Guides & Brownies Celebrate 100 Years of Guiding

On Wednesday 20th October 2010 over half a million girls and women across the country were celebrating the end of their 100 year Guiding celebrations. Two Brownies packs based in Castle Bromwich and one from Water Orton joined the 1st Castle Bromwich Guides and Senior Section to make this special night one to remember. The night started with a disco and then all the girls renewed their promises at 20:10. All guiding groups in the country renewed their promise at exactly the same time, 20:10 on the 20th October 2010 which was 20:10 20/10/2010.

In 1910 Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouts, formed the Girls Guides and asked his sister Agnes to look after the group. This was due to a small number of girls joining a Scouting Rally announcing that they wanted to be Girl Scouts, but when he founded the group he decided they should have a separate identity, allowing them to work for self-development independently. Since the group began millions of girls across the world have made their Guide promise. Today there are ten million girls and women involved in Guiding across the world.

Over the past 12 months Brownies and Guides around the world have been taking part in numerous activities to celebrate the first 100 years of Guiding. In June hundreds of girls from across Warwickshire were invited to attend a Picnic in The Park, with entertainment from singers and dancers across the region along face painting and cake stands. In August over a thousand girls from all over the world gathered for the Centenary Camp, Arden 2010. During the week groups from America, Japan and Australia amongst other places came together to share their Guiding experiences and traditions and to commemorate the centenary with a party night.

If you are interested in Girlguiding please contact 0800 1695901.

This article was written by Gemma Seedhouse as part of her Adult Leadership Qualification.