Guiders Staff Room Part 3

In case you didn't spot it

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3192842-calling-all-gender-critical-guiders

Sorry to break it to you, but we've been trying since last June. Still not sorted even though county are now involved. I don't know why CHQ just can't have an arrangement with one bank with post office links to make things easier.

Does anyone know how long it takes to change signatures on a unit account? We've just found the forms we all filled in back in December but apparently never sent off, so we aren't actually signatories on the account to pay census. Oops.

I'm sorry DrSpouse I don't know any of the answers to help you. I wish I did. It's definitely something that worries me, both as a guider and as a parent. When I finally get to do my safe space training I'll be asking those questions too.

I've just had a message from someone whose DD's Guider left over this issue.
I have now started a FB group for this.

No answers I am afraid, but we did lightly discuss it at safe space training, about the possibility of a boy living as a girl wanting to join.

I would be interested in any answers. I do know of an eight year old boy living as a girl at the moment, so it could be something we come across one day.

Here
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3185893-Im-a-Guider

If any of you know the answers to my questions posted in Feminism chat, or agree/disagree with my worries, please do post.
I'm also thinking of starting a FB group for gender critical Guiders as the main chat groups are not very friendly or aware.

There are job descriptions on line I think.

Our District had a team rather than a DC for a while. Only complaints and REN were done by her. I did recruitment and DBS, we had a treasurer, and the mentors also checked up on unit programmes.

Sign RENs.
Take responsibility for ensuring all units are being properly run according to the 5 essentials, that girls are getting a good Guiding experience, and that all Leaders are properly trained.
Dicipliniaries. Handling complaints. Attend Division meetings.
Collect annual accounts and review to check units are well run (the accountant will only check accounts are correct).
Presentations.
DBS checks.
Speaking to new volunteers to be sure they know what they are signing up for (ie it's not just an after school club, as some people think) and discuss the various roles open to them.
Work with mentors.
Make sure there is succession planning in place where (eg) have elderly Leaders.
Local recruitment and publicity.
Monitoring waiting lists and working out when to open new units or close/merge existing ones......

If you give me a bit longer I can probably come with other things I am responsible for. It's quite a responsible line management job, and takes up a fair bit of time. We split the role between two DCs where I am.

I have a question, what can a District Commissioner do that a District Administrator cannot, paperwork wise?

Last year when it was announced that our dc's had reached the end of their term, once leader agreed to become DC if someone else would do paperwork & GO. I agreed to be that person, but now County are saying there's still stuff she'd have to do, which is not what we wanted. We only agreed to do it to prevent our district (which works well) being merged with the other in our division who cannot get a DC.

Welcome new faces! FFS, I read your post wondering if you were one of the two new leaders in my district, starting in an identical way, but then read your Suffolk!

Could you ask your DC to visit your unit to hear your promise? Make a party /whole night around it, eg promise activities for the girls to help them understand exactly what you all promise? I aim to do one night a term with something promise-y, just recessive they have short mind-spans. It also ticks adventure badge boxes.

I recommend a spreadsheet for keeping track of the adventure badges and I'll probably do the same with the new programme.

Census in the post! Now to get on with the rest of the term.

Welcome new faces - lots of help here and also a reminder not to be scared of asking for help from your DC or the division and county advisors.

It's also a good idea to visit a couple of other units to see how they run. You'd be amazed at just how much you are doing well.

Suffolk! Thank you. I prob need to get on to my mentor about it.

Fab, thank you. I will try to organise it.

You need to have done your promise (but no more than that) to hear a promise.

I am Brownies.

It would make my life so much easier if I am wrong!

I have done safe space and first aid training. The other difficulty I have is that the other leader doesn’t seem to want to go on training, or sort out getting on Go. We didn’t know each other before. She is a parent of one of the Brownies, so that is how she was interested.

One of our best evenings was a slime making workshop!

There are 3 leaders on training at my unit. Our unit was going to have to close too, but 3 of us as parents agreed to do it together. I sincerely hope we're allowed to hear the girls do their promises as we've done 2 since we took over. I think we might do our promise with the girls some time. We've covered everything except the first aid and safeguarding training, as we're still waiting for a training to be available, but there's one in April that we're booked onto.

We did mother's Day stuff last week so it had a chance to dry before they take it home. Are you Rainbows, Brownies or guides?

When you say you can't do promises, do you mean that you can't make your promise or you can't hear the girls make theirs? As I think both are possibly incorrect. You need to make your promise to get your leadership qualification but you don't need to leave it until the end (unless you want to). I also don't think that you have to be a fully qualified leader to run a promise ceremony though I'm going to ask as now I'm curious!!
Do you have a mentor? Don't be afraid to ask them for help. Also feel free to post any specific questions here.

Thanks! I am in the East of England.

My main gripe is that we are both leaders in training, can’t do promises yet, and literally stumbling through stuff!

What has generally happened in our district, is when a leader leaves, there is another leader already there to take over. The Unit I am with was going to close and put an advert in a local paper. The district isn’t used to having two brand new leaders who don’t have a clue about anything.

The girls are fab, and I am getting into the swing of planning, and we have some great meetings. Just sometimes I need to go argh!

Welcome FFS! What section are you with? The facebook groups for the various sections can also be very good for ideas though there is sometimes an abundance of craft on there (craft allergic Brownie leader here) And please do feel free to moan!