Pip’s Perspective – a message from the Chief Commissioner
pipmck@girlguidinglaser.org.uk
Twitter: @PipMcKerrow
LaSER Walks MILES
14 units/individuals have so far logged miles and one unit has logged a massive 800 miles – Thank-you! So when more units log miles we could go far. Next stop Sangam (5681 miles) – when will we get there?
Thank you to those who have started to log some miles.
Please do continue to, or start to log how far you or your unit have walked. It’s certainly not too late to start this challenge.
How far can LaSER walk in Summer Term 2014?
The aim of the challenge is to encourage all LaSER members to get out and walk – whether to school, work or for ‘a walk’.
As a leader all that is required for you is to
• ask your girls to record the miles they walk
• award certificates after particular distances have been achieved (these are cumulative distances a bit like the Nights Away badge)
• log the certificates awarded or simply the miles your unit has walked
You can include walks from the first day after Easter: Tuesday 22nd April.
Open to all sections including Leaders and Trefoil.
You could consider doing this with the LaSER Walking Challenge.
Become a Step Up to Serve Young Trustee
Step Up to Serve are looking for 2 young people who are committed to youth social action. They are looking for people aged 18-25 to serve on their Board of Trustees. Do you have what it takes to stand up and represent the views of other young people? This is a chance to use the skills that you have gained during your social action journey with Girlguiding! On top of that you will learn new skills with Step Up to Serve’s training.
They are also looking for young people with experience in areas such as communications, working with business, capturing data, quality assurance or education. Note your expertise down on your application form and you could be asked to join one of Step Up To Serve’s working groups!
Deadline: 11 June at midday.
Senior Section Survey Monkey Feedback
242 young women completed our recent communication survey monkey. We wanted to understand better how to communicate with members of the Senior Section and here are the results:
The favourite way to receive news and information about Girlguiding is by email (86.7%) followed by websites (38.6%) and Facebook (36.0%). Paper beats Twitter 26.1% versus 15.4%) with text messages coming last (10.3%).
58.8% of Senior Section members say they receive the Raspberry Ripple (41.2% do not).
One in four young women say that they are not aware of what is happening in the region and the opportunities available to them. Please do spread the word that Ripple is available online via our website and that Twitter and Facebook are a great way to keep up with the latest news.
A few of the survey respondents mentioned that it is difficult to pick out the relevant section from the Ripple. So you’ll notice that from today onwards that those sections with specific stories/opportunities are colour coded.
It was also interesting to note that quite a few young women mentioned how nice it is to receive information by post. Certainly worth considering if the information you want to disseminate is particularly important.
Thanks to everyone who participated!
Octavia Hill Awards 2014
Nominations are due for the Octavia Hill Awards 2014, and time is short with a closing date of this Saturday!
The awards recognise volunteers, professionals and groups who commit time, energy and resources to sparking young people’s interest in nature and the outdoors. It would be fantastic if we could nominate Girlguiding volunteers for this Award as it would be great to profile some of the amazing things our local volunteers have been doing to connect girls with nature.
The Octavia Hill Awards are organised by The Wild Network and BBC Countryfile Magazine and there are three nomination categories which are: volunteers, professionals and groups. The nominations are judged by a panel of experts before being put to a public online poll. The overall winners will then be announced and their achievements featured in the September issue of BBC Countryfile Magazine. Last year the Octavia Hill Awards attracted more than 140 nominations, with over 10,000 votes cast online to decide the winner.
Information about how you can nominate volunteers for this award can be found on the Countryfile website.
Nominations could include a Leader who has taught her girls outdoor skills such as camping, bird watching or building shelters, or a Leader who has made an effort to take her girls out and about and inspired her girls to understand nature and enjoy the outdoors.
Becoming a Prospective Trainer - my own adventure
I had been thinking about getting involved in Training for Girlguiding for a while but wanted to understand more about what it would mean for me. My job involves me talking to lots of people and I thought it would be great to use these skills doing something I love - talking about Girlguiding!!
I applied and my County, London South West, were really supportive! Since then I have been given a tutor- she is/ has been great in letting me know what is expected as well as offering me support and the odd challenge!!
I have done lots of background reading and have learnt so much about training theory which I am now getting to put into practice. I delivered my first training in November and, although it was a bit daunting at first, I enjoyed the challenge.
It has been great meeting Leaders from other Counties. I have gained a better understanding of the similarities and differences of what we do in our own guiding areas.
I am delivering another few trainings over the next few months and I am looking forward to meeting lots more new people and learning even more new skills. My next challenge is training about Brownie Leadership to new leaders and then I am going to deliver some training about the Guide Programme - it's a while since I have been a Guide Leader so I have some revision to do first!!
Hannah Crane - Prospective Trainer
Yellow is the new Raspberry!
Round Up of events from across the Region
The Big Brownie Birthday certainly seems to be in full swing across the Region and it is great to receive pictures and stories of what is going on in your areas. Please send them into Cleo at the Region office, so we can continue to share with everyone.
Here are a few from the past couple of weeks:
All sections from Girguiding Hayes District in Girlguiding Greater London Kent County came together for a celebration day to do all things based around Brownies and their history. They were split into groups for the day with girls from each section coming together, where from Rainbows up to Guides made friends and helped each other throughout the day.
As part of their Stay Away, Brownies from Girlguiding Balham & Tooting District in Girlguiding London South West, went to London Zoo. While there, they learned about the Lions, met the Monkeys and peered at the Penguins but their favourite was being landing spots in the Butterfly Paradise. Also as part of their Stay Away the girls made pizzas, gained their cooks badge and played party games all before bed.
Leela from 3rd Upper Tooting Brownies said: ‘I loved that we got to make our own dinners, I didn’t like having to sleep as there was still so much fun to have and we wanted everyone to have a midnight feast!’
Girlguiding Kent West
1000 Brownies flocked to Ebbsfleet Football Club on Sunday 18th May for a celebration of the Brownie Big Birthday.
On arrival they were excited to receive a goody bag which contained, among many things, a booklet with lots of fun things to do in it from finding the answers to questions about how Brownies started to Star Quest questions and getting autographs of special people invited to attend. All of the answers were to be found on posters around the pitch.
A huge Zumba dance of Brownies and their leaders covering the pitch was a sight that has never been seen at Ebbsfleet Football Club before.
The event finished with a huge camp fire which the girls sung so loudly that they could have been heard in the houses nearby.
We were really pleased to welcome Pip McKerrow and Julie Bentley and the Mayor of Dartford.
The 70th Anniversary of D-Day
Commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day on 6th of June. This concert is being broadcast live on BBC Radio 2 between 8pm and 10pm and streamed live to 180 cinemas across the UK.