Meg's Guiding Adventure's

Last weekend I travelled to Lorne House, the Girlguiding Training centre in Northern Ireland for a residential weekend called 'Location Lorne'. I booked on to the weekend to complete the residential for my Queen's Guide award and really wanting to push myself I decided to travel to a different country on my own with people I hadn't met before. I also wanted to go to Lorne as I am from Northern Ireland and started my guiding journey as a Rainbow there. It defiantly was a challenge and I was very anxious before going but I'm so so so glad I did!  The house itself is stunning as well as the grounds that go with it. All the bedrooms are named after a different county in Ulster and I was in the South Down room with two other lovely girls Amber and Joanna. We all arrived on the Friday evening and had a chance to get to know each other through dinner and a Irish vs Scottish quiz. Me and my room mates all headed to bed pretty early (even though we were the youngest)

I have been a member of this incredible organisation since I was 4. I started as a Rainbow, never left and now I run my own Rainbow unit at the age of 19. I am so thankful for the opportunities and experiences that Girlguiding has created for me. My confidence, communication, leadership and organisation skills have all benefited immensely and I know without having Girlguiding in my life I would not be the woman I am today.  With the new programme that was released this weekend I am excited for the future as a Girlguiding leader. The new topics and themes are going to not only allow girls to have fun but allow them to grow and be better prepared for their future. The new structure as well makes the sections flow better  which I hope will increase retention and allow the girls to understand better the organisation they are apart of.  As a leader I am looking forward to attending trainings on the new programme, to reading the new handbooks and planning meetings. But I wouldn

Being an Event Management student comes in pretty handy when planning guiding meetings, trips and sleepovers and I love working with a theme and organising. Organisation is how i combat stress, it relaxes me and i love it! When I'm struggling with mental health or stress in general, being given something to organise is what helps me the most! Although i've never chosen a pack holiday theme or have any intention of earning my going away license anytime soon I do have some pack holiday themes which I think would be super fun to organise and that girls would love so i thought I would share them with you for a bit of inspiration!  1. The Greatest Showman I honestly want to do this one so bad! I saw another leader do this and they wrote song words from the film on pillow cases which the girls decorated- so much fun! You could also combine this with the circus skills badge and watch the film with homemade popcorn! There is also now a unofficial Greatest Showman badge which wou

M y   R a i n b o w ' s   P r o m i s e   C e r e m o n y     Having a promise is something that really sets Guiding apart from other organisations and enrolment evenings are a very special part of our termly fixtures. Each unit has their own traditions and how you enrol each section is slightly different so I thought I would share with you how I enrol new Rainbows into my unit.  On the evening our girls get enrolled parents are invited to come 15 minutes earlier than our normal finishing time to watch their daughters. We then practice the ceremony a few times before playing some of the girls favourite games to help battle any nerves our newbies maybe suffering from. Our existing girls create an aisle for the new girls to walk up, standing in pairs facing each other. We have these Rainbow ribbon sticks that the girls hold and they wave them as the girls walk up the aisle. After the girl has made her promise she is given a rainbow ribbon and then takes part with the ot

From the 1st until the 7th of June it is national volunteers week in the UK and I've loved seeing the coverage it's been getting across social media! I wanted to write a little bit of a post about volunteering and what it means to me, as well saying thank you to all those who give up their time and help others! The world would be a much worse place without volunteers!  Since starting University in September I have volunteered 155 hours and I'm not sure how I managed to fit it all in! Most of this is though being a Rainbow and Brownie leader as well as Peer Education but I've also done a fair few hours through being a University Academic Rep, ambassador and as well as being part of the Events society and volunteering at things such as the Chester Christmas light switch on. And theres so much more I wish I could do but time just doesn't allow!   'You can do anything but you can't do everything'  I'm incredibly thankful for all the volunte

Despite being in guiding since Rainbows, it wasn't until I became a young leader that I began to understand the District, Division, County, Region structure of Girlguiding. Despite being in guiding since Rainbows, it wasn't until I became a young leader that I began to understand the District, Division, County, Region structure of Girlguiding. Once I understood this I realised how many roles there is within Guiding beyond that of leadership which need to be filled for Guiding to work! Over the years now I've heard more about these roles and what each one takes and there is some that over my Guiding journey I would like to hold! I'm not sure if i'll ever hold any of these roles or not or I might end up with different ones but I think it is important to have goals and ambition (and fun of course) in whatever you do, even if it is volunteering!  Before I get on to what roles I would like to be in the future I would also like to add that I don’t think its wrong f