and we all wear it – properly, whether we do so enthusiastically or we do so reluctantly.

 

Or - we ditch having uniform altogether, and have no rules or expectations about what garments any of the unit members will wear on any given occasion, leaving it entirely up to the individual’s personal taste/judgement and common sense to decide what is and isn’t appropriate, bar occasional suggestions in regard to safety for the activities scheduled on a particular day.  Fudging the uniform issue, or turning a blind eye to units which attend events in non-uniform garments - solves nothing.  Regardless of what garments they may happen to be wearing, regardless of whether some of these garments happen to be matching or not, and regardless of whatever opinion anyone holds about the comparative smartness or scruffiness of their attire.  The facts are simple - you’re either in Guiding uniform, or you are in mufti, there is no in-between, nothing counts as uniform bar what is on the official list, nothing else is or can be equivalent.

 

So – decision time.  Should we have a uniform which is worn by all members at all meetings and all other events where we are representing Guiding - or should we drop having a uniform entirely?

Guides and Guns

In Guiding, shooting at targets dates back to the earliest Girl Scout days.  Over time it became a rarer activity – at some points due to shortage of weapons and ammunition due to government requisition at time of war - and post-war fewer suitable locations for shooting existed.  Attitudes to weapons in society changed too – whereas at one time a large portion of the population lived in rural areas where gun ownership was normal for pest control or ‘food for the pot’, rapid urbanisation and increasing affluence reduced this.  There were gradually fewer ‘old soldiers’ with their service revolvers or battlefield souvenirs in the attic, or on top of the wardrobe.  The gradual introduction of gun licencing also saw a reduction in the numbers of weapons kept, aided by regular amnesties for unwanted weapons, such that ownership eventually became restricted to members of registered gun clubs, and to agricultural workers who had cause to carry out ‘pest control’.  Archery also existed, but mainly as a niche sport, and usually at roundel targets rather than live game.  The wearing of Guide knives in uniform was discouraged from the late 1980s onwards, as knife laws in general started to be tightened. 

 

It was following a couple of notorious gun incidents (not Guiding-related) in the late 1980s and early 1990s that Guiding tightened up it’s policies on shooting.  The aim was, as usual with Guiding, to try to manage risk (both physical and reputational) whilst still enabling an activity to be carried out.  So the shooting of arrows, pellets, cartridges and bullets was allowed to continue - provided it was done under the supervision of qualified instructors, in appropriate locations and with appropriate safety precautions, and strictly as a target sport only – so shooting at roundel targets, tin cans, or ‘clay pigeons’.  The only thing which was not permitted - was shooting guns or weapons resembling guns at either people or animals, or representations of people or animals.  There wasn’t all that much outcry when the new rules were introduced, simply because the number of Units which had any cause to alter their programmes was very small indeed.  Most Units didn’t do any form of shooting, and of those who did, most were doing target shooting rather than live game anyway.  And having it supervised by qualified people was a reasonable ruling to make given the safety risks of such weapons if the activity is not properly managed and supervised.

 

Although it was gun incidents that helped to encourage the revision of Guiding’s rules, it was also other sensitivities too – between those who had been affected by any of the then regularly-occurring terrorist incidents in the UK, to those whose faith/religious beliefs barred the taking of life or any simulation of it, to those who felt it inappropriate for children to become accustomed to pointing deadly weapons at creatures (whether actual or simulated), especially considering the Guide Law’s references to being a friend to animals and respecting living things.  Most groups saw the new rules as a happy balance between safety and sport.  After all, is it compatible to be a friend and a sister to every other Guide, while at the same time deliberately aiming and firing weapons at them, or to respect all living things whilst deliberately killing or pretending to kill some for fun?

 

It was around that time that some new activities were becoming more fashionable and widespread in society – the first fad was paintball, and the second, laserquest.  I should declare an interest, in that for a while at that time I did some work for a paintball company.  Both of these sports involved firing guns directly at people.  As soon as Guide Headquarters became aware of the spread of these new activities, they clarified the rule book in order to confirm what was already fairly clear to most of us anyway – that because these activities involved deliberately firing weapons at people (even if the ‘ammunition’ wasn’t quite as dangerous as arrows or pellets), they did indeed fall under the existing rules, and thus were not a permitted Guiding activity.  What happened then – well, most Units accepted that the rules prohibited these sports, and they lived within those rules, even if it meant changing plans.  Unfortunately some Units decided to carry on with their outings anyway, declaring that they were attending the venue ‘as a group of friends, who by chance just happened to also all be members and Leaders of the same Guiding Unit’.  It was clearly a pretence, and the downside of it was that they did not have the protection of Guiding insurance to cover for any injury or liability (and in most cases it’s likely the adults in the group did not organise alternative insurance cover instead).  And of course, even if the paperwork was careful not to mention Guiding anywhere, even if it specifically stated that this was not a Guiding-sanctioned outing (and stated why), there was the risk that some parents might not have fully grasped the implications – that as it was declared as nothing to do with Guiding, there was thus no accident or liability insurance in place to protect their girl if she was injured, or if she inadvertently injured someone else, beyond whatever cover the activity company provided . . . anyone can trip and break a bone, anyone can slip their facemask off at the wrong moment and get a paintball in the face . . .

 

Over twenty years on, and the rules on Guides and weapons basically read the same now as then.  What is and is not allowed is all fairly clear.  Yet in recent years there has been an increase in the number of people protesting about Guiding’s restrictions on sports which involve shooting at people, such as paintball or laserquest.  People complaining that unless their girls are allowed to do Laserquest or Paintball they will leave the Unit (allegedly for that reason, and that reason alone), in order to join clubs which will permit it.  People complaining that other organisations break the rules about activities at joint events (rules which forbid the provision of an activity unless the safety rules of all the organisations permit participation in it, with whoever’s rules are the tightest prevailing), causing some participants to be disadvantaged and upset.  People getting upset that they are allowed to use balloons, buckets and plastic bottles in their water fights, but not water pistols or ‘super soaker’ guns.

 

So far as I can see, the rules are clear.  It seems obvious to me what is permitted, what is permitted subject to certain safety precautions, and what is not permitted at all.  If we feel that the current rules are wrong, any one of us is free to make representations to headquarters, explaining what we think should be altered and why.  What we are not free to do is to deliberately ignore the rules, and in doing so risk having girls in our charge doing activities without the protection of the insurance cover Guiding normally provides - and putting ourselves at risk of being sued if a problem occurs. 

Our Founder

There was a little girl, born way back in 1858, in London.  She had several brothers, but as the second-youngest child, was closest to the two brothers nearest in age to her – one a year older, and the other a year younger.  She didn’t remember her father, a well-known clergyman and professor who had died when she was two, and although there had been other girls in the family they had all died young, so as the only surviving daughter her destiny seemed to be to spend her life as her mother’s companion.  Though her mother was a strong advocate of Girls’ Schools (at a time when these were rare), once her sons’ school expenses had been paid it did not leave sufficient funds to send her own girl to school without adversely affecting the family’s lifestyle.  So although the girl saw each of her brothers in turn leave the family home to go away to school, she had to stay and do lessons at home.  She developed a wide range of interests – in nature study and botany, astronomy, beekeeping, and in playing the violin.  She also learned to ride a bicycle and was noted for her skill at bicycle tricks – and she learned metalwork too.  As well as all of this, she learned to  help her mother to run the household.  This was not easy, as in order to keep up appearances, the houses they had were always more expensive than they could afford – though the boys had scholarships for school, they had to be kept over the long holidays, so to save expense the family home would be let out, and the family travelled the country staying in guesthouses while the boys camped.  She had to help see to all the arrangements for this.  Gradually, as her mother became older and her brothers had left home, she took on an ever-increasing share of the household management, and such was her mother’s reliance that there was no prospect for her of marriage or leaving home.  But there were other hobbies too – her younger brother had become a pioneer aviator in balloons, and later aircraft – within a few years of the first-ever powered flight.  And she helped him with this – she helped to source and stitch the fabric for the balloon canopies, and source and repair the aeroplane engines – unusual hobbies for a Victorian spinster, alongside the more conventional charity work she did.

 

Meantime, her elder brother had left school and joined the army.  He had a very successful career in the army, and became famous for his exploits in India and Africa, to the extent of being the sort of hero who had memorabilia.  Such was his celebrity that a flood of fan letters was a regular occurrence, many being from young boys seeking his advice.  His army experiences gave him the idea of starting a training scheme for boys such as those who wrote to him.  So he did a test run, and then launched it to the public by way of a magazine.  Many people wonder whether he expected it to be only boys taking part in the scheme – given the wide-ranging interests of his younger sister it is possible he could imagine some girls being interested in it – but what is clear is that as soon as he knew there were girls joining the scheme (and he clearly knew this by very early in 1908) he was very positive about them doing so.  There are numerous accounts of him giving speeches on Scouting where questions from girls in the audience were welcomed, and he offered them encouragement to start troops, examples of him replying to written requests for Scouting information from girls, suggestions for Girl Scout uniform appeared in the 1908 edition of the handbook, “Scouting for Boys”, and he wrote about and in praise of Girl Scouts in his column in “The Scout” in January 1909 – all well before the Scout Rally at Crystal Palace in September 1909.

 

Although initially the female involvement in Scouting had been overlooked by the public, in an era when militant suffragettes were making national headlines, it was inevitable that any activity which offered girls more freedom than they had hitherto experienced would be viewed critically by the public, especially in a mixed organisation.  Although the criticisms were initially a trickle which could be brushed aside as being a few isolated and unofficial cases, it soon became clear that public pressure was growing, and something would need to be done if the positive image of the boys’ organisation were not to be damaged by negative comments about Girl Scouts.  Initially, he had approached the first aid organisations, with a view to their organising a scheme of junior first aid orderlies for the Girl Scouts to join.  But none of these bodies were interested in taking on this task.  Thus his next step was to approached his sister about setting up a girls’ club along the lines of the boys’ group he had created – and she accepted the task.  By this time she was in her early 50s.

 

Within weeks she had set up the girls’ club from scratch.  She had rented a room from the boys’ club, hired a secretary, and commenced the process of registration.  She arranged supply of stocks of uniform and equipment, designed and gained copyright protection for the badges, awards, names and insignias.  Although naturally shy, she travelled the country speaking at public meetings and recruiting both women and girls to join the club.  She took the handbook for the boys’ club and rewrote it for the girls, utilising a lot of her own knowledge on many of the subjects included.  Within 4 years of the club starting the uniforms, handbooks and badges were in place, and she had also launched a group for younger girls.  Two years later, she added on a leadership training scheme for young women.  Although war soon came to the country, the work continued, with the girls’ club taking on a wide range of war work, such as running canteens, working in hospitals, fundraising for ambulances and ‘rest huts’ for off-duty soldiers, collecting waste for recycling, making and laundering bandages and dressings, working on farms and foraging and preserving food. 

 

And yet, when it comes to the credit for the girls’ club, her name is rarely mentioned.  Six years after the club started, she was sidelined (against her wishes), and thereafter was rarely invited to events she might reasonably have expected to attend.  And though the person for whom she was sidelined undoubtedly did a lot of work over many decades, the credit was not shared between them as it surely ought have been. 

 

That is why so many people in Guiding who ought to, do not know that the founder of Scouting was Robert Baden-Powell – and the founder of Guiding was his sister, Miss Agnes Baden-Powell.  Not Olave – though she served Guiding from 1916 to 1930 as Chief Commissioner and from 1930 to 1977 as World Chief Guide, she had nothing whatsoever to do with Scouting or Guiding in any capacity before 1912, and a limited involvement in the 4 years thereafter.  Given that Guides were founded in January 1910, the credit for anything which happened in that early era undoubtedly belongs to Agnes, not Olave.

 

 

Agnes died in 1945, and was buried in the family grave in Kensal Green Cemetery in London.  But – for reasons now unknown, her name was never added onto the family gravestone there.  Now, the gravestone is unstable and in need of repair.  A group of Leaders are working, with the permission of her surviving family, to try to raise the sum needed to both repair the existing gravestone, and add Agnes’ name to it.  But – the bill for the work is £10,000.  Wouldn’t it be great if as many Leaders as possible could join the Guild set up for this purpose, help with  the fundraising work, and give our founder the recognition she surely deserves?  If we work together, perhaps it could be done in time for the Anniversary of her birth in 2018?

Guider or Leader?

Oh yes, I know.  The term “Guider” was dropped several years ago, and replaced with “Leader” as it was thought it would be better understood by the public.  Nevertheless . . .

 

A while back, my Assistant Leader being unavailable, I asked my Commissioner to help out with Guides one night.  This wasn’t so onerous as it sounds – although she is a Brownie Leader to trade, her daughter was one of the Guides, so she would have been dropping off and collecting anyway.  She has many years of Guiding experience, so I was surprised at the thing that surprised her most about what to me seemed like an ordinary Guide meeting, as average as they get – how much of the meeting I spent sitting in a chair sorting out the paperwork, or chatting to her, or preparing resources for a forthcoming meeting, or sorting out unit equipment – or doing all sorts of things which weren’t actually Leading (or didn’t seem to be) – that I wasn’t giving out instructions, or teaching skills, or directly interacting with the Guides, or taking them step by step through what was to be done.

 

This despite the fact that actually, I didn’t need to do that – I had given the Guides the initial instructions for the evening’s main activity, and the Patrols were then each working on the activity harmoniously and productively under the supervision of their Patrol Leaders.  So I was happy to leave it to the Patrol Leaders to do the leading, and bar wandering round a few times to see how they were getting on, and dropping any pearls of wisdom or encouragement which might be beneficial to the PLs, they needed no input from me.

 

This, after all, is girl-led Guiding, which is meant to be what we provide.  That they are provided with the means, and they then carry out the activity in their way, using their own ideas and techniques as far as possible.  Current recommendations are that Rainbow programmes should be 10% girl led – and doubtless that will mainly be either collecting their suggestions in general, or offering either/or choices regarding games and activities.  Brownie programmes should be 25% girl led – they are much more capable of choosing, and have a wider range of experiences to draw ideas from.  The older Brownies are capable of planning and running simple activities unaided if given sufficient encouragement to try it, and Sixers should be capable of organising their Sixes to carry out activities as a team, with minimal adult input, once they have the initial instructions.  By the Guide stage, the idea is 50% girl led – so twice as much as in the Brownie section, again a reflection of growing capabilities, and of the scope offered by things like GFIs, BP and Camp Permit.  Nevertheless, it still recognises that the only ideas the Guides can suggest fall into two categories – 1) things they have heard of and fancy trying; 2) things they have done before but would like to do again.  They can’t suggest anything else - because they don’t know it exists.  Senior Section, of course, is 75% girl led – it should be the direct opposite of Brownies, with the Leaders providing information, resources, advising on how the unit members can get their ideas down to brass tacks.  And all this I agree with.  To my mind, my job as a Leader in the Guide section is - to gradually work myself out of a job, at least 50% of the time!

 

That, however, brings me to my initial question.  You see, in my mind, one of the things which is an automatic part of the definition of a ‘Leader’, is someone who has followers.  To me, it’s a fundamental that unless you have followers (at least one of them), then you cannot possibly be a Leader, no matter how many of the personality traits you might care to show.  But, if my unit is girl-led, and my colleague and I are both Leaders too – then every single one of us in the unit is a Leader, so who, I have to ask, are the followers?  Answer – there aren’t any. 

 

I would suggest that actually, “Leader” is a fairly inaccurate description of my job.  My job in the unit isn’t and shouldn’t be to be the one out in the front saying “follow me”.  No, my job is not to say ‘do it my way’, my job is to advise, to suggest, to provide ideas and resources, to facilitate, in order to enable the Guides to take the lead and find their own way of doing it – in other words, to be a “Guider”.

 

So, although the book says I have to call myself “Leader”, it’s one of the few areas where I really am inclined to disagree.  If I were a Leader at my unit, I’d be a failure, because I’d be failing to let the girls take the lead at every opportunity they could do.  No, if I want to be a successful leader in Guiding, I should not be a leader.  I should be a Guider.

Proud but Nervous . . .

Today I’m feeling a mix of emotions as a Guider.  I’ll explain why.

 

For the first time in over 35 years, my unit has two Guides tackling their Patrol Camp Permit this weekend.  M and L have had a lot of training, and done a lot of preparation work, and I’m confident that they will be well organised, and will both run successful camps on their neighbouring sites.  Not only is it over 35 years since my unit had candidates for camp permit, but it is also over 25 years since anyone in my Division tried for it.  I’m looking forward to spending a weekend in the field-over-the-road, being their contact, but otherwise staying tastefully in my little tent, so they have peace to get on with it and do it their way.

 

So emotion 1 is that I am proud of them, that they are all set and ready to take on the challenge.  And emotion 2 is that I’m nervous for them, that they will have everything organised and keep the site ship-shape, that they will cope when the unexpected and impossible-to-prepare for happens, and that the assessors will be positive and kind.

 

But, and this is a very difficult thing to say – the 3^rd emotion is that I’m also proud of me.  For M was one of my Brownies for a while, and I’ve seen both M and L rise through Guides, the opportunities they’ve taken, the way they’ve matured, the skills they’ve learned.  For parts of the time I was running the Guide unit single-handed, and I’ve been Leader-in-Charge throughout their time in the Guide unit.  Over the years (and especially in the last 12 months) I’ve laid the path towards this with the camps and holidays my friends and I have run – it’s no coincidence that in recent terms my unit has covered fire safety badge and large chunks of first aid badge, that we’ve regularly had the Guides cooking on fires and on stoves, building shelters in the woods and working on Patrol challenges, that M and L camped together at last year’s camp, and I’ve run PL trainings. 

 

So often in our units we focus on the negatives.  We note the number of dropouts, without properly acknowledging the number who stick in the unit through thick and thin.  We note the times when there are low turnouts, without paying much heed to the times the turnout is good.  We agonise over the misbehaviour, and wonder whether we could be handling it better.  We worry about progress and targets, and whether our programme is balanced enough, challenging enough, up-to-date enough, engaging enough.  We worry about smartness, and rules, and other things which are very important, but not absolutely vital.

 

So I think it is right and proper that, just occasionally, just as a one-off – we take five minutes to sit back, pat ourselves on the back, and say, despite all the negatives we so often prefer to wallow in – we’re a success story and we should be proud of it!

Term on Nothing?

One of the newspapers hereabouts used to have the ‘HON Man’ – it stood for ‘Holiday On Nothing’ and suggested ways of having a family break at minimal cost, as tested out by their journalist, who was only ever referred to as the HON Man.  Well, what I am proposing is a ‘TON’ term – nothing to do with weightlifting, but simply suggestions for what to do this summer term (and beyond) if paying the annual subscriptions has left your unit somewhat rooked this time.

 

 

Step 1 – spring clean your storage.

Have you got loads oddments of craft materials which you could use for a dabble night?  Might you discover paper, paint, pens and other oddments about to go dog-eared for want of use?  Sort out what you can realistically use, what is fit to donate to a unit in a poorer area who might appreciate, what you might pass on to archives, and what is fit for nothing but throwing out.  But - before you actually do the throwing of that last category in particular, step back and think about what is in that particular pile, and why it is there.  Is it literally rubbish that was never going to have been much use for anything, or are there signs that you have been wasteful – are there felt pens with no lids on, and a batch of lids lurking in the corner of the box?  Is there paper or card which is crumpled or dog eared for want of being put away carefully, or has shapes cut out of the middle that could easily have been cut from one corner leaving most of a sheet for future use?  Are there skipping ropes full of knots because they weren’t hanked with an overhand knot before being put in the box?  Are there oddments of string or wool that could have been wound into a hank or ball but weren’t?  Are there badges or equipment you over-ordered, or  items from multipacks that were always going to be spare – and how much unit money is thus going to waste from buying things you didn’t need?  Then cast a similar critical eye over the other piles – do they suggest well-managed resources, all carefully looked after and all regularly utilised as regularly as they might be – or not?

 

Did you uncover resources or equipment which you had forgotten you had even bought or made, or older resources you could re-use?  (no need to worry about obtaining the badge originally associated with that challenge pack, just give some of the activities a go on their own merits!)  Have you got stuff in your first aid kit or cookery store cupboard which has gone out of date, or is about to – and is it over-ordering, or unavoidable?  Have you got games equipment, song books, or other resources which haven’t been used for a while?  You may well find that there is more stuff lurking than you thought - and that the programme is starting to plan itself, for the first few weeks at least, with no need to spend anything at all . . . !

 

 

Step 2 – what does your locality offer? 

Are there local clubs or societies, and if so would a member be willing to demonstrate or coach?  What about local businesses or trades – would a mechanic from the local garage be willing to have the Guides or Senior Section unit along to do some bike or car maintenance, or give advice on things to look for when viewing a second-hand car in an auction or private sale?  Would a local joiner be willing to donate some offcuts for the Guides or Brownies to make bird feeders or insect houses, and perhaps help them learn to use tools safely?  Could the countryside ranger, park keeper or environment group lead a nature walk, or give you the chance to help with some conservation work?  Could the sports club offer a taster session, perhaps in return for handing out leaflets about their youth classes?  Could someone from the women’s institute give ideas and advice on dressmaking or doing-up clothes, cookery, or other practical household skills?  Could you do a swap night with another unit – visit them to see what they do and find out what they’ve been up to recently, then host one of their leaders in exchange?  Even the most rural of communities will be able to offer someone with an interesting hobby or skill, and in urban areas you will be spoilt for choice!

 

 

Step 3 – What ideas do you have for a ‘night-on-nothing’? 

Could you do a music night, where you learn some new songs then have a sing-song or campfire?  Is there a park, a piece of waste ground, or someone’s back garden you could use to practice outdoor skills like nature study, fire building, shelter building, play outdoor games, organise a scavenger hunt or wide game?  Could you collect up some free newspapers and use them for a theme night?  If the weather is foul, why not a board games night, a bingo night or a quiz night?  Could you go for a dollar hike, or teach some skills via a dollar market?  Could you try to do 40 challenges in 40 minutes?  Stage a mini Olympics?  Could you do a good turn, such as tidying up around the war memorial (why neglect it until November embarrassment looms?), making and sending birthday cards to the Queen, sending some information to the section below about what your unit does to encourage recruitment, or having a good-turn-drive week?  How are the girls at skipping, at jumping into a long rope, at ball throwing and catching, at throwing a lifeline, or other practical dexterity skills?  Could you choose a suitable disco track and challenge the girls to make up a dance routine together?  Could they do a movement to music, or learn some campfire skits, or act out part of the Promise or Law, or make and use some percussion instruments?  Or a ‘befriend a tree night’ – where you gather in a park or wood, and each girl chooses a tree, uses a tree book to find out what sort it is, takes bark and leaf rubbings, collects a sample of it’s fruit if available, learns to identify it blindfold, estimates it’s age and height (can Guides find out about techniques which were used for doing this in the old Guide First Class challenge?).  Could you obtain identical boxes for each Six or Patrol from someone who works in an office, and challenge the girls to take these bare bedrooms and use your craft oddments to do a “60-minute makeover” on them?  Could you do a night of ‘good turn skills’ where the girls learn all sorts of things they could use for doing good turns – how to make tea, sew on buttons or badges, fold clothes, change a light bulb, construct a piece of flat-pack furniture, check a car’s oil level, change a tap washer, clean a sink, make a bed, iron a necker, read a street map and give directions, or whichever other skills you could share with the girls for them to use as good turns.  My Guides love wide games, either in the streets after dark, or on a local disused railway line on the light summer nights – loads of fun and adventure in the fresh air, and all for free!

 

 

Step 4 – what can you do to avoid the same problem next year? 

Is there equipment you could invest in, or could you be more strategic about what you buy so there is less wastage?  Are you using your funds to best advantage – spending a lot on challenge badges for activities which only last one night and could have been done for their own sake, or on badges for outings (which are unnecessary, and in several cases will be lost before the month is out anyway)?  Buying craft kits from catalogues when it’s invariably cheaper to invest in components in bulk instead, which can then be used several times over in differing ways?  (If you buy sets of glass paints or pens of a given brand, you can use them on plastic baubles at Christmas, on glass tumblers, on candle votives, on jam jars, on acetate to make window clings – and they can be used several times over a number of years and would only need occasional replenishing with ones of the same shade – whereas if you buy a kit of baubles and paints you will only get a one-off use, with at most a few dregs of colours you haven’t a make or colour code for, so can’t obtain matching top-ups for anyway)!  Are all your girls paid up-to-date with their subs or do you need to do some ‘credit control’ work to ensure that everyone is paying their share, and that you have applications in to the County hardship fund for any families which are struggling (again, this shouldn’t come out of unit funds)?  Have you got your Gift Aid up to date, and have all the parents been approached about it, in case more have become eligible to donate in this way, or new recruits hadn’t been asked yet?  Have you a list of sources for grants and other funding which you could utilise if you had a project to invest in?  Is fundraising on your schedule?

 

 

Step 5 – Plan your spending. 

Sure, if your unit is like mine then there is a long list of things you would love to buy if money and storage were both no object.  But given both are probably significant objects, what are the bare minimums you need to buy over the next 12 months – the badges and books the girls are entitled to and should receive, the official publications the unit should be buying in order to keep the programme fresh and the library current, the bills which are foreseeable.  Secondly, what long-term things are you thinking about?  So are there tents which will need to be replaced in due course, or are you saving up towards camp or holiday equipment, or a major trip happening next year?  Would you like to invest in something you could get a lot of use out of, like a parachute, or an altar fireplace?  Have you a major event coming up such as an international trip (to a UK international event or to somewhere abroad) or a unit anniversary?  And finally, plan your optional investments.  Think about getting the best value for each thing you buy – so will it be the skipping ropes from the bargain store, which never seem to last more than a term or two, or investing some money in sash window cord, or line from the ship’s chandlers, which you could cut into lengths and knot the ends of, so it will be sound for 10 years or more of hard use?  Buy some ready-made bean bags, or buy some good sturdy cotton or canvas fabric to make some much more sturdy ones which would be easy to repair when the time comes?  Ask around about which types of felt pens last, and put the Sixers or oldest Rainbows in charge of ensuring all the pens have their lids on properly before the box is put away so they don’t dry up?  Talk to other units which share your hall about buying some resources jointly – does it really make sense for each unit to have it’s own parachute, or paints and brushes, or stoves, or whatever it might happen to be which you would each only be using a few times a year and not simultaneously, when you could split the cost and share the use so that everyone’s money and storage space goes further?  Could you have a joint ‘library’ of reference books and resource packs which live in the hall?  Need both Guide units own a full set of Go For Its, given each would only be using half a dozen at a time?

 

Final Thought

I’m not suggesting scrimping and saving over every little thing.  Or literally not spending a penny on anything whatsoever all term.  All I’m saying is, remember that old Guide Law about “A Guide is Thrifty” and the old saw about looking after the pennies – we are custodians of other people’s money, and there are lots of ways in which you can have a term on next-to-nothing without the programme feeling curtailed at all!