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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask if you were a brownie or a guide?

204 replies

Pavementworrier · 08/12/2025 22:32

Apparently 1/3 of British women have been at one point

I LOVED Brownies

So many of my adult life skills are thanks to those badges

OP posts:
x2boys · 08/12/2025 22:34

I was a Brownie ,Guide and Ranger!

Octavia64 · 08/12/2025 22:35

I was a brownie.

didn’t get in with guides

RaraRachael · 08/12/2025 22:36

I loved Brownies but hated Guides, especially all the camping.

YYURYYUCICYYUR4ME · 08/12/2025 22:38

Brownie, there wasn't a Guides locally at the time.

GeorgeClooneyshouldhavemarriedme · 08/12/2025 22:38

I was indeed.
Daffodil Patrol leader 1981.

I peaked too soon .
Never lead anything else since.

Nourishinghandcream · 08/12/2025 22:38

Absolutely...... fantastic times.😃

I thoroughly recommend the Scouting movement as a way of getting children to interact, see & do things they otherwise may not.

Dorrieisalittlewitch · 08/12/2025 22:39

I was a Brownie and a Guide (although British Guiding Overseas). My mother was both and my daughter is currently a Brownie.

MsRinky · 08/12/2025 22:40

Nope, my dad is Irish, we weren’t swearing allegiance to the Queen. I went to Woodcraft Folk.

mismomary · 08/12/2025 22:40

Very proud to be a Sixer of the gnomes. Happy times singing in the church hall, playing games, doing badges, going on revels.

PermanentTemporary · 08/12/2025 22:40

I was a guide. Never did Brownies.

There was a Queens Guide at my school. Arm stiff with badges. Very impressive. I had about six badges, five of which were for things I could do already, and the sixth one was for something I was so useless at my Guider ended up doing it for me. I went on Guide Camp twice and loathed almost every minute with white hot passion (there was one fireside singsong I enjoyed, plus I did the Nature Observer badge which required me to sit in a field blissfully alone for 30 minutes).

I do remember how to run Scout’s Pace and that has been useful all my life, plus I did learn how to use a Silva compass, which I later forgot again.

There wasn’t much to do in my village but I would have been happy enough reading. I guess it’s good to be taken out of your comfort zone a bit.

bebopalula111 · 08/12/2025 22:41

I was both and loved it.
now as a parent of a 10 year old guide, I hate it.
i feel there is so much work to be done at home.
plus they don’t get inspection the way we did in the 80s/90s

TheNightingalesStarling · 08/12/2025 22:42

Rainbows allthe way Brownies, guides, rangers, to adult leader for a bit.

Now a Scouting leader instead because I thought the programme was better.

TokyoSushi · 08/12/2025 22:42

Brownie, Sixer of the Gnomes checking in.

Also a Guide, but much less keen on that.

Bbq1 · 08/12/2025 22:43

I was a, Brownie, Guide and later on I became 'Summer' (Rainbow leader) and Brown Owl running both groups.

eurotravel · 08/12/2025 22:43

Yes but wanted to be a cub as more exciting. DD did cubs

TokyoSushi · 08/12/2025 22:43

I remember we were allowed to take 7p for the tuck shop (circa 1988) you could buy loads with it!

PartoftheBand · 08/12/2025 22:44

Yes both, but can't say they taught me anything useful in life.

MrTumbleForPM · 08/12/2025 22:45

I was a Brownie. After two years my Brown Owl suggested that I wasn’t a good fit due to my “unladylike behaviour”. brown Owl was a very kind lady, but all we did was hostess skills, flower arranging, cooking and nature walks.
She wasn’t very impressed when I was up a tree first chance I got during free time on one nature walk. I didn’t realise that when we were told to explore, she actually wanted us to collect wildflowers to take them back to do flower pressing.

my brother was a cub and he seemed to have more exciting sessions than we did at the time.
To be fair this is well over 35 years ago!

largeprintagathachristie · 08/12/2025 22:45

Yes, my mother made me go. I was never allowed to choose my own clubs or hobbies.

I did like the Brownie Annuals, but there never seemed to be the promised adventures on a Tuesday night when I was schlepped to the Church Hall. It was all a bit dull.

There admit there were some nice bonding times with my Auntie - she was very good at crafts and a good organiser. If I stayed at her place I left with a badge, basically.

Remember Hostess Badge? I served scones to sheep shearers for that!

Hankunamatata · 08/12/2025 22:46

I was a guide
I hated brownies, went once and it wasnt for me. School friends persuaded me to try guides a few years later and I loved it. I only left as I joined the air cadets.

theunbreakablecleopatrajones · 08/12/2025 22:46

I quite liked brownies

Got booted out of guides

At least when I was little the scouts seemed to have A LOT more fun

Hankunamatata · 08/12/2025 22:48

largeprintagathachristie · 08/12/2025 22:45

Yes, my mother made me go. I was never allowed to choose my own clubs or hobbies.

I did like the Brownie Annuals, but there never seemed to be the promised adventures on a Tuesday night when I was schlepped to the Church Hall. It was all a bit dull.

There admit there were some nice bonding times with my Auntie - she was very good at crafts and a good organiser. If I stayed at her place I left with a badge, basically.

Remember Hostess Badge? I served scones to sheep shearers for that!

Omg the hostess badge. We had to make a cake and serve it to family members in church hall while we put a show on.

tourdefrance · 08/12/2025 22:48

Brownie and Guide. Also lucky enough to go on camps with the French guides (éclaireuses). So many great experiences, really built my self confidence and independence.

Countryfiler · 08/12/2025 22:49

I was a Brownie, Guide, Ranger Guide, Queens Guide, and a Guider for a short while when at university. I loved all of it, learned lots of life skills and had a lot of freedom ( a lot more than nowadays I suspect, this was in the 70s). We climbed mountains, camped, and met people from all over the country. It taught us real resilience and I made friends for life. Met up with 2 of them a few weeks ago for a short break with our husbands, about 50 years since we first met at guide camp!

AliTheMinx · 08/12/2025 22:49

Yes. A bad one - ha ha! I was a Pixie in Brownies and had lots of badges, but I hated Guides. I think they suggested I leave eventually - as I refused to go on camp and had no interest in any badges! I am now 47.