Guiders' staff room - tea, wine, chat and optional dancing around the toadstool

Well camp was fine, only bad point was our invited license holder (our Brown Owl doesn't have hers yet), she was shocking, everything was "you HAVE to do this" she preached how to do things, which mostly seemed to be how she chose to do things, but as she dictated everything it was hard to tell what things were actually compulsory in relation to the accomodations rules, getting your license rules and her own bloody way of doing things, so frustrating.

I could hardly contain myself when she decided to try and tell three grown woman how to mop a floor, with the words "You have to pick two lines and mop between them" FFS one of the ladies being preached to is a school cleaner. I decided to burst out laughing rather than having a go at her, but I really wish I had bloody told her where to go!

I also could have done with some more technical crafts which would have lasted longer, I mostly had colouring and cut out and stick stuff, which they got through rather fast.

But hey we all survivied .

Good luck Skramble. Ours isn't until the end of May. I'm trying to blot it out.

I feel like I have planned the whole thing and I am only a parent helper .

How does this happen you go along one week to help with a craft activity and the next thing you are palnning a whole camp programme and probably the whole term up to summer . Don't you just love volunteering, this is why I always avoided the PTA.

Oh and can I have a big ARGH!!!!!! camp tomorrow. what will I forget???

I find most of my time is spent trying to figure out how to shut them up and make them listen, God doesn't always help much with that .

My take on serving the queen is taken from a very old brownie handbook

The queen is head of the govt and therefore ultimately makes the laws so therefore serving the queen means not breaking the law of the land

As for the god bit as skramble says the promise was changed a good few years ago to read "my god" so that basically means anything you personally believe in

That all sounds a bit deep .. as a guider of too many years I would say if you are committed to passing new skills on to the girls and teaching them right from wrong then you will be a great addition to any unit

welcome aboard!!

thanks - I feel better now. I was happily thinking to myself oh I'll just skim over all that stuff, but then I saw the stuff about singing oh lord our God, and the pledge etc and it made me feel more awkward than I had anticipated. but if it's not a case of me being a lone rotten apple in a barrel of godly royalists then I don't mind so much.

I am not into organised religion and definatly not the Queen, it isn't really a big part of guiding.

The God bit of the promise is taken more as "my god" which can mean many things to many people, could be mother nature or whatever. The Queen bit I take as being more to do with your country and the bigger picture.

Brown Owl has it in her head we have to do Grace at camp, but the rest of the leaders have pretty much dismised the idea as outdated. But we do sing Oh Lord our God each night, but hey its a Christian country so its part of our culture.

Same as at home I have a bible in the house but to me it is a collection of good stories, my kids can take it as they want at their level.

I'm a card-carrying atheist and fervent republican if that's any help. I just kind of skim over the supernatural bits.

hello all. can you answer a question for me as I'm in a bit of a quandary. is it ok to get into the whole Brownies thing if you don't believe in God/aren't Christian and you're not particularly fond of the Queen? I'm starting to help out at our brownies - and I have an awful lot of time for the underlying ideas of being a constructive part of the community and learning about the rest of the world, in fact more than an awful lot - it's something I feel very strongly about. but, I just don't believe in God, nor do I agree with the principle of a royal family. am I a complete hypocrite? I really really don;t want to drop out but I do feel vaguely uncomfortable - and have no idea if any of the guiders in our area are similar, or if they're all wholly committed to all aspects of it (doesn;t quite seem appropriate to ask).

LOL , i will still have to sing it, as it is my planned party piece for camp fire, will have to think angelic thoughts.

Little bunny foo foo bouncing through the forest, scooping up the field mice an bonking them on the head.

Yeah, mn has ruined it fo me too

SlubberdegullionMaNaMaNa i was going to do that one at camp as my party piece, never even thought of MN use of Foo Foo, now I will be giggling like a 7yrold when I try to sing it .

nymph there is a Rainbow day being planned at Chester Zoo at some point afaik.

Can I teach my rainbows Little Bunny Foo Foo? I loved that song when I was a Brownie, but have concerns considering what some mners choose to call their genitalia.......

Just wondered how far in advance you all plan your programmes and what structure your nights take.

Hi,

I am an Assistant Rainbow leader(just finished the book!) and have been helping for a couple of years.

I have also helped with Brownies when they are short but I prefer the younger ones.

I have no idea what is going on for next year round this area so anyone in the NW that has any ideas, pass them on!

There are song books on the Guiders.co.uk website, maybe something on there. I am just trying to remember what tune goes with what

Yes, we do those too, but they like having a song to start off Pow wow. And I hate that one.

We sing "Ding Dong, Oh Lord our God" at the very end, and "We're Brownie Guides" at the start.

Can I ask you ladies if you sing a pow wow song and if so, what is it? At my Brownie unit they sing a very old one which is traditional apparently but it makes me cringe so much I can't bring myself to join in. This is it:
We are the red men, tall and quaint
in our feathers and war paint,
Pow wow, pow wow.
Chorus:
We're the men of the Old Dun Cow,
All of us are red men, feathers in our head men
down among the dead men,
Pow wow, pow wow.
We come home from hunts and wars
greeted by our long-nosed squaws4,
Pow wow, pow wow.
(Chorus)
We can fight with sticks and stones,
bows and arrows, bricks and bones,
Pow wow, pow wow.
Am I being over sensitive or could I maybe encourage a move to something more in tune with the times?

You lost me with the Mr Moon, too complicated for our lot I think, they still haven't mastered listening to simple instructions.

All still a bit wild and screamy, difficult to get quiet to explain instructions. Argh!!!

Oh my lord I am shattered. We had a Mother's Day tea and craft session for our Rainbow unit today. The mums did crafts with their LO's and then we served tea and cakes. Lots of grandparents came too and seemed to really enjoy it, but blimey was it ever hard work.

We had a parade service at church today and had a fantastic turnout from our Rainbows, Brownies and Guides. The last few were pitiful, and it is so embarrassing to reserve the front rows, only for them to still be empty at the start of the service.

I did tell my Brownies that their mums would get a bunch of flowers, and that is probably what spurned them into action.

It was my turn to do intercessions, so I shared it out with my three girls (one from each section), so it looked like a real Guiding initiative, rather than just the luck of the draw in terms of church rotas.