to Julie Wetherall, currently a Brownie Leader from Droitwich, a Midlands Region Trainer and as many of you will know was our previous County Commissioner for Girlguiding Worcestershire. On Thursday evening a virtual celebration was held and with many of Julie’s family, friends and guiding colleagues present. Julie was presented with the Girlguiding Laurel Award, an award she truly deserves. Well done Julie, we are so delighted for you.
also, to
Lindsey and Ollie Wylie on the birth of their baby daughter Catriona. Lindsey is one of our County International Advisers and was certainly taken by surprise when Catriona decided to arrive two months early! Catriona is currently in a Special Baby Care Unit, however doing well and hopefully, very soon, will be joining Mummy and Daddy at home. Our very best wishes to you all, Lindsey, Ollie and Catriona.
and to
Janet Long who has recently been appointed as the next County Commissioner for Girlguiding Worcestershire, taking over from me on 1st August 2021. Janet, who is currently our County Communications and Growth Co-Ordinator has previously held a number of roles at both Division and County level and until March 2020 was County Commissioner for Caithness, Scotland. So, as you can see, Janet brings a wealth of experience in many areas. I am sure you join me in wishing Janet all the very best in her new role.
and finally
To all the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides who have recently achieved their Gold Awards. I understand that quite a few badges have been ordered through the County Office recently, which is brilliant news, so please if one of the young members in your Unit has earned this amazing award, do pass on my congratulations to them.
Please don’t forget to share with us the news happening in your Divisions, Districts and Units, we really do love to hear from you all.
With my very best Wishes and as ever, my thanks for all you are doing, Yvonne
Reminder! - Invites went out to all members email addresses listed on GO last week (2nd May). Please can you ask other members to check their emails and junk folder if they haven't received it.
R.S.V.P.by Wednesday 12th May 2021 via county website Where possible please wear uniform.
Laurel Award
Congratulations go to Julie Wetherall on achieving Girlguiding’s second highest award - the Laurel Brooch – for exceptional service in recognition of everything
she has done for Girlguiding over many years.
A virtual presentation was held on Thursday evening, the 6th May, when over 40 Guiding friends and family joined Julie and her husband Brian on a Zoom call. Everyone heard a little about the impact Julie had made since arriving in Worcestershire in 2002 not only in Droitwich Division but in both Worcestershire County and Midlands Region.
Clare Shinton – the Region Chief Commissioner – then ‘presented’ Julie with her brooch and certificate, and read a brief resume of comments made by the awarding committee at Headquarters. Everyone was then asked to ‘raise a glass’ to congratulate Julie on this very well-deserved achievement.
Julie then spoke and reminisced about some events she had been involved with, and thanked everyone who had joined her on this special evening.
County International Adviser
Do you have a passion for international Guiding? Would you like to give members of Girlguiding Worcestershire the opportunity to learn more about the amazing world of WAGGGS and International Guiding?
We are currently looking for a new County International Adviser to lead our International Team. The role involves promotion of International Guiding - from international opportunities within unit meetings to giving our members the chance to travel abroad with Guiding; working with the International Team to organise INTOPS weekend, supporting girls and adult members as they take on their own international adventures.
If you would like to apply please send your application to Yvonne on cc@girlguidingworcs.org.uksaying briefly why you would be interested in this role by 17.00 on Sunday 23rd May.
Worcester Division COVID compliant Depot is open Saturday 8 May, 11-1pm, Claines Scout & Guide Hut,
Cornmeadow Lane, WR3 7PL.
Pre-ordering not required, although welcome by email to worcsdivdepot@hotmail.com or by
text to 07745585337.
Payment by cash, card, cheque, bank transfer.
Please add name and unit to text.
There are also have depots on:
22 May 2021
12 June 2021
26 June 2021
10 July. 2021
COVID RULES APPLY - MASKS TO BE WORN, SOCIAL DISTANCING ETC. PAYMENT BY CARD, CASH, CHEQUE OR BANK TRANSFER.
Our COVID secure depot has good stock levels for parents and Leaders to drop in and shop safely.
Awards – 2021
A reminder that you have until the end of May to submit nomination forms
for all the following awards.
Thanks and Recognition Awards
The guidelines and criteria, along with the nomination forms can be found on the County website under Recognition Awards:-
County Young Members Award
County Ranger /Young Leader
County Good Service Award – the County Thanks Badge
County Brooch
Girlguiding Good Service Brooch
Girlguiding Thanks Badge
Information regarding Midlands Region Awards can be found on the Region website under
‘For Leaders and Volunteers’ – Awards section. The three Awards are
The Chief Commissioner's Award
Midlands Region Award
Midlands Merit Award
County Commissioner's Special Award 2021 The criteria and form is on the County website – click on Special Award 2021.
FINAL DATE FOR ALL COUNTY AND REGION NOMINATIONS WILL BE 31st MAY 2021
We look forward to receiving your nominations.
Daily Mirror ‘Thank a Hero’ campaign
In June, the Daily Mirror will be running their ‘Thank a Hero' campaign which looks to publicly thank Britain’s grassroots volunteers. Those who have taken time out of their lives to help others, ranging from raising large amounts of money, awareness to a cause or simply picking up their neighbour’s shopping.
They would not only like to highlight the thousands of volunteers who signed up to help with Britain’s Covid-19 response but also all volunteers who have shown a selfless commitment to helping with their community over the past year. We thought there may be Girlguiding volunteers that you’d like to nominate.
How to nominate someone
Please feel free to share with others and if anyone has a nominee in mind, they should directly email Martha Muir at Trinity Mirror at this address: hero@mirror.co.uk
They’ll need to provide a short biography of the work the nominee has been undertaking/why they are being nominated, as well as their name, age and where they are from.
They'd like nominations shared by Friday 14th May.
First Response Training
Thanks to our trainers, we are pleased to be able to offer more First Response trainings and 2 more practical sessions. Please book directly on the County website .
Places are limited.
Practical Sessions
Saturday 15th May
Sunday 23rd May
You need to have completed a virtual course to be able to attend a practical session.
Please advise if you have attended a Region virtual training.
3 x 2hr virtual sessions
Thursday 13th May
Thursday 27th May
Thursday 3rd June
You must attend ALL 3 sessions.
3 x 2hr virtual sessions
Friday 21st May
Friday 28th May
Friday 4th June
You must attend ALL 3 sessions.
Face to Face 6 hour course
Saturday 12th June - The Barn, Blackmore County Campsite.
Further information will follow after registration.
Growth
We are delighted to see that we have had over 60 enquiries in Worcestershire from the national recruitment campaign. Resources are now available here which you are welcome to use locally. Please keep a look out for the adverts and share to your social media contacts, if you can, so that more people hear about it.
Midlands have now also started their campaign targeting parents, especially those that have helped during the lockdown.
County Recruitment
The county are planning to set up a Task and Finish group to come up with new ideas for recruiting locally. It will initially be for a 18 months term. If you are interested in getting involved with this please contact Janet Long on commuications@girlguidingworcs.org.uk
Guides like to sleep under the stars
Girlguiding Malvern Division was delighted to receive a gold medal for our well dressing entry on the theme of 'Planets and Stars'. The annual event, arranged by the Malvern Spa Association, sees the spouts and wells around the Malvern area decorated for the May Day Bank Holiday weekend.
Mary Flynn's vision of Guides in sleeping bags under the stars came together, with stars made by Rainbows and Brownies, Brownies in alien spaceships and rockets and recycled bottle planets made by Guides, as well as the Guides in their sleeping bags. Local Trefoil Guild members contributed floral decorations to complete the scene - a truly collaborative entry.
Participating in the Midlands Moot
Upton Guides were not able to sleep under the stars this weekend, but they decided that they would hold a virtual sleepover as part of the Midlands Moot weekend. They built indoor dens, played charades, joined in a virtual campfire and made smores.
Several Guide and Brownie units followed a trail around Malvern to visit some of the well dressings in the centre of the town lastweekend.
The above photo, sent by a mum, is the den of two Guides sisters who slept in it as part of the Midlands Moot challenge.
The Guides, and also the Brownies, made efforts to walk over the Bank Holiday weekend to add miles to the MOOT walking challenge.
They also recorded the birds that they saw - everything from blue tits to a heron.
Jane Riley
Girlguiding Malvern Division
What it has meant to be a Ranger
over the last 12 months
Last weekend my phone flashed up with some photos, memories from one year previous when hundreds of guiding and scout groups were charging around London in the iconic Monopoly race. It’s madness to think that a week later and that was it. Lockdown. Perhaps even stranger to realise that at that point we still thought that a bit of hand sanitiser and we’d be back in action.
But to assume that guiding would stop as a result of a pandemic, is to underestimate the skill, dedication, and outright stubbornness of its members. Where live meetings dropped, virtual ones rose into power, endless calls of ‘can you hear me?’ Smiles at faces through little boxes, worry free conversations we didn’t know we relied on quite so much until now. That’s the thing about guiding, even if everyone is in different rooms of different houses, even if only one person can speak at a time, it doesn’t matter. Because that day of the week becomes an anchor, that badge becomes a way to stem the flow of boredom, those friends become people to talk to about the world beyond the small walls of our houses.
As summer came, we managed to meet in small groups, more photos of walking in fields as the sun set, running around for twigs to win small competitions that can make even the most ‘grown up’ of teenagers crack a smile. There is so much pressure to achieve, especially now, so many questions about what will happen next. We are a generation about to try and make our way into adulthood in the middle of a recession! But what guiding achieves so perfectly is the balance between the old and the new. A few weeks back we had a talk about different pathways to becoming a lawyer but visit us another day and we might as well be laughing
about nothing in a field as the sun sets.
Megan Kelleher, 1st Hagley Rangers
Midland Challenges
There are resources available on the Midlands website that may be useful for your programme - even if the date of the event has passed,
the activities are interesting to do. Click on badges to find out more
Midlands Moot - Date has passed but there are some useful resources
Share a Smile - Date has passed but there are some good ideas
Our Region Chief Commissioner, Clare, would love to visit 1 unit in each county who are meeting in person this term to see all the amazing fun happening around the Midlands.
If you would like this to be you then please email the Region Office with the subject "Unit Visits" telling us your unit name, county, meeting night & time and we'll pick 11 lucky units for a visit!
Fiona Blake is offering virtual tours of Royal Worcester Porcelain Museum for Brownie and Guide Zoom meetings.
The “tours” include a bit of history, fascinating facts, a quiz, and an activity such as designing plates.
They also cover part one of the Brownie Collecting badge.
Here are two of the winning plate designs from 13th Worcester Brownies:
To arrange a virtual tour contact Fiona at fiona@museumofroyalworcester.org
Donations to Royal Worcester Porcelain Museum are welcome.
County Office email address Do you have the correct email address for the County Office?Many of you are using an old email address, please add office@girlguidingworcs.org.ukto your address book. The old email address has now ceased and we are unable to access them so please do make the change.
Worcestershire Source This newsletter is planned to go out on the 8th of each month. If you would like any items of interest included or photos to share with everyone of what your unit or Leaders have been up to please let me have these by 1st of the month. We would especially like virtual guiding ideas that we will also put on the website. communications@girlguidingworcs.org.uk
If you are aware of members who do not receive items by email please pass this information on.
