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At the end of the summer holidays a lot of the Brownies had fun and enjoyed a Brownie Centenary Stayaway at Brook House with St Chad’s Brownies and Emily Dawson passed the first part of the Going Away with Brownies qualification. The weekend sounded a little chilly as the activities were all to do with snow and ice. They enjoyed a day at the Snow Dome at Tamworth swimming, tubing and tobogganing. We are really missing Emily now as she has departed to Edinburgh University but hopefully she’ll be back to help Vanessa complete her Going Away with Brownies qualification next year.
The weather was still good and the ground dry after the holidays so the girls were able to play outside and they were able to enjoy a flying visit from some birds of prey including several owls and their handler. We hoped to sow seeds at the Rolleston Railway Station site but it poured with rain and we’ve had to postpone that until next week. I wonder if we’ll get a good evening. However, we will be busy for the rest of the term finding out about the history of Guiding in Rolleston as part of the Culture Badge, preparing for the Advent Festival and Christmas, participating in a Meet the Guides evening (possibly an indoor Decathlon using some of the equipment obtained with the Sainsbury’s vouchers) and of course a Christmas party. Unfortunately we miss an evening because of the Scout Group bonfire but I’m sure that some of the girls will enjoy that instead and on two evenings we could be very depleted with the Year 5 activity week and St Mary’s Carol Service.
Thursday October 9th was a very special day. The 1st (St Mary’s) Guides reopened with twelve girls, mostly ex Rolleston Brownies at the Old Grammar Schoolroom. This has been a dream since the Unit closed six years ago when I ‘retired’. We have only had one meeting but have lots of plans and ideas for the remainder of the term and the rest of the year including a Burton Division Stayaway at the National Space Centre and a summer camp.
On 9th November we hope that the Brownies and Guides will have made their mark in the WW1 Centenary Remembrance Parade and Service. A fortnight later on 23rd November a coach full of Brownies and Guides are going to Wembley to see England Ladies play Germany Ladies at football, the first time that England Ladies have played at Wembley. This will count towards the Football Challenge and Go For It Football. The following weekend the Guides and Brownies will be taking part in the village Advent Festival.
We have some innovative ideas for the Rolleston Gala Children’s classes and hopefully the Guides will make as big an impact as the Brownies have done. Will the Club and the judges be able to cope?
There are places available at both the Rolleston Brownie and Guide Units. Please contact 01283 520743 for more details. Brownies meet at Rolleston Scout HQ, 5.30 – 6.45 pm on Wednesdays and the Guides at the OGS, 7.15 – 9.00 pm on Thursdays.
The Brownies have spent most of the summer term completing their Centenary Birthday Challenges several of which we managed to combine with village events. They planted up potty pots which had to be placed somewhere for everyone to enjoy and Gardens’ Sunday was the obvious event. The pots were arranged around a brown trefoil made from a pair of old uniform tights, planted with yellow Calendulas and displayed in St Mary’s churchyard.
We did lots of things to show that Brownies have fun and May was very busy. The girls with parents’ help made a colourful, prize winning entry to the Carnival despite the awful weather, with Italian costumes. The Guiding May Fair at the Orchard campsite at Tatenhill had much better weather with two Brownies winning several medals. They made Love Rolleston postcards, each Six decorated a duck for the Duck Races, practiced and sang campfire songs for the Love Rolleston concert and completed the Well dressing of their favourite place in Rolleston – Tafflands. We set up one of the donated ESBC computers in the Marquee showing Brownies’ activities over the years. That’s not quite finished as there are a lot of old photos to scan.
The Scout field and the weather finally dried up and the girls really enjoyed two meetings participating in a girl’s football training challenge organised by Vanessa as part of her Queen’s Guide Award in conjunction with Burton Albion. Setting a personal Sports Challenge was yet another of the Centenary challenges. Vanessa has also organised training sessions at other units and at Shobnall Fields and is writing a history of Women’s football.
The following week the Brownies met at Tafflands with a challenge to build dens (with permission from Rolleston Parish Council) where they had great fun. Using the activity equipment to end the meeting made up for their disappointment in having to dismantle their dens to return the woodland to its natural state. It was a wonderful evening to say goodbye to Francesca, an American Brownie who had been to meetings for a few weeks. She took back a selection of badges including the Centenary badge to remind her of her holiday in Rolleston. As usual there was a party on the last evening with hot dogs, nibbles and cakes.
There are still two challenges to complete. In early September many of the girls will join St Chad’s Brownies for a Centenary Stay Away organised by Vanessa and Emily as part of their Going Away with Brownies Licences and Queen’s Guide Awards. Vanessa and Emily have also been fund raising to pay for their expedition. We also hope to enter the Bell Boat Regatta next term – a final challenge for the younger Brownies.
Finally, a big thank you to parents, relatives and friends who helped us collect Sainsbury’s Vouchers, our largest total ever. Also for encouraging the Brownies to complete badges and take part in events.
Have an enjoyable holiday.
Delia Wyers
As predicted in the last Rollestonian the Brownies have had a very busy term and with many more activities planned for the rest of the school year. They have continued with their Centenary Challenges, enjoying taking over a meeting with each Six separately organising games, decorating biscuits, devising a quiz and one Six organising the whole evening including some singing Other Challenges involved making up a Code of Conduct, finding out about a country that they would like to visit and inviting a friend to show them how much fun they have at Brownies. During other meetings the girls wore themselves out learning Irish dancing to celebrate St Patrick’s Day and made Mother’s Day and Easter cards.
We almost forgot the Pancake Races and couldn’t get a full team but with help from a friend they didn’t quite win their race but did their best. Over half the Unit celebrated Thinking Day at the Town Hall with activities from four countries, a friendship Dance taught to us by the Rainbows, a fun history of Thinking Day action game and ended the day with everyone singing ‘This Little Guiding Light of Mine’. But can anyone work out the odds of having five of our Brownies all sitting next to each other during one activity and all being left handed! Even if there are no more left handed girls in Brownies, that is 20% of the Unit – way above the 7% national average.
Before Easter we started making plans for the Scout Carnival and for the Love Rolleston Event. There were lots of reasons for Loving Rolleston that generated ideas for the Well Dressing and the Postcard competition. We have been practicing campfire singing for the Picnic Concert on the Croft. Two more of the Centenary Challenges will be completed by planting up Potty Pots for Gardens’ Sunday and taking part in the Football Challenge. Somewhere we have to fit in entries for the Rolleston Gala, two more outdoor Centenary Challenges and an end of term party. We hope that some of the girls will come to the Burton Division May Fair, Pentathlon and Plant Fair at the Orchard campsite. Read the autumn Rollestonian to find out if we achieved everything!!
Our two Assistant Leaders who are also Senior Section members are busy working for their Queen’s Guide Awards (the Football Challenge is part of this) and are organising the Burton Division Brownies Centenary Prom at de Ferrers’ Academy and a weekend camp at the Orchard campsite at Tatenhill at the end of the summer holidays together with St Chad’s Brownies. This is the first part of their Pack Holiday Licences. In addition they are planning an expedition with a theme visiting several National Trust properties during the summer holidays for which they have to fundraise to cover their costs.
Delia Wyers
As the winter Rollestonian was being delivered hundreds of people were admiring the Brownie Advent Tree as well as all the others at the St Mary’s Advent Festival. Thirty totally different bright Advent Angels carrying thirty thoughtful messages of Great Expectations to all the children of the world decorated the tree. All the trees were certainly full of excitement and hope. I hope many of them graced their own trees. In another wonderful event well over half the girls took part in the St Mary’s Carol Concert. It was nothing to do with Brownies but I’m sure that they all enjoyed taking part and in giving so much pleasure to so many people. In the remaining two meetings we just had time to make Christmas cards and to have a party at which Father Christmas managed a quick call in to give out presents and to wish everyone a very happy Christmas.
After the holiday we started on the first Centenary Challenge (there are nine to complete before the end of the summer term). The 2014 Thinking Day Challenge is to support Primary Education for All, to enable girls all over the world to be able to achieve their dreams. In their Sixes, Brownies mimed what they would like to be when they grow up. Some were very hard to guess! They showed lots of ambition. Some of the Centenary Challenges are definitely for the summer so we have Great Expectations for good weather. Two indoor challenges that appealed to the girls were planning a ‘World Trip’ and taking over a Brownie meeting. That involves putting all the leaders in a Six and giving us a name. We hope to involve the girls in the new St John’s Guide Unit in some of our Centenary Activities.
There will also be a special Thinking Day Activity Day in early March and a Brownie Centenary Prom later in the year both at the town Hall. Together with Easter activities and the Love Rolleston weekend (well dressing, boats, activities and our stall), the Brownies will be very busy for the next few months. However, we did take a break from Thinking Day activities last week to celebrate the Chinese New Year by making Dragon and lantern decorations.
Last but not least, just before Christmas we heard that Emily Dawson had passed her Assistant Leader Qualification. Her folder was one of the best that the County Verifiers had seen. Emily looks after all the badge work that the girls do on their own, making sure that everything has been completed and making sure that badges are ordered. As well as continuing to complete the leadership award, Emily is also working towards the Going Away with Brownies Pack Holiday Licence and is hoping to help as part of the Service Team at Staffordshire Guiding 2014 Unity Camp at Shugborough. She won’t have time to get bored. Well Done Emily and thank you for helping to make Brownies so enjoyable.
Delia Wyers
Last updated: 2 March 2015