This year, members of Girlguiding Kent East are excited to have inherited a very special logbook created in 1931 by Helen Haynes who was the Captain of the 2nd Canterbury Girl Guides at the time. The book logs the activities, badge records and press cuttings of the Guide unit including some of the oldest photographs that Girlguiding Kent East owns dating back to 1921, as well as some thought-provoking diary entries by Helen and her girls. Included in the album are photographs of the visit to Canterbury Girl Guides Rally in 1930 by Chief Guide and founder, Lady Baden Powell; and the Chief Scout Lord Baden Powell receiving the freedom of the City of Canterbury in the same year.
The fascinating book has found its way to us at an ideal time – 2014 marks the one-hundredth birthday of the Brownies. Set up in 1914 (known then as the Rosebuds), four years after the Guides were introduced, Brownies (for girls aged 7-10 years) are spending this year celebrating the Big Brownie Birthday. So there’s no better time for us to look back over the last 100 years in Kent and at the many traditions that have helped shape us into the modern organisation that we are today.
Today Brownies is the largest and fastest-growing section of Girlguiding with 200,000 girls in every part of the UK and members in over 100 countries. During the Second World War, there were Brownie groups in Weihsien Japanese internment camp in China and RavensbrĂĽck concentration camp in Germany. Last year Brownies held huge sleepovers at the Science Museum in London, at the monkey enclosure in Twycross Zoo in the Midlands and in August this year Faversham Brownies are taking over Port Lympne Zoo in Kent. Across the UK girls have earned more than one million Brownie badges which have evolved to stay relevant to young people today. Some of the most popular include First Aider, Designer, Science Investigator, World Traveller, Stargazer and Fire Safety.
Julie Larner, Brownie Leader and Chair of Marketing and Communications for Girlguiding Kent East visited Judy Wiltshier at her home in Canterbury to take a look at the album and to explore Judy’s own history in Girlguiding. Having joined the Guides in Faversham in 1953, Judy has spent over 60 years involved in Guiding. From leading Rainbow, Brownie and Guide units in and around Canterbury, to being District, Division and later County Commissioner during the 1980-90s. In 2001 she was invited to become Deputy Region Chief Commissioner for Girlguiding London and South East and today Judy is an active member of the Canterbury Trefoil Guild. Whilst chatting about her Guiding memories they enjoyed delving into the logbook and comparing the experiences of the girls in the 1930s with their own over the last century.
From the logbook of the 2nd Canterbury Girl Guides, 1931:
“Our first meeting was held on 7th January, we have been preparing for the pantomime Dick Whittington. Captain also gave us a long talk on various subjects which she asked us to carry out as far as we could during the year 1931:
Good Turns – keeping our eyes and ears open so that we do not miss even the smallest opportunity of doing a good turn
Truthfulness and Loyalty – to avoid tittle-tattling and scandal and do not repeat little things said to us in confidence
Obedient and Sporty – to smile and not pull long faces. To be sporty in games, as however much they try, everyone cannot be top, and someone has always got to take the bottom place.
The pantomime Dick Whittington was performed at the Foresters Hall. Eighty Brownies, Guides and Rangers took part and it was a huge success. The hall which holds 400 was packed to the doors each night, it was so crowded that about 100 people were turned away each night. The object was to raise funds for the Girl Guides Headquarters and the Canterbury Boys Club. After all expenses were paid, we were able to give £26 to each organisation”.
12th January 1931
“Roll call is taken by Captain or the Lieutenants. The Patrol roll books are marked by the Patrol Leaders and the subscription of 1d for each Guide is taken. Then comes the inspection and woe betide the Guide who has light stockings on instead of black, or civvies instead of uniform… After Taps there is a short practice of Sword-Drill by twelve of the older girls. The sword display is one of the special features of our upcoming fete”.
3rd April 1931
“We arranged to go on our annual hike on this day. We met at Westgate Towers all in the best of spirits despite the somewhat dull weather. There were 27 of us altogether in charge of many of our smaller Guides, it was their first experience of a real hike. We followed a road map as most of the countryside was quite strange to us. The first part of the journey led us through St Stephens then onto Herne, Broomfield, Hoath and onto Westbere where our brother Scouts made us a big urn of tea, for which we were very grateful”.
Judy Wiltshier recalls her own earliest memory of Guiding: “Joining the 4th Faversham Guides when I was 13. We met at the Tin Chapel on the Whitstable Road. The next year in 1954 I went to my first Guide camp at Belmont near Faversham. I remember being picked up in a lorry at Faversham Station and hanging out of the back as it drove away waving to our parents! Then in 1957 when I was 17 and a Ranger I remember the Chief Guide Olave Baden Powell visiting Faversham”.
Like many mums, Judy found herself getting involved again with Guiding when her daughter joined in 1976. “She came home one evening from the 1st Sturry Guide unit and told me that her leader was looking for another helper, she had already volunteered me!” Soon afterwards Judy also became District Commissioner for Canterbury Rural, covering a large area from Nonington to Aylesham. After over 10 years away from Guiding she noticed some changes when she first returned and had to quickly adapt to new structures and programmes, but soon realised that Girlguiding was progressing to suit modern girls, and continues to do so today.
Judy fondly remembers a visit to Crystal Palace in May 1985 with her unit to mark the 75th anniversary of Guiding. Crystal Palace was the site of the first-ever Guide rally in 1910 which resulted in the start of the Guides. Specially commissioned trains were arranged to take the girls and their leaders to the event in London in 1985. Kent East also arranged a huge celebration at Folkestone racecourse the same year.
Later in her role as County Commissioner (from 1994 to 2000), Judy was involved in the purchase and start-up of Kent East’s County Campsite at Mystole near Canterbury. She recalls the development of the site and the planting of the woodland. At the time, her husband Jeremy was also asked to be Chairman of the campsite’s maintenance committee. Today, the County campsite is a proud asset of Girlguiding Kent East, this July over 300 Brownies camped there to celebrate the Big Brownie Birthday. As a member of the Canterbury Trefoil Guild Judy and fellow members from all over Kent East work hard to visit the site regularly and contribute to its maintenance.
Judy’s highlight in all her Guiding years was when she travelled to Kenya in 1995 with the first group from the County – a relationship which Girlguiding Kent East still maintains with members in Kenya nearly 20 years later. Local members continue to raise funds to help the Kenyan Guides to develop their campsite and facilities.
During her Guiding years Judy has experienced many changes to the organisation. For her, the most positive aspect of the organisation’s progress is to see girls today getting just as much out of Guiding as they did 50 or 100 years ago. “They have so many opportunities to experience new ideas and activities and they have their eyes opened to Guiding overseas, just like I did”. Judy also remembers changes in the uniform, in particular a special fashion show staged by the Canterbury Division at Simon Langton Boys School, to introduce the newly designed uniforms by Jeff banks in 1990. She remembers new interest and challenge badges introduced for girls of all ages, “the programme has given girls so much more choice and is entirely girl-lead. Guiding has kept with the times and evolved so that it can attract new girls. The programme allows girls to enjoy modern interests but it also helps them to remember and have a knowledge of our Guiding traditions – so that they know where we have come from”.
When asked where she would hope to see Guiding in the next 10-20 years, Judy said, “to see it flourishing and still attracting large numbers of girls to experience the wonderful opportunities that are available to them.
Some questions to Judy from leaders in Kent East:
Your proudest moment in Guiding?
“Being able to be County Commissioner for Kent East. It is a very special role. I was able to lead one of the largest and most successful Counties in the region”.
The most useful thing you learnt in Guiding?
“To listen – and then to sleep on it. My varied roles as a leader and commissioner advising others have taught me this. Also the benefits of working as a team and supporting each other”.
What do you think you’d have been like if you hadn’t joined Guiding?
“Very bored! But also, I think I would have been a shy girl. Guiding helped me to gain confidence which then encouraged me to become a nurse”.
There are still many Big Brownie Birthday celebrations to come this year all over the County including camps, parties, discos and sports events showing that Guiding today is as active as ever, so let’s give the closing words to the Guides of 1931 and remember where Girlguiding got its roots:
3rd April 1931
“We stopped for dinner in a field outside of the wood, turfed the ground and lit our fires. This proved easier said than done, for soon after we started out it began to rain, dampening the wood. However the fires were lit and the fun of cooking sausages on a green stick, and baking potatoes in the ashes was compensation for the weather and weariness.”
For more information about Girlguiding and how to join as a girl or an adult volunteer, visit www.girlguiding.org.uk/joinus You can also visit our County website to find out more about local events and activities www.girlguidingkenteast.org.uk
Julie Larner
Chair of Marketing and Communications, Girlguiding Kent East