Author: Sarah Drake

Abbeywood Division includes Meanwood, Headingley, Kirkstall and Armley. We are a fun division with 27 units including Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers. Our groups are led by a team of enthusiastic leaders who usually enjoy taking their girls on adventures.

Like everyone else, we’ve been unable run sleepovers and camps because of covid – but we’ve still found ways to keep our units running and welcome new young members into our groups.

Some groups met outdoors face-to-face (whilst we were allowed) in local parks and did various activities including learning to use a compass, having a picnic, going seed collecting with a park ranger, making kites, and playing hide and seek in the woods. There was even a ‘camp day’ at the local Scout campsite, where girls lit fires with flint and steel, toasted marshmallows, built dens and played a wide game.

Other units have been meeting on Zoom, with activities including baking, craft, percussion workshops and games nights. One group even made fruit crumbles over video call (which was as interesting as it was fun!), whilst another had an evening of animal encounters – meeting a snake, parrot, tortoise and tenrec!

Some groups have been providing activity packs for their girls, with challenges ranging from finding out about strokes to creating pictures from natural objects.

Volunteers in the division have been busy too, attending virtual first response refreshers and Safe Space trainings to ensure they can continue to provide safe meetings for their members.

We are sure it won’t surprise anyone to know that Templefields gets part of it’s name from one of our well known historic sites – Temple Newsam. The grounds and parkland are regularly used by the many units that are just a short walk away. This has been more of a challenge during 2020, but we are Girlguiding, so we will find a way! Some units are meeting virtually and encouraging girls to have ‘Adventures at Home’.

The ‘fields’ part of Templefields also has a historic element to it too. Although many have now been built upon, there have always been fields to the north of our division that surround the villages of Scholes, Barwick-in-Elmet and Aberford. Like lots of fields in our area, one of these was the site of a famous battle in Anglo Saxon times. Of course, we are more likely to use fields for camping these days, but sadly our Brownie and Guide holidays had to be cancelled or postponed.

To make up for missing out, some of our units held virtual camps instead. Some girls were brave enough to camp in their back gardens, whilst some made sleeping pods to camp indoors. There was lots of cooking, baking, eating, making and even some virtual campfires.

Colton Rainbows, Brownies and Guides usually meet at Temple Newsam at the end of the summer term for a picnic. They decided that if they couldn’t get to Temple Newsam, they would bring Temple Newsam to them, with a virtual picnic on Zoom. The staff at Temple Newsam house did a Tik Tok video in period costume and a podcast from Jimmy at the farm tending to the very cute farm animals. In return the Brownies painted stones with pretty patterns and flowers to put in the walled garden.

1^st Manston Guides managed to squeeze in a couple of sessions outdoors over the summer months and really enjoyed a rare opportunity to see each other in person. 2^nd Halton Guides have been even braver and continued to meet outdoors for as long as they were able to in the Autumn term. Well done to the leaders who have done a great job at adapting to whatever the weather has thrown at them!

2^nd Halton Guides tried out some interest badges and had a ‘Bake Off’ challenge; the girls baked up a storm and 8 of them completed their confectionary badge. The leaders across our division loved choosing the winners from photos but it’s a shame there was no tasting!

Whilst we have all been busy adapting to a new way of Girlguiding, one of our deputy division commissioners was also busy adapting her wedding – congratulations to Lucy who got married in the summer!

Congratulations to all the girls who have earned their first badge, completed their first theme award, earned their Bronze or Silver awards or just joined in and challenged themselves to do something new.

Well done to Sarah, Emily, Vicky and Laura who completed their Leadership qualifications this year, and to Gemma who completed her Going Away With license. 

Whilst it’s difficult to plan anything at the moment, as Division Commissioner I am really looking forward to when we can meet in person again as I will have so many awards to hand out, and we can celebrate all our achievements and what a great team we are in Templefields. 

BBC Children in Need and Girlguiding have come together to celebrate Pudsey’s 40th year.  Girlguiding are challenging their Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers and volunteers to take their age, the age of their Unit, or the collective age of their family, and turn it into a fundraiser.  

The Act Your Age campaign is designed to be flexible so that girls can take part whether they are meeting online, in person, or even if they are not currently meeting at this time.  A Unit can be set a challenge as part of a Unit meeting, or they can be supported to take on a fundraising challenge at home.  A six year old Rainbow could bake six cakes, or a Unit that’s 13 years old could run a virtual half-marathon.  It could be the distance you cover, the duration of a particular challenge, or the number of things you do – whatever it is, you’ll be helping to make a difference to young lives across the UK.  And of course, there is a great badge which you can buy for £1.50 from Girlguiding’s online shop which represents both organisations and their mission and commitment to helping children and young people in the UK.

The fundraising period runs from 19th October to 13th November – Children in Need’s big night.  All the money raised through fundraising should be paid to Children in Need via their JustGiving page, and half of this will be returned to Girlguiding.  They will use 25% to support national Guiding projects, with the other 25% going back into local Guiding in the form of grant aid for units in areas of deprivation or that are experiencing hardship.  Girlguiding have secured external funding to support these grants and more information on how to apply will be released by Girlguiding before the end of the year.  

Coronavirus has put many charities, including Girlguiding, in a challenging financial position.  By fundraising through this campaign you will be supporting Girlguiding at a national level, as well as helping to support Units – meaning more will be able to stay open and more girls will be able to continue enjoying the amazing opportunities Guiding has to offer. 

However you feel able to give your support, whether by taking on a challenge or buying a Pudsey badge, you will be helping to make a difference to young people across the UK.   Further details can be found on the Girlguiding Website – click here.  

Elmwood division covers the villages and towns of Garforth, Kippax, Allerton Bywater, Swillington, Methley, Rothwell, Oulton, Woodlesford and Lofthouse.  We are a division that covers a large area and we have 31 units of varying sizes covering all four sections led by 143 volunteers.

Since lockdown leaders who have been able to have been communicating and meeting online with the girls wherever possible.  Some units have held Zoom meetings every week and taken part in a huge variety or fun activities and games, including mug cakes, virtual zoo visits, crafts, baking challenges, drumming workshops, quizzes, scavenger hunts, escape rooms, skill builders and unit meeting activities (UMAs).

Other units have communicated by email and given weekly challenges or delivered activity packs for the girls to complete and one unit held a Virtual Village Show for their Brownies with lots of categories to choose from and prizes to be won. Categories included a bunch of flowers, wobbliest vegetable, sandwich, miniature garden, something made with a  power tool and lots more, it all looked like great fun.

There have been virtual camps for Rainbows, Brownies and Guides with den building and lots of fun challenges to take part in. Some of our members took part in the Girlguiding Adventures at Home and Wellies and Wristbands online was a popular event too. Lockdown has inspired and provided the time for some girls to complete interest badge and consequently some Theme awards have been gained, which in turn has meant that we have awarded one Silver and six Bronze awards.

In September one Guide unit returned to outdoor face-to-face Girlguiding, alternating weekly bubbles of 15 and Zoom. The Guides outdoors have been busy lighting fires, cooking and playing games. The weather has been kind so far but they do have firepit to keep warm.

Volunteers in the division have been busy too as we have held several division meetings via Zoom and held two virtual first response refreshers for leaders who needed to update their first response training. On two occasions we have offered our young leaders a space to meet together on Zoom and several of our young leaders have joined in and taken the opportunity to share activities and get to know each other and one young leader has now completed her Young Leader qualification.

Gillian Ainsley

Elmwood Division Commissioner