To ask if you were a brownie or a guide?

[Pavementworrier]

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

I was a Brownie then a Guide. I loved both, especially singing, camping and sewing badges onto the sleeves of the uniforms.

Brownie, Guide, Young Leader and now a Guide leader.

If you get the right unit it changes lives. One of my close Guide friends could directly attribute her career path to Guiding - she loved the international experiences, worked at some Guiding centres around the world and ended up working in international aid. I have lifelong friendships from Guiding. Members of my unit over the years have directly helped people because of the first aid skills they’ve learned.

We are a very active unit - outdoor activities, camps etc. We have girls come across from Scout to us, which is unusual as I know it’s usually the other way because Scouts are seen as more ‘active’. I couldn’t imagine being stuck in a unit where all they do is craft, drama and decorating biscuits but I know they exist. We are all volunteers though, and if that’s what you’re comfortable delivering, 🤷

The Guide programme is becoming a bit ‘worthy’ of late with its focus on ‘giving girls a voice’ - lots on climate, lots on advocacy and writing to MPs, campaigning etc. It’s a bit schooly. I preferred it when we were more focused on ‘Girls can….’ and to be honest we still deliver things more aligned to that.

Yes brownie and a guide. Quit guides because it was a friday night and then said we couldn't miss it to go to the school discos which were very important in my eyes.

I was a Guide in the Jeff Banks era. When the current red and blue came in I remember thinking they would look like Dominos staff but I like it now. It’s all changing next year though!

Who remembers those lovely tabard Rainbows wore?

Went once, didn’t like it.

Tried Rebel Badge Club (sort of an adult version) but found it not for me also.

I was a Brownie but didn't fancy guides. My sister did both.

I do remember doing some sort of cooking badge (or maybe Hostess badge) and there was another girl from another Brownie pack doing it too. When the lady doing the badge asked her how to make her cake she said that she had added packet A to packet B. She didn't get her badge!!It's strange how these things stick in your mind.

My mum lasted one session in the Brownies- she eye rolled at the jumping over a toadstool and the leader suggested she may not be Brownies material and showed her the door.

I rather wanted to join Rainbows and Brownies when I was much younger. Mum actually knew one of the local area leaders - she was a neighbour- and realised our local one did lots of arts and crafts, which she knew I had zero interest in. She bought me a Brownies annual as a Christmas present and pointed out all the making and crafting suggestions, which I refused to do. Then she suggested we read all the twee little stories about fairies and gnomes etc in there- I hated stories about that sort of thing, I liked animals (think I'd been creeped out by a garden gnome). Then pointed out that as I'd hated everything they did, why did I want to join? The book went to a charity shop. I also disliked camping so god knows where I got the idea that I'd enjoy Brownies.

Mine was yellow! And the leaders were named after My little Ponies.

We never jumped over the toadstool but we had to dance round it in a big circle.

I loved Brownies but Guides was DULL.

I was interested in boys and make up by then so identifying birds from the footprints they left in mud was not a skill I had any desire to learn

I did rainbows and brownies and loved them. I went to guides for two years but it was a bit naff and we never got to go camping so when my best friend at the time stopped going I lost interest too

See I thought it was dull because we got made to paint nails and make face masked when little nerdy, tomboy preteen me would much rather have been learning about identifying birds.

They were both dull,and as for Rainbows!

I was both but I wasn't a very good one due to the influence of my mischievous friend. I only go one badge at Guides for performing (?) and was made a Sixer(?) but didn't like the responsibility and left at 12 as I felt it was incongruent to my Grunge persona.

I was a rainbow, a brownie and a guide.

Guides was very dull which was why I left and joined a venture scout unit.

Yes, I loved it! I was sixer of the pixies and another proud owner of a hostess badge! Like others on the thread, I didn’t like guides so much.

Did anyone else play the game ladders where you’d race another person and jump over everyone’s legs?

my daughter goes to brownies. They sing Brownie Bells and finally I remembered where I knew the melody from when the big clocks use when the clock strikes the hour after many years of it bugging me!

Ladders was the best thing we did there, and they rationed it to once a month (probably because it was too much fun)!

I was a Rainbow and a Brownie. I didn’t go to Guides.
My DB did Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and I had to go too, as DM&DF helped out, and they had so much more fun than the Brownies!!

By the time DS was old enough, the Scouts were accepting girls so she got to go, which I was very jealous of 🤣

I did brownies! Still have my sash

I was a Sixer in the elves in brownies. I hated the woman who was our tawny owl. She was horrible!!

I was a brownie, guide and ranger. I liked brownies, wasn't a fan of guides. It got fun in rangers as we got to camp with venture scouts (service team for guide and scout camps) and I absconded to the ventures in the end and had a great time.
The best thing about it was that my mum and dad thought it was very wholesome and well supervised (it wasn't and we weren't!)

@McChubble I’d completely forgotten playing ladders! Still have my sash and I think I had a hostess badge. My sister and I were the first in our pack to have the new uniforms . I was glad the itchy bobble hat was gone, but I really wanted a neckerchief and a woggle. We had the hoodie so we couldn’t have one!

I had the brown dress and Beret then bobble hat. I loved my bobble hat. So comfy. Hated dresses. Another with my hostess badge which I remember doing at brown owls house.. not sure that’s allowed these days!! I think I was a pixie but changed more than once.
Overall I found it all a bit lame at the time hence wanting to be a cub. Guides was worse as don’t recall doing any activities of real interest in the 18mths I did. I was a robin and blue tit there. Blue blouse navy school skirt.. red tie thing then necker.
Im sure it’s better these days!!