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Parkwood Division covers the Oakwood, Gipton, Osmondthorpe, Harehills and Roundhay areas of Leeds. There are 33 Rainbow, Brownie, Guide and Ranger groups, led by a team of fantastic volunteers. 

In early December, Parkwood division held a virtual panto-themed sleepover, with over 110 young members signing up for different activities throughout the weekend. Activities included snowflake making, storytelling, a laughing yoga session, watching the Girlguiding Sisterhood in the Wood pantomime, a Zoom-campfire, bingo, a quiz and plenty of Christmassy games. Teaching over 70 people to make pizzas from scratch over Zoom was certainly an experience for the leaders – but was loved by the girls. 

Aside from the division-wide event, we’ve been really proud that most of our groups have managed to keep in contact with their girls through post, email, some face-to-face outdoor sessions when we were able to and lots of virtual meetings. 

Guides from Parkwood division joined others from around the North East England region at the virtual International Community Experience (ICE) weekend, where they planned community action projects, had a virtual peer education session and took part in a cooking challenge.  As well as welcoming new girls into our units, a special welcome goes to Kate (6^th Roundhay Rainbows) and Tally (6^th Roundhay Guides) who have moved to the area as leaders. A special thank you also goes to Emily and Lesley who have taken over 7^th Roundhay Rainbows and got the group going again with a term of fun and exciting Zoom sessions. 

At Girlguiding Leeds we have a Wellbeing Team who have volunteered to support our leaders and other volunteers on mental health matters. They will be gathering together resources and sharing tips & ideas to help all our members.

From 1 -7 February this year, it is Children’s Mental Health Week, so here the team share some homeschooling tips for parents:

Tips for parents homeschooling children and supporting wellbeing

Homeschooling can be difficult for parents and children. To make things easier and more enjoyable for everyone, it’s best to establish a positive environment at home.

1. Distinguish between weekdays and weekends, to separate school life and home life.

2. Designate a working space if possible.

3. Create and stick to a routine with start and finish times. Children could eat breakfast at the same time each morning and get dressed before starting the school-day.

4. Make time for exercise, breaks and lunch throughout the day.

5. Stick a timetable up on the wall so everyone knows what they should be doing when, and tick tasks off when completed.  Remember, expectations need to be realistic given the circumstances. Include outside activities and device downtimes to keep everyone active!

6. Celebrate success! Encourage children to share their learning with family members, school friends and teachers via e-mail or their school learning platform. Give positive feedback as much as possible!

7. Keep in email contact with the class teacher as you and your children may need help with accessing or completing tasks. Teachers will help as much as they can by adapting them or providing support.

8. And finally, congratulate yourself on a job well done!  Be kind to yourself – you are not an experienced teacher nor does your child’s school expect you to be! You are doing your very best in an extremely challenging situation and supporting your child’s wellbeing now is the priority.

Remember, it’s important for you to not overstretch yourself and take care of your own mental wellbeing. 

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.