www.girlguiding.org.uk
Girlguiding UK is the largest voluntary organisation for girls and
young women, in the UK, with 620,000 members. Members are aged 5 – 65 and
follow diverse, educational and active programmes to suit their age and
ability. The different sections are:
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Rainbows 5 –7 year olds (4 – 7 in Ulster)
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Brownies 7 – 10 year olds
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Guides 10 – 14 year olds
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Senior Section and Young Leaders 14 – 26
year olds
The
different sections are run by adult volunteers in church and school halls,
guide and scout huts, and other community centres across the UK. To be
come an adult volunteer an individual needs to contact their local guiding
community and they will then match them up with a unit in their area.
Adults can just be unit helpers on a rota system through to training for
their guiding warrant card to become a fully qualified leader. Every unit
must have at least one warranted leader.
Rainbows
Rainbows are Girlguiding UK’s youngest
members. They have weekly meetings where they get to play games, sing,
cook, make things and have story time. They also do outside activities
when the weather permits and go on activity trips suitable for their age
group. They are identified by brightly coloured tabards with a rainbow
logo on the front.
Brownies
Brownies are the most
popular section with over 300,000 girls attending every week. Brownies are
currently travelling through a very exciting phase in their history. 2004
is their 90th birthday, so there are lots of celebration
parties happening all over the UK throughout the year. They have recently
had a new programme to follow, called the Brownie Adventure, and the girls
have new, fun, versatile and fashionable wear, designed by Ally Capellino.
Brownies also get to go on Pack Holidays, which can be camping or in youth
hostels, and pursue a number of outdoor activities with their units when
the weather is suitable.
Guides
Guides have gone through a number of changes
since they were founded by Lord Baden-Powell in 1910. Over the years, the
units have always been very forward thinking and have followed
contemporary activities for their age group, and today’s Guides are no
exception.
The
current Guide programme is full of fun, exciting and educational
activities. From construction to chocolate, football to photography there
are a variety of topics for the girls to learn. Their programme includes
the traditional badges and the new Go For It! Challenges. Today’s Guides
also have the opportunity to go away on camps both within the UK, and
international trips, and they also get to see the latest pop acts at the
exclusive to Guides annual ‘Big Gig’ concert.
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Senior Section
The Senior Section are the oldest section with
young women being able to stay until they are 26 years. The young women
get to pursue many exciting activities such as their Queen’s Guide Award
and apply to travel abroad on a GOLD trip (Guiding Overseas Linked with
Development) where they are able to assist with guiding in both developed
and developing countries. In the UK, as well as the Queen’s Guide award,
Senior Section members are encouraged to take part in the Peer Education
Scheme and assist running units for younger sections. The Senior Section
are encouraged to work towards personal development and recognised award
schemes, rather than the badge programmes that the younger members follow.
Take our Daughters to
Work
Take our Daughters to Work is a national
initiative for schools, youth groups and Girlguiding UK units to
participate in. It happens annually in late spring and is a day when the
nations adults are encouraged to take the nations daughters into their
work place to teach them about career prospects available to women. If
visiting a workplace is not an available option, teachers, youth workers
and unit leaders are encouraged to hold career sessions, educating girls
about the workplace, asking friends and parents to give presentations
about their jobs. It can be as simple as dedicating a lesson or meeting to
helping girls think about careers and what educational paths they may need
to follow to get to do what they want in the future.
To find
out more about Take our Daughters to Work, how to register and get
involved, visit:
www.girlguiding.org.uk/daughters
Additional
Facilities Girlguiding UK can offer Schools:
Girlguiding UK can offer
schools services through its ICANDO centre and Training and Activity
Centres.
ICANDO
The ICANDO centre is in the lower ground floor of
Girlguiding UK Headquarters on Buckingham Palace Road, London. It is an
indoor-activity and sleepover centre. The activities include building a
bridge, a performance stage, a puppet theatre and a multitude of other
games. The centre is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 4.30pm and costs
£4.75 per person.
The centre can also be hired for sleepovers on a Friday
night. Its central location means it is ideal as a place to stay for a
trip to the capital city. To hire the centre, you must have a minimum of
24 people to take part in the sleepover.
For more information on booking a visit or sleepover at
the ICANDO centre, phone: 020 7592 1818 or email:
heritage@girlguiding.org.uk
More information on the ICANDO can be found on the
Girlguiding UK website:
www.girlguiding.org.uk
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Training and Activity Centres
Girlguiding UK has 3 Training and Activity
Centres. All can hold a range of activities from camps for children
through to adult activity days and conferences. More information on how
the facilties available, booking availability and costs visit:
www.girlguiding.org.uk/tacs |
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Recruitment
If you are interested in
becoming a leader, starting a unit within your school or community, or
finding out about the nearest unit meeting for your daughter/ward then
phone 0800 1 69 59 01 or apply via email on:
join.us@girlguiding.org.uk
Regretfully, due to data protaction acts and child safety we are unable to
publish the details of all unit meetings on the web. If you contact the
Girlguiding UK Membership team through the phone number or email address
above you will be directed to someone in your area who can assist you with
all of your membership queries.
www.girlguiding.org.uk
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