PGL – New Experiences and an Amazing Time

You’re eight. You’re standing at the foot of a tree, a very big tree. It might be as tall as a house, maybe even taller. At the top is a ledge, a small ledge with an instructor waiting for you. All you have to do is climb to the top using the ladder and the large staples. Once you get to the top you zipwire down. Can you do it?
Climbing the tree to the zipwire at PGL Marchants Hill

That’s H’s PGL experience – or one of them – summed up.

PGL Adventure holidays are a whole new experience for us. We went to Marchants Hill for our Brownie camp, taking just ten girls. You let PGL know what sort of activities you want to do and they tailor them accordingly. We asked for confidence and team building, and on the second day we found ourselves on a foggy Sunday morning standing by the zipwire.

Starting the zipwire at PGL Marchants Hill

For the zipwire there were three different courses. Unfortunately we were moved from the two easily accessible ones to the scariest looking one which involved climbing a tree. I couldn’t have done it, and wondered if our girls would be able to. In the end only half managed – but the ones that did had the time of their life and we were all so proud of everyone for giving it a go.

Some girls surprised me because I didn’t think they’d do it, but they had the determination. H was one of them.

H on the zipwire at PGL Marchants Hill

It was high – any zipwire expert knows you need to start high to get a good run. H said she got half way and felt terrified. She didn’t want to continue. But then she also thought about it rationally, she didn’t want to come down either as that looked pretty difficult. So she kept on going, looked down to me when she got to the top (for reassurance) and then dealt with the final hurdle, getting off the platform. The instructor had H shouting over to the other zipwire instructor (something along the lines of “Craig is a muppet”), and once the giggles took over she was ready to go, and that was that.

learning how to use the zipwire at PGL Marchants Hill

That to me is what the PGL experience is about. It’s what you make it. If you want to do something then only you can be the one who does it. Being part of a team and having a go is so important. If it’s an individual task then having a go can improve your confidence.

As a leader I could have joined in but chose not to, and to make it about the girls. I tried not to help as much as possible and let them work it out. Also – my back.

quad biking at PGL Marchants Hill

Other things we did include quad biking, raft building, buggy building and problem solving. Lots of different activities which involved water, knots, working together and laughter – very important.

Quad biking fun at PGL Marchants Hill

Oh, and PGL has a songbook – you will learn many songs. They will probably involve Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or various fizzy soft drinks. Or toilet water. Or cow poo. They will make your child feel included.

The quad bikes are limited to 10mph and each bike has a safety plug on it. Once we got there the course was pretty small as well, just the right size. This was H’s favourite activity by a mile.

raft building at PGL Marchants Hill

With a hearty breakfast, lunch and evening meal included we always felt well-fed and ready to face the day. You need to eat well and feed yourself more than usual as you’ll use a lot of energy walking around the PGL site. Each activity has a different instructor, and as they finish you’re returned to your main instructor who gets you to where you need to be on time.

The evening’s entertainment was organised for the girls, the first night we had a quiz night and the second a disco – this was the only time we were indoors too (apart from food breaks). This was a good excuse for us Brownie leaders to head to the bar on site and have a 30 minute break. The second night there was a free wine and cheese night – of course we went! The girls are looked after by their PGL leader and we’re always nearby thanks to it being a really well laid out area.

We visited PGL Marchants Hill for three days (two nights), at a cost of approximately £115 each. There are Girlguiding deals available.

When we asked each girl what they enjoyed the most about PGL everyone had something different – from learning knots and building something, to the zipwire. H’s favourite was the quad bikes!

Armpit Fudge – Prepping Another Brownies Activity

A Girlguiding (and probably Scouts too) staple has to be armpit fudge. It isn’t difficult to make, doesn’t take long and is doable with regular ingredients that you will probably have at home. Definitely worth a try, so we did.

Armpit fudge describes what it is pretty well. It’s a simple one, and is something that I’m considering for Brownies next term.. I may regret that.

For each person you need :

2oz Icing Sugar
1 tablespoon Butter (we used Vitalite)
2 teaspoons Cream Cheese (we used Philadelphia)
Vanilla Essence (or whatever you have, we had errr Buttery Caramel)
2 teaspoons Cocoa.

Ikea bag for armpit fudge

Get a ziplock bag. We had some Ikea ones so used the smallest size we had of those. Add each ingredient carefully into the bag. It gets messy… especially with the Icing Sugar and Butter.

Once everything has been added to the bag, squash all the air out and seal the bag. Give the bag a good squash. H told me she was “really tired” so she imagined it was like a fidget spinner but you could eat it… seemed to work.

armpit fudge in an armpit

Once it is suitably squashed and mixed, stick it under your arm and give it even more of a squash. That’ll help too, the warmth of your underarm (ew!) makes it all mix together well. Check if it is creamy. If so, then you’re ready to add things like Smarties or Parma Violets or Skittles or the whole lot (we might have….).

squishing armpit fudge

Give the bag another good squish under your arm to make sure all the extras get covered. Yum.

armpit fudge ready to eat in Ikea bag

Then open and dip in with a spoon. Spoons are so much nicer to deal with than fingers… someone I know may have got armpit fudge over her glasses too…. wonder who…?

Armpit Fudge - eating it

The mixture works, the armpit fudge is sugary sweet without being too over the top. I now have to work out how this will work for over 30 7-10 year olds…

Volunteering with Girlguiding – Why I Do It.

I’m a leader in training at Brownies at the moment. Volunteering with Girlguiding is my way of giving something back. There’s a huge shortage of volunteers, so if I can do something to change that then I feel like what I do is worthwhile.

Volunteering with Girlguiding can be time consuming. I look after our accounts, and since we had a recent change of systems also look after our Unit membership on Go! which is our main admin system. The other two leaders can’t get in. Let’s not talk about Gift Aid right now too… I’m not ready. I know it needs doing, it’s just getting to the point where I do!

Volunteering with Girlguiding is fun. The girls crack me up – intentionally and unintentionally. 7, 8 and 9 year olds are quite funny characters to be around.

Volunteering with Girlguiding is something I find myself enjoying and feeling like I’m making a difference. When I helped at Rainbows and left, and a girl did me a picture saying “you’re my favourite teacher” (!!!) I knew I was doing something right.

Volunteering with Girlguiding means I have to join in from time to time. Like last week when I pretended to be a dog. I didn’t roll over onto my back or anything, mind. Or that time I was bandaged up when we were doing the First Aid badge.

Brownie leader first aid badge

Volunteering with Girlguiding means that occasionally the Brownies step over the line, squirt me in the face with their water bottle and when I look at them sternly they say “but Snowy Owl, SHE told me to do it!” while running away laughing.

Volunteering with Girlguiding means giving support to girls who need it. The shy ones, the ones who might have difficulties in certain situations. The ones you know will be fine when they find that confidence.

The girls who have learning difficulties who tell you “I want to be a leader when I am old enough” makes you feel like you’re doing something right.

We encourage girls to be kind and to respect others.

Brownie Activity - what they think of Snowy Owl

I was a Brownie and a Guide and left Guides because I felt like I had done my bit. I loved every minute of Brownies.

1970s Brownie me, these days I'm volunteering with Girlguiding. This was a throwback picture for the Lottie Brownie Pack in 2017.

Girlguiding has a shortage of volunteers right now. Our Unit waiting list is high, with many girls waiting to move up from Rainbows too. Another Unit here in Carshalton (or even running two units in one night) might solve the problem but there aren’t the people to run it.

Girlguiding has a campaign running at the moment, with a video to accompany it. The campaign is ‘Know Your Place’. Is your place helping the largest charity for girls in this country?

Then head here and register your interest. There are units desperate for help.

Volunteering with Girlguiding is telling a parent there’s no space for their daughter in our unit because there are so many girls who want to join, but not enough adults to make it happen. We’d love it if you could join us…

I think it’s worth adding this final note. Back, during the World War Girlguiding played a huge role in it. The skills the girls learned were essential to being a part of the people helping during the war. I’m reading a fascinating book, How the Girl Guides Won the War’ which goes into a lot of what happened. People, we’re training your girls with proper life skills here. Oh, and a few daft ones too, that helps keep it all fun.

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Everything, at Once

This year has been so busy. It has flown by, and I can’t quite believe it is October tomorrow. How did that happen?

The days, weeks, months are flying by and I’d really like to hit the pause button for a short while, catch my breath and keep on. I guess that’s why we sleep, right?

For H we have a new school year, Year 4. She’s cross about home learning being an extra five minutes long while still finishing it in five. So far spelling tests are within her ability so she isn’t doing extra work. We’re not talking easy words here – last week was adding suffixes to verbs – I had trouble explaining their rules. She has started doing Young Voices with school which is the first choir she has ever been involved in – and she loves it.

Young Voices 2018

Add to that swimming, football and Brownies and that’s a busy week.

She’s also really proud to have earned her first Blue Peter badge!

H earns her first Blue Peter badge

I’m still doing my leadership training for GirlGuiding, and I’m getting closer to finishing. It’s just finding the time! This term we’re about to start work on a Harry Potter themed badge which will be good fun.

This blog takes up a chunk of time, my PTA responsibilities do from time to time, add in my dayjob and it can feel like four different jobs, especially at the moment!

Shaun is happy as we’ve finally bought a new car. A Skoda Fabia, a bit smaller than our old Vauxhall Astra but much needed. After our previous carbon monoxide incident I’ve felt like our old car needed to go. We have had leaky filters in there – I’ve been paranoid enough to take a CO alarm in the car with me and while it didn’t go off, a new car will be better for my nerves. I know the signs too well.

We just need to find the time to drive it now…

One big change this year, we’re not going to see Father Christmas. I’ve managed to convince H that going to Hogwarts in the Snow would be a far better Festive thing to do!

We’re in the Lottie Blogger Brownie Pack!

A Brownie Lottie doll has just been launched, and we’re a part of it. We’re joining in with the launch of the Lottie Blogger Brownie Pack!

The Lottie Blogger Brownie Pack is a group of former Brownies from various eras, some of us have children who are also now Brownies. How brilliant is it to be working with someone who has launched something we’re doing in real life?

Lottie Dolls need no introduction in this household. H has five of them – and a Finn, her little boy-chum. The Lottie’s and Finn live in our little cardboard dolls house which lives in H’s bedroom.

Lottie Dolls are suitable for children aged 3-9. I like that they’re normal little dolls. They have simple clothes and do fun things that most children will also do. They’re very relatable – and I think that’s why H loves them so much.

Back in the seventies I had similar with Amanda Jane dolls. I loved them SO much! My favourite was my Brownie Amanda Jane – I was delighted to discover there is now a Brownie Lottie doll.

H has just finished her first year at Brownies and loves it! In the year she has done Brownies she has done SO MANY BADGES. Seriously. Even better, she’s doing quite a few on her own. I love the independence Brownies is giving her and hope that we’re encouraging the girls to find things out and do more for themselves.

What I like the most about Lottie dolls is how they’re normal girls like H. They wear normal clothes and do normal things that H and her friends would do.

Having a Brownie Lottie is wonderful! H plays with her Lottie collection a lot – so having a Brownie one is ideal. I love that there are activity sets alongside the launch, and even better, you can buy the Brownie clothes separately, so brilliant if you already have Lottie dolls and don’t want to buy a new one.

How would I sell Brownies to someone who didn’t know? As a Brownie in the seventies I learned life skills – I think everyone did the Hostess badge, learning to make someone a cup of tea. Or learn how to tie various knots that might come in useful (then promptly forget them)?

My favourite thing was learning about Brownies around the world. I think that’s what makes me the happiest about Brownies. It is a worldwide organisation designed to make young girls have better skills in life and allowing them to grow.

Having Lottie team up with the Brownies is in my eyes, a perfect match. Over the coming weeks if you keep an eye on my Instagram feed or follow the hashtags #LottieBrownieDoll you’ll see lots of people sharing their pictures.

Lottie Blogger Brownie Pack, Brownie Throwback pic

Of course, there’s the obligatory #BrownieThrowbackPic – and happily I have just the one which I love! It would be around 1977-1978, though I didn’t seem to have many badges on my uniform. The first badge I did was the Brownie Friendship badge (which was really hard!) – apparently I was the first girl in York to do it.

Looking through a copy of the old Brownie handbook I can’t remember which other badges I did. I do remember having a brilliant time while making friends.

As the packaging says “The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is the largest voluntary Movement dedicated to girls and young women in the world. Our diverse Movement represents ten million girls and young women from 146 countries. For more than 100 years Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting has transformed the lives of girls and young women worldwide, supporting and empowering them to achieve their fullest potential and become responsible citizens of the world.

We are delighted we are in the Lottie Blogger Brownie Pack! Now if only there was a woven badge to add to our camp blankets….

Lottie Brownie Pack Badge, Lottie Blogger Brownie Pack

ForTheGirl – Girlguiding’s New Campaign

Girlguiding recently launched the campaign ForTheGirl.

ForTheGirl is on YouTube and was shown in cinemas at the Girlguiding Screening of Beauty and the Beast recently.

If you have never been a part of Girlguiding you might not know what it’s all about.

If you were a part of Girlguiding years ago you might think it’s all about loving God and worshipping the Queen.

Things have changed.

Girlguiding has changed.

We still sing the same song at the start (it did change a few years ago) but Girlguiding is different.

Which is where Forthegirl comes in.

Girlguiding to me is recognising each girl is different. Each girl has strengths that others don’t. It’s about inspiring girls to do good things, to be the best they can be. To have fun. To work through their Brownie Adventures and have them come to me telling me they have done some badges on their own.

I want to inspire the girls we work with, and for them to make me proud because they’ve done it on their own. Every time a girl comes to me and says they’ve done a badge I’m delighted.

Which I’d say is the message in ForTheGirl. There’s so much more though.

I want each girl to do their best and have a brilliant time.

Having said that, getting 30 girls aged 7, 8 and 9 to listen can be difficult. But then it’s also challenging fun for the majority of the time too. I come out of a meeting buzzing with ideas for the next one. Hearing their voices and ideas is inspiring and gives us ideas in return.

I want to work with 30 confident girls who can turn around and say “this girl can”.

Because that’s it. We’re ForTheGirl. Each girl deserves a voice and to be heard.

I like to think Girlguiding is doing that.

Later this year Girlguiding is going to be doing a campaign to take on more volunteers as leaders. I made the step up last year after helping at Rainbows for two years. We all make a difference.

Read more at Girlguiding.

Training to be a Leader in Girlguiding

I made the decision in September that I would start my training to be a leader in Girlguiding. It was a fairly easy one to make – I had helped out at H’s Rainbows for a couple of years and was a Brownie and a Guide when I was young, so I knew what it was all about.

So what exactly does the training involve?

Well… up to now we’ve really just hit the ground running. Our Brown Owl left before Christmas and we agreed to split things three ways. I’ve taken on the accounts which is quite interesting in itself. I had no idea that each member of Girlguiding has a census fee that must be paid each year. Fortunately I got into the system right before it was due.

We’ve had last minute changes of plan, suggestions of things, doing meetings ourselves as Tawny Owl was ill (there are two of us training), and just trying to make things fun.

It was just the other day I realised, every week we look after up to 30 girls. That’s the same as H’s teachers. I’ve always said I could never be a teacher and yet I’ve got the patience for Brownies! Maybe because I was one once. Then again, I went to school…

I’ve attended a training course to learn about planning meetings, and other than that I’ve just gone on what I know. The girls seem to get on the best when they’re writing postcards to Girl Scouts and Brownies around the world – so much so we shifted one badge to a different term and did the World Guiding badge as a lot of it fitted in with what we did on Thinking Day.

What do I get from it? I’m not entirely sure. I enjoy it, and as long as I’m enjoying it I’m content. I like being one of the cogs that makes things flow rather than a leader. I can step up if I need to, but more often than not I’d rather just go with the flow.

Obviously that doesn’t always work in a room full of 7-8-9 year old’s…

The main reason is I want to make a difference. I don’t remember my Brown Owl or any of the other helpers but I remember having a brilliant time at Brownies and Guides – so I want our girls to have fond memories of their time. If I can do that, it’s a result.

I’ve started a new blog which goes into more of the activities we might do or are working on. Girlguiding Activities is its name – nice and simple.

I have no idea how often it will be updated but there are so many ideas out there it’s somewhere to keep my brain calm when I’ve had too many ideas. Which is most of the time…