County Newsletter July 2009

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• From the County Commissioner
  • Dear all
  • Three years ago, when I was first approached about the County Commissioner role, the then Region Commissioner said there were two big things in the offing. There were changes to processes around Leader registration and the Census - Streamline - and there was the Centenary. Well, both of them look to be arriving soon.
  • As yet we do not have an exact date for the arrival of the Streamline system GO!, but it is likely to be with us in the early autumn. We will let you know when we hear more. Will we see any differences in our lives? Probably not immediately as we learn new ways, but we are assured it will make life easier. Talk to your local Key User if you have any concerns but really, let's wait and see.
  • The Centenary is much more exciting and more certain to arrive on time. Wherever I go, I see people gearing up for the Launch on September 5th, and preparing those activities to make the day really special. I have been to a number of meetings where I have heard about the plans and about what is being arranged. It sounds all truly amazing and huge fun, but the logistics are amazing. For some people there may be something they would not have done that way, but we should all be going along with what those that have considered the problem from all angles advise. There is a small team working heroically to deliver a special day to a very large group, and I for one am very thankful. Be patient and have faith - it will be great. And those ladies deserve our collective thanks.
  • On the Launch, did you know that some of the girls at Crystal Palace in 1909 were from Reigate? They had joined their brothers in forming a Scout group in 1909. We have a piece of history on our doorstep.
  • Anyone would think I spend my time at meetings - well yes, a lot of it. I saw the current plan for the Centenary camp and the range of things planned recently. Lots of bright ideas there are planned, from big adventurous to quiet craft, there is food, things Guides love and discos and essentially - fun all week. Watch this space and don't miss out.
  • I hope you all enjoy yourselves in September. Lets all make it the best birthday ever in Surrey East.
  • Enjoy the summer
  • Margaret Frosztega - County Commissioner
  • PS- I hope you like the diary - a special edition just for Leaders in the Region. A treat for you as a souvenir.
• Vacancies
  • No one has volunteered to step into Heloise's shoes as Archivist so I will approach some of the local history groups. Meanwhile, Veronica Ballard has volunteered to look after the display of old photos at the Launch and Jenny Kempsell is looking after the old uniforms that will be there. If anyone would like to help either Veronica or Jenny please get in touch.
  • Senior Section Advisor. Anne-Marie is stepping down. Thank you for your efforts.
  • Boating Advisor. We have a new Boating Advisor. I do not have contact details yet so please contact Shirley Gunner if you need advice and she will provide the details.
• Advance Notice
  • The Recruitment Training Workshop that was so well received will be run again - planned for 7th November. As before, Districts will be able to send along two people and we urge Districts that did not attend before to try this time.
• Also for your diary, November 22nd at Guildford there will be a Centenary Service for Girlguiding in the Cathedral. Each district will be issued 12 places. Suggestions of VIPs to Betty Mayes or Margaret please.
• Copy for the County Newsletter
  • The County Newsletter is published at the beginning of February, May, July and October of each year.
  • The deadline for guaranteed inclusion is the 15th of the previous month.
  • Please give a contact name and email and telephone number with every contribution (even if you wish it published anonymously), and mention that it is for the County Newsletter, especially in the email subject.
  • It would be a great help to the Editor if items for the newsletter could be emailed. Written copy has to be retyped which obviously takes time, so if you can help in this way it will be appreciated. Thank you.
• Joan Wigham - Newsletter Editor
• There is Life after Guiding . . . .
  • Five Leaders and ex Leaders meet up regularly after becoming firm friends whilst serving as Division Commissioners for Leatherhead, Reigate, Leith Hill, Downs Heath and Epsom, usually for a meal in the evening. However, they recently visited the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park while the Rhododendrons and Azaleas were in bloom, which was absolutely stunning and well worth a visit. They then enjoyed coffee and cake in the cafeteria!
  • Joan Wigham
• Centenary Ducks
  • Have you bought your Ducks yet? If so, have they been on an adventure? If not, why not!
  • Nine brightly coloured Centenary ducks accompanied 3rd Oxted Guides on their Easter canal trip, this is the tale of the little blue duck called 'Yum Yum' (don't ask!).
  • The ducks arrived on Easter Sunday all adorned with Easter ribbons, and were soon appearing everywhere around the boat! Yum Yum attached to his lead (well a piece of string) was taking flying lessons (swinging around their heads) and swimming lessons (dipping him into the canal) assisted by various Guides, and the Leaders were taking bets as to how long it would be before he disappeared into the canal!
  • Not long as it happens; on Tuesday, whilst accompanying us through Leighton Buzzard, Yum Yum slipped his lead and landed in the canal (wouldn't have happened if you had tied the correct knot girls, and no' we are not going to do a man overboard procedure for a plastic duck!). A great sadness overcame the boat, Yum Yum was all alone on the Grand Union Canal as we headed off to Aylesbury.
  • Time passed by and the Guides became resigned to the fact that Yum Yum had gone off to join the other Grand Union ducks. Therefore imagine our surprise when returning back through Leighton Buzzard, Yum Yum was spotted sheltering near a boat. Was it really Yum Yum, had they seen correctly - maybe it was just the wheel of a dumped Tesco trolley!
  • No it was Yum Yum! Boat is carefully manoeuvred towards Yum Yum, Guides leap about and, aided and abetted by the mop, our little blue plastic duck is rescued - hurrah! Now having listened to our safety talks and not wishing to contract Weils or other unmentionable diseases, Yum Yum is given a thorough wash and is soon reunited with the other Centenary ducks and much celebrating is being done aboard the Chiltern!
  • Yum Yum is now back with the Centenary Duck set and resplendent in his new Guide scarf! How did he fair from his adventure - very well - he is still blue, still rubber and still a duck!
  • 3rd Oxted Guides
• The Trefoil Guild Walking Group
  • Do you enjoy walking?
  • Are you ever free on a Wednesday ?
  • Last Autumn whilst walking with the East Surrey GO50, some fellow walkers who had Guiding connections told me about the County TG Walks. I managed to attend and enjoyed two before Christmas but with the hectic life of a retiree, I did not have a free walking day until April.
  • I arrived at the venue, the Royal Oak near Crowhurst, and found some walkers already assembled. I chatted with them, signed a register, placed 2 in a box and ordered a ham sandwich. Mind you, I couldn't remember doing this on either of the previous walks, but presumed it was a new idea. Neither did I recognise any of the walkers but presumed that the ones whom I had met previously were unavailable on this day.
  • We set off across the fields in glorious sunshine and I noticed another group walking towards us. Guess what, I recognised some of them as the people I had expected to meet. I apologised to the unknown group and was welcomed into the 'fold' amidst much hilarity. They had met further up the road and stationed a marker, who I had missed at the cross-roads.
  • On our return from a most pleasant walk in the Crowhurst area I returned to collect my ham sandwich while the rest of the group retired to the Oxted Guide Hut. The TG members were concerned as I had not followed them to Oxted and one of them rang the following morning to ensure that I knew I had been invited and had arrived home OK. This was a really thoughtful gesture, typical of Guiding friends. So if you have time for an occasional walk with ex-Guiders do join this great group, but do ring the leader to check the venue! ie do not do what I did!
  • Who were the other group? I don't know, but someone suggested that they might have been the local Probus group.
  • Veronica Ballard
• Centenary Badge Competition - the results
  • The competition to design a badge to celebrate the Centenary has been a spectacular success with an astonishing 476 entries being received. The competition encouraged the girls to design a badge to celebrate 100 years of Girlguiding which had to include the words 'Girlguiding Surrey East' and '1910 - 2010', and could be any shape.
  • We received a staggering 476 entries in all shapes, sizes, colours and designs. There were lots of birthday cakes, candles and balloons, heart shaped, star shaped and tent shaped, as well as the more regular badge shapes. After a lot of hard work and much crawling around on the floor to sort them out, we finally reduced the entries to a dozen in each section and then voted for the winners. The winners are:
  • Rainbows - Jennifer Hurdle - 7th Horley Rainbows
  • Brownies - Taylor Rowe - 3rd Stoneleigh Brownies
  • Guides - Zoe Everson -5th Dorking Guides
  • Young Leaders/Rangers/Senior Section/Trefoil Guild - Jennifer Peach -Fusion Rangers
  • Jennifer Peach also won the overall award and a version of her design is being produced as a badge, the design of which will be revealed nearer the date of the Launch.
  • The winners are going to be presented with their prizes as part of the Centenary Launch Celebrations at Lingfield Park where all the winning designs will be displayed.
  • It is hoped to display as many of the other entries as possible at various events in the County during the Centenary Year.
  • Thank you and well done to everyone who entered the competition and produced such a fabulous display of artwork; congratulations to all the winners for their stunning designs; and thank you to all the judges for their hard work.
  • Mary Holloway-Neville - County Arts Advisor
• 'Much Appreciated'
  • It's easy to say "thank you", but how often do we do it? It means so much to know that your hard work and effort have been recognised.
  • Headquarters are concerned that so few awards are made, and although we would all agree that virtually all our volunteers need rewarding, there are also some who go that bit further and we would like you to think about who you know that comes into that category.
  • There are three Association awards for good service - the Silver Fish, the Laurel and the Good Service Brooch. The article in March 'Guiding' gives some information about these and more details can be found online at www.girlguiding.org.uk/guiding manual
  • In our County we also have the Silver Lion which is specific to Surrey East and Surrey West for particular service in the County which may not fit the criteria for the Association awards.
  • The County has set up a small awards panel to help facilitate award applications, and we hope you will contact us with your suggestions of possible recipients. We suggest for the Good Service Brooch and the Silver Lion you should provide 3-4 letters of support and, in consultation with Margaret Frosztega, we will consider what award might be appropriate. There are further guidelines for the other awards, and applications for these go to Region, but we would be happy to advise at any stage.
  • Please give this careful thought both now and with ongoing awareness, and send your nominations to the awards panel or ring if you have any queries.
  • Barbara Wing - Panel Co-ordinator
• Tri-Golf
  • Hearing about the Surrey Girls Start Up and thinking it sounded like something the Guides might enjoy, we talked to Andy Little, Surrey Golf Partnership’s Development Officer. He explained that Tri-Golf uses adapted equipment to give girls a fun and active taste of golfing through team games, ideally suited to Patrols or Sixes.
  • As a professional golfer Andy thought we’d want to play golf once a week for at least half a term! When we explained we only meet once a week and we have a busy programme, he quickly agreed to bite sized sessions so we didn't have to worry about golf fatigue! He explained that he would come to us and bring all of the equipment so no organising and no transport worries; sounded too good to be true!
  • We played our first session as grey clouds gathered and distance thunder roared. The girls were very chatty and the breeze just seemed to make them even more excitable than usual! Andy did some great warm up team games, then some practice putting and chipping, before challenging them to see who had the longest shot and a competitive ‘aim for the flag’. All the girls took part, including the Young Leaders and 14+ Guides, which is a great sign of them enjoying it.  One of the Guides had a great swing and could be quite good if she decided to take it up. The Brownies played with lightweight plastic clubs, but the Guides used real golf clubs.
  • Andy kept the sessions friendly and fun. I joined in until my Patrol said l was making them loose, and it was definitely active.
  • Julie - 1st Warlingham Guides
  • PS - Andy Little PGA runs a golf coaching company working in around 50 schools a week doing Tri-Golf with large groups of children.  He is part of a team of coaches willing to speak to any local golf club for interested girls to continue their golf. Contact him through www.littlegolfers.co.uk.
• Leadership Information
  • We hope that with all the publicity around our Launch this will encourage more volunteers, and we are appealing to all Leaders working on their Leadership qualification to see how much they can complete in the next six months. This will help us be ready should we be lucky enough to get volunteers from the Launch and media interest. It would be great if our 100 years enabled us to open more Units and let more girls enjoy the fun of Guiding.
  • There should be lots of opportunities to work with other Units and help at District, Division and County events. Please look at what you have to complete in your Leadership books and get your District Commissioner and Unit Leaders to help you plan events to finish modules that you have outstanding.
  • The dates of the next group meetings are as follows (all 7:30 to 9:00pm)
  • Leatherhead, Bookham - 28 September & 16 November
  • Ashtead - 9 July & 12 November
  • Downs Heath - 24 September
  • Epsom - 14 September & 23 November
  • Godstone - 11 June & 22 September
  • Reigate - 17 September & 12 November
  • Dorking - 12 October
  • If you cannot make any of these dates, please get in touch. I am happy to meet during August if this will help you complete your qualification.
  • Denise Kinrade - Leadership Co-ordinator
• Newly Qualified Leaders since January 2009
  • Congratulations to all our newly qualified leaders, and many thanks to their mentors (in brackets) and the County Leadership Team, especially Denise Kinrade, for all their help and support.
  • Downs Heath - Hayley Hancock (Rainbows, Downs Heath Group), Margaret Smith (Brownies, Downs Heath Group), Julie Gilbert (Brownies, Downs Heath Group)
  • Godstone - Shelly Miller (Brownies/Guides, Tracy Lovell/Lorna Smith), Charley Formosa (Senior Section, Suzanne Stephens), Zoe-Claire Parker (Brownies, Godstone Group)
  • Leatherhead - Nicola Barke (Brownies, Bookham Group), Susan Jelfs (Brownies, Bookham Group)
  • Reigate - Helen Jones (Guides, Sue Fairclough), Elizabeth Horner (Brownies, Reigate Group), Nicola Shepherd (Brownies, Reigate Group)
  • Roo Harmer - County Leadership Assessor
• Streamline
  • The Streamline Team - Julie, Liz, Stella, Gill and Margaret - all hope you are now fully trained and understand what a wonderful system GO! Is!
  • All the training sessions for Key Users and Commissioners were completed in March, and we hope you are all happily practising waiting to GO! GO!-Live is expected to be live at the beginning of next term. If you have any queries, big or small, do not hesitate to contact me. Don’t forget, the password for the training site is ‘password’.
  • Gill Utting - Project Streamline Co-ordinator
• Change the World
  • Did you and your girls take part in this project? Have you made a difference to other people's lives through supporting one of the charities? We'd like to know what you enjoyed and how you helped. Please complete the simple form on the downloadable newsletter.
• Try Something New for 2010 and Beyond
  • Are you interested in training adults? Would you like the opportunity to share your good practice in Guiding?

  • If so, we would like to hear from you. We are looking to recruit potential Girlguiding UK Trainers and First Response Trainers to join the training team in Surrey East. Your training will be funded by the County and you will receive ongoing support. If you think you might be interested and would like some further information please contact either Maria Young (Trainer Support) or Anne Collins (County Trainer).

• Banstead Trefoil Guild
  • During last Autumn Banstead Trefoil Guild decided on two ways in which we could help 'Change the World'. After Christmas we collected over 150,000 Christmas cards from Schools, Nursing Homes and Residential Homes, and our families and friends. As a result we will be planting, in collaboration with the National Trust, at least 20 trees on the North Downs near Jordan Heights, our County Camp Site.
  • On the 16th April we held a 'Caribbean Lunch' to raise money to help build an Internet Café on the island of Anguilla. About 50 Trefoil members from local Guilds enjoyed beef curry, chicken jerk, chicken thyme and lime casserole, or salmon with a mango and ginger sauce. These were followed by a tropical fruit salad, mango and lime mousse or mocha cocomsia. The meal was accompanied with wine and soft drinks. Before and after we ate we were entertained by a steel band, and were delighted to learn that we had managed to raise £200 whilst all having a very enjoyable time.
  • Barbara Cox
• The Pond Access Project
  • We've done it !
  • The path was duly opened on Saturday 6th June by Mrs. Sarah Goad, the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey and Girlguiding Surrey East’s President.
  • The weather was kind as the rain held off during the ceremony itself. All the residents were in their wheelchairs down at the viewing area, where the home has also put a number of benches for able bodied people to sit on to enjoy the pond. Brief speeches were made by Patrick Salmon from Leonard Cheshire Disability, Margaret Frosztega and Sarah Goad. Sarah then cut the green ribbon held by two residents. After a variety of photographs were taken, we all went back up the path to the Home where refreshments were served and tours of the Home were given.
  • In the Craft Room there were drawings of the pond made by the residents who had been taken down there for an art class, so the path is starting to be used for the purpose it was designed for. Comments heard about it included “It is so peaceful down there, you feel as if you are in the middle of the country.”
  • We do still have money in the account, some of which will be used for buying native bulbs and plants to plant along the path edge during the autumn. HELP will be needed for this, so please do consider your Unit doing a Community Action challenge to help plant them. More information will come out after the Launch !
  • Heatherley are now considering extending the path to go the other side of the pond, so the money we have left in the account will still be put to the purpose it was raised for.
  • Julie Woodland
• 2nd Reigate Brownies
  • Congratulations to 2nd Reigate Brownies. Their Scarecrow 'Lilo' won 1st prize at the Priory Farm, Nutfield
• Centenary Launch

  • We hope you all received the 3rd Centenary Launch Bulletin - final registrations can be made on-line.
    

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