Guiders Staff Room Part 3

[Groovee]

Reconvening over here ladies.

I keep meaning to pop in and say Hi, I am a Cub Scout (mixed pack) leader in Ireland but grew up as a Guide, Young Leader, then Scout and Guide Club in Uni, became a Venture Scout Leader in a mixed unit (when they were aged 18-21!) from that, but didn't find any new Unit when I moved for work at the end of Uni (getting married, buying house, starting career - all kinda put paid to that).

So in 2015, I had my first night in a tent after 17 years!! And have since ended up buying our own tent that DD and I have taken on a girlie adventure (DH refuses to camp anymore!). And I have enjoyed the Cubs so much that the existing Section Leader has decided to step back and put me in charge! At least we have 5 Leaders for 25 Cubs, and we do generally operate as a Leader Team pretty well (including that each leader does a week when they are in charge - they plan the meeting, organize whatever is needed, send the weekly email to parents and run the session - not a strict rota but fairly evenly shared and allows the various different skills to be spread out, so the guy who has all the contacts arranges a visit to a local rescue organization, while the guy who is great at all things "traditionally scouty" (knots, knives, lighting fires etc) does those types of sessions, while another who loves creativity does electronics or woodwork or arranges a local artist (and parent) to give the Cubs an art class - and I get things like overnights, first aid, safety.....and LOTS and LOTS of paperwork!).

Anyway, that's me - I'm currently trying to get us a bit more organized to do badges better - as we spend a lot of the year on the water (Sea Scout Group) or hiking/geocaching etc as we meet on Saturdays, so we don't do as much in the Den as some other Units do. And we make use of our great parents to have lots of interesting sessions which unfortunately don't quite cover badge syllabus.....

Look up Girlguiding Rainbow Leader Support group.

Welcome Mayhem, and Biddy. Dp is a beaver leader (and pyromaniac )

Delegation is good. Join the challenge badge group too, it's full of ideas for meetings even if you don't do the badge- next week we're doing a sock week!

My 3 newbies are loving it, so I'm back to 24. Well, except there's one that hasn't yet made it back, but we know about that (health related), plus the steady two or three missing each week. Not the same ones, but always two or three down. Loving the new term back, had a parent running part of the agility badge last night- just as well we met in a large hall.

Welcome Mayhem, my top tips would be have a few 5 minute fillers up your sleeve at all times (stuck in the mud, corners, the sun shines on, chinese whispers etc. there are loads of suggestions on the facebook group) and find yourself an enthusiastic young leader or Guide to help you, my young leader started out as a shy little Guide helper 3 years ago and with a tiny bit of support she is now so good we have other leaders trying to poach her off us.

Hi Dippy, my sister is a cub leader, we have an arrangement about helping each other out on trips, camps etc but I couldn't deal with her cubs every week, I'm not sure how many she's actually got, it feels like hundreds and they make at least 4 times as much noise as my girls. She only had 2 girls but always has stacks of boys waiting, they are the first 2 that group have ever had (not deliberately, just none had ever signed up before)

Ooh I just stumbled across here by accident! I'm a Guide leader too, just happened to be finally finishing the laminating before Guides tomorrow.

Slightly petrified of what tomorrow will bring, I'm fairly new to the section so doing mod 1, and tomorrow is the first night I'll have planned and run with them. We have 35 guides at the moment, and half of them are taller than me. Much different to the 9 Beavers I had last year before moving!

Can't wait to do chocolate roulette with them though. Just need to make sure I have enough time tomorrow to actually chocolate coat a load of sprouts and grapes!

Ha ha, that sounds hilarious! Must remember that one. This time last year I was just finishing my LQ, the joy I felt at handing it in.

Dp took his beavers to metro bank last night, they had a great time. Apparently they do a programme for brownies linked to the number fun badge

Welcome Mayhem and Ginger

I see we took a bashing again on chat last night...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2837609-dds-rainbows-leader-has-just-made-me-cry-and-not-in-a-good-way

To be fair many poeple defending us and the Rainbow leader in question may have been a bit snappy but it does make me want to sigh. A lot.

Sparkly - the 5 minute fillers were my old Guiding mentors mantra....
must remember those to add those to your list
She could fill a whole meeting with fillers.
Thanks for your suggestions so far!

Has anyone been using the new activity finder on the GG website? I think it's great. Loads of 10-30 minute ideas. I'm putting together and laminating some of the 10 minute ones so I can hand them over to my unit helper and brand new LIT and get them to choose and run.

Eek Millicent, can you imagine being that poor leader and spotting that?

I had a very similar Facebook rant about me once, except this mum was offended I'd sent her daughter in and taken mum to one side, because she felt like a naughty child. I wasn't even sneery, I was all "ok, thats fine, if you struggle in future please do let me know so I can help."

I know Sparkly. Really hope there are not a bunch of Rainbow leaders across the country now thinking 'oh God was that me'?? And I'd love to be able to talk to parents in private about things but it's very difficult. I have to unsubtly usher them away into a corner!

Wow, I've just received a £200 cheque from an ex-Leader as a donation to our unit funds!

I've cancelled the subs of our girl whose mum is struggling to pay, and will put the rest towards census (£500, gulp!). Gives us a nice bit of leeway for the rest of term. And I'm pleased to say that I'm not the Rainbow leader in question - we meet on a different night, for a start!

Pine cone bird feeders tonight - lard and bird seed and 5 year olds, what could go wrong?! I'm wondering how many will suddenly announce that they're vegetarian etc despite nothing being on their forms - I have latex gloves for them to wear though...

Millicent where's that activity finder, just on the website bit? It sounds great, I'm going to have a hunt for it.

My census isn coming out at just under a grand.

I'm not going to lie, it's a little ouch but we get loads for it.

www.girlguiding.org.uk/what-we-do/our-programme-and-activities/activity-finder/

It seems to return pretty much nothing if you put cost in as 0 but if you bump it up a bit many of the activities need no special equipment.

We're £850! Last year the leader doing the accounts really whinged at £700!

How much is your census per person? Ours is £31.50 which I think may be on the higher end but we have a well staffed region office and a full time county member of staff.

£33. Paying HQ, Scottish HQ and county HQ.

Ours is £29.50, but district hasn't added any and division only gets £1. Will have to give district a cheque, usually it's only for £10 or so though.

Thanks for the link, off for a look once I can turf the kids off my laptop.

We aren't paying at Division or district so I think a lot of ours being higher is the county/region costs. That being said we get great service from both County and Region HQ offices and having been involved with projects at Region office I know how much they have to try and do with their money so am happy to pay.

I read that thread about sub's just after having a rant at DH about non sub's paying parents In my case I know the parent well and she can pay, just doesn't see it as a priority. Other clubs, including my DDS school ones, don't stand for non payment. If I didn't pay for swimming then my daughter couldn't go. Why is guiding viewed so differently? Its like we are seen as a given but with all the responsibilities of a private organisation.

Email to say another two Guides (sisters) are leaving. We did loads of recruitment last term (though my AG promised to do more and didn't). Just feeling a bit despondent.

Aw Dr Spouse. Guides is a hard age.