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Girlguiding Nottinghamshire 2012 to 2016

 

 Exciting, Flourishing, Evolving

 

Welcome to Girlguiding Nottinghamshire’s County Plan. I am proud to be part of such a flourishing county; I will never forget the 12,000 flashing bunny ears at Countdown 100, at the start of our Centenary celebrations! We are known throughout the Midlands Region for the quality of the guiding we deliver to our girls and young women, whether through unit meetings or large-scale county events. So why do we need a County Plan?

It is important that we don’t just reminisce about our past accomplishments but build on our successes and continue to create new opportunities and activities in order to be relevant to today’s girls. We can only do this if guiders throughout the county know what we are trying to achieve, understand their part in it and feel properly supported in their roles.

Our plan is divided into five areas: Adventure and discovery, Supporting our leaders, Getting our voice heard, Our properties, and Bigger and better. We will develop and deliver these areas through our existing teams: Training, Properties, Senior section, and Marketing and communications, as well as setting up 4 new teams: Events, Community action, Discover, and the Brownie Centenary.

For the plan to work, we need everyone to be involved whether you are a unit guider or a member of your district, division or county team. All we ask is that you take a little time to think about the plan, to talk it through with other members of your team – perhaps at a district or division meeting - and think about what you could do to make our plans a reality. Perhaps you would like to be involved in one of the new teams or perhaps you would like to take your girls camping or on a trip overseas? Whatever the role you decide to play, it will be important in guaranteeing that Girlguiding Nottinghamshire is exciting, flourishing and evolving.

 

Thank you for everything you do for Girlguiding in the county.

County Commissioner

January 2012

To View the County Plan click here

 

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Carlton’s Aisleigh Travels to Scotland to Collect Top Award

 

Aisleigh Webb from Carlton received Girlguiding UK’s top accolade at a special ceremony in Scotland last week. The coveted Queen’s Guide Award was presented to Aisleigh – a member of Girlguiding Nottinghamshire - by Chief Guide Gill Slocombe, who is herself a Queen’s Guide.

More than 20 young women from around the UK joined Aisleigh at Dalmeny House near Edinburgh to receive their Queen’s Guide Awards, which see participants take the lead in developing personal skills, working within community projects and overseeing ambitious outdoor pursuits.

Aisleigh, 26, is a Guider with the 25th Nottingham (St Ann’s) Brownies and Rangers, which meet weekly at the St Ann with Emmanuel Church in the city centre. She embarked on a range of challenging activities during the course of her award programme, including raising funds to take her unit to Lorne in Northern Ireland and working with the church to send blankets to a hospital in Romania.

 

‘When I took my unit to Lorne, I realised how much I enjoyed travelling and working with children and young people in St Ann’s, and the experience led me to develop a career in this field.’ she says. ‘Guiding has changed my life and given me a passion for working with girls and young women in this area of Nottingham. Guiding gives these girls a voice and opens up a whole world of opportunities that otherwise may not be possible.’

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Guides Cruise to Collect Awards

 

Seven girls from the 51st Nottingham (Sherwood Methodist Church) Guide Unit were presented with their Baden-Powell Challenge certificates last week during a moonlit cruise on board The Trent Lady riverboat. The Unit meets weekly at Sherwood Methodist Church and other members and parents joined in the celebrations as the Trent Lady sauntered its way down the Trent.

The BP Challenge is the highest award a Guide can achieve. In addition to having to gain at least two Guide Challenge Badges and interest badges, the seven girls – who are all aged 14 and come from Lady Bay, Carrington, Mapperley, Woodthorpe and Arnold - also completed ten specific challenges. These were across five different zones, embracing Healthy Lifestyles, Global Awareness, Discovery, Skills & Relationships and Celebrating Diversity.

The Guides’ activities included staging a fashion show using charity shop finds, learning First Aid, hill-walking in the Peak District and pursuing hobbies ranging from horse riding to playing the piano. The group all then completed their BP Challenge by taking part in residential adventures, with some camping in the giant indoor tent at ICANDO, Girlguiding UK’s activity centre in central London.

‘The BP Challenge is just that – a real challenge - and we’re really proud of these Guides for achieving so much,’ says Girlguiding Nottinghamshire County Commissioner Kate Royse. ‘We also have to thank the Unit’s Leaders and volunteers for helping them to succeed.’

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GOLD in Armenia for Mansfield Brownie Leader

A member of Girlguiding Nottinghamshire has just returned from Armenia, where she took part in a series of challenging community development projects.

Jade Bennett, 20, from Kirkby-in-Ashfield is Assistant Leader of 8th Mansfield Brownies and travelled to Eastern Europe with five other members of Girlguiding UK as part of GOLD – the Guiding Overseas Linked with Development scheme. The group spent more than three weeks in Armenia, working on community initiatives such as leadership training and recruitment sessions to encourage girls and women to become involved in the organisation.

‘The highlight of the trip was being greeted by around 40 girls at one of our recruitment days,’ says Jade. ‘They were holding balloons and singing songs, which made us feel so welcome and appreciated. It was a lovely moment.’ Jade also struck gold herself: in recognition of her leadership abilities, she has been selected to lead another Girlguiding UK GOLD team to Armenia next year in order to continue developing the project.

The GOLD project is open to all Girlguiding UK members aged 17-30 and has created opportunities for voluntary work as far afield as Honduras, Madagascar, Russia, South Africa and Thailand since the project began some 20 years ago. Participants are expected to meet their own travel and expenses as part of the challenge and Jade raised funds ahead of her trip by holding a Mansfield Division disco, a car boot sale and taking part in bag-packing.

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Becky Flys the Flag for Girlguiding Nottinghamshire

 

‘I spent a lot of time on the help desk, checking everyone in, dealing with queries and making sure people were in the right place at the right time,’ says Becky. ‘I was also assigned to door duties, which meant preventing people from entering during voting times. That was tricky at times!’

A member of Girlguiding Nottinghamshire’s Ranger Unit in her home village of Ruddington, Becky Howie is a Young Leader with the 2nd Ruddington Brownies and was a volunteer at last year’s Girlguiding UK Centenary Camp, whetting her appetite to join the WAGGGS conference support team. Having just finished her AS levels, she starts A level courses in English Literature/Language, Chemistry, Psychology and History at Rushcliffe School in West Bridgford in September. Becky is also a county finalist in the YOPEY (Young People of the Year) awards.

how decisions are made,’ explains Becky. ‘It was great to feel a part of something this big and I gained so much respect for the women there after hearing their stories. My time at the Conference also reinforced what I love about Guiding - the opportunities to meet people from around the world, to achieve amazing things and to really make a difference, not only in our own communities but also worldwide.’

Kate Royse, County Commissioner for Girlguiding Nottinghamshire, added ‘I’m delighted that Becky has made the most of this fantastic opportunity. As well as gaining an insight into how such a large event works, she clearly has come home with many stories and experiences to share.’

 

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FIVE NEW QUEEN’S GUIDES

Five Senior Section members from Nottinghamshire have just completed their Queen’s Guide Award and all got together for the first time a couple of weeks ago. They are Kayleigh Hunt from 86th Nottingham, Kirsty Ulyatt from Mansfield, Katrina Stiles from 53rd Nottingham Brownies, Emma Glebocki from Eastwood and Esme Armour from Woodthorpe. Kate Royse said of them ‘We’re always extra-proud of our Queen’s Guides, who work so very hard and achieve so much, but, as far as our records show,we’ve never before had five girls completing their award at the same time, so theirachievement

is even more remarkable than usual. Well done to them all!’

Hello from Kate

Just wanted to say a big thank you for everyone's good wishes at the start of my appointment.

It’s been fantastic so far and I think we are going to have a very exciting 5 years. Firstly I am very lucky to have Clair Sharman and Joanne Bardgett on board as my new assistant county commissioners (look out for them around the county) they have already been making a big impact. So what’s been happening? Well firstly we have set up a weekend in October when all the division commissioners, advisors and I hope some of you as well will join us to plan what we want to achieve over the next five years. If you have ideas let your commissioners know, I'd like to hear them - how can we make guiding better in Nottinghamshire? We have the Brownie centenary to plan for and of course we want to increase and open up opportunities for more girls and young women in the county. I'm very keen to see Nottinghamshire grow in strength and numbers. What about next year? Well two events are at the planning stage - all I can say at the moment is collect cardboard boxes and get your union jacks ready (for more information keep an eye on our web pages and the Informer). Finally look out of me in next months guiding magazine (how exciting is that?)

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A big ‘THANK YOU’ to Dee and Susan

THANK YOU to Dee and Susan for leading Girlguiding Nottinghamshire into our second century! There aren’t adequate words to say how much we appreciate all your hard work, and I’m sure Nottinghamshire’s Guiders will agree that you have made a huge impact on our guiding experience.

If I have to select just one thing to remember about the last five years, then it must be the new level in ‘mega-event’ organisation that Nottinghamshire achieved for the centenary - will any of us ever forget the thousands of bunny ears at Countdown 100? However, the job of running Girlguiding Nottinghamshire is about much more than these big events. It’s also about the day-to-day things that go on in the background to keep the organisation running smoothly, and we all appreciate the quiet support and advice that Dee and Susan have given to those who have needed it. So thank you both for everything that you have done for Girlguiding Nottinghamshire.

It has all been brilliant!

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