Is anyone a Girlguiding Leader?

[Lotsie]

I’m thinking of becoming a brownie leader…I loved brownies as a child and my mum and her mates were all leaders and had a brilliant time together. I’m very outgoing and love kids/activities/being outdoors etc

Sadly my mum has now died so I can’t ask her what the actual logistics/challenges are….are there any MN brownie leaders who can give me an overview?

Thanks!

I’ve just volunteered, I started helping in September but I’m having second thoughts now. I don’t mind helping but I don’t think I can take over the unit, the current leaders want to step back and we’ve already had one unit close due to no helpers but the training is just so much work I don’t think I can fit it in with all my other work commitments and kids school commitments.

I am.
How much time you spend depends on the group and how many children/leaders. And you of course.
I am not the main responsible for a group so I spend 2-3 hours on Wednesdays and no weekends because of my family. Other leaders spend more time and weekends. Contact a local group and talk to them.

There's a group of us here https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/extra_curricular_activities/3507468-guiders-staff-room-part-4?reply=130917179

Feel free to drop in and ask any questions about the practicalities or read through the thread and previous ones.

I am a Brownie leader.
I have 3 unit helpers who turn up to meetings but I carry everything else.
The training can be time consuming. Safeguarding and first aid every 3 years. Leadership course is about a year but the online platform is painful.
The girls are a delight and this is why I do it.
I probably spend about 4 hours a week plus meeting time (2 hours to allow for set up and tidy up) during term time.
I do it because my dd is involved. Once she leaves Guiding I will probably go too. It’s a lot of responsibility and I know I do a minimum. I don’t do weekends or trips. Plenty of others way more involved, but also I get let down by my helpers for the most ridiculous reasons and it can grate.
By all means get involved, it can be great fun, but know what you’re walking in to.

I'm a Brownie leader, there are loads of us here and there on Mumsnet but don't know how many will find this sub forum!

I've been involved since I was a teen, so have been part of the "system" a very long time, and I'm not sure how it would feel to a complete outsider coming in! You'd need to start by registering online here: https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/get-involved/become-a-volunteer/register-to-volunteer/ and then someone from your local team would contact you. Before starting with a unit you'd need to complete the basic level safeguarding training and DBS check; once that's done you can just start as a "unit helper" and then later on do the leader development programme if you want to.

I'm now the main leader of our unit, and it is a fair bit of work, though with experience I've got more efficient! Our weekly meeting is 1hr15 mins, and I probably spend 1-2 hours most weeks on planning, purchasing supplies and admin. More for trips/pack holiday. We have a termly planning meeting which takes an evening. So it's not loads, and as a unit helper you'd really just need to turn up to meetings initially.

Overall, I have a fair few bugbears with Girlguiding, but I love being able to give the girls all these opportunities, and I do think they get something out of it.

Please don’t do it. It was great when we were girls. It’s now very, very broken and you put yourself at significant risk taking on such a responsibility.

There are lots of other charities that are not so broken that would value your skills and time greatly. Thank you for considering volunteering.

Hi @Eggybrains please can I ask what other organisations you recommend, that would allow volunteers to support girls and young women?

It's a lot of fun and a nice way to meet people (I lead with older groups - find Brownies a bit too much). It can be time consuming - but you can pick and choose what you do. There is mandatory training for first aid and safeguarding but the rest is pretty vocational (you document what you learn as you go along). The platform you interact with (GO) is a right pain though and Guides is quite admin heavy.
I'd say you probably need to allow as much time again as the meeting to prepare and record everything. But why not volunteer as a helper? You might get involved in some of the planning and preparation without taking on the responsibility at first.

@AliceK82 I agree it is tricky to find an organisation that set out with aims to help girls and young women. However, with what it has become, I'm not convinced that they do actually do this, even if this is what they set out to do.

There are lots of other youth organisations you can volunteer with which have girls and young women in them. There are a few other organisations which help girls specifically like Girls' Brigade, GVCAC, GFS, but I appreciate that they're smaller. If you really want to do something specifically for girls there's no reason you can't set up something independently although there are a lot of administrative issues involved in this.

I volunteered for Girlguiding for a very long time, and am so sad about what it has become. I wish it was still similar to what it was. Surely you do see, however, that it has significant issues and is rapidly losing support? Without support of volunteers, what will be left of it?

Thanks for your message. I absolutely wasn't challenging, just trying to understand what other girls-only spaces or groups there might be out there that might be able to provide support and space for girls if GG doesn't have enough volunteers to open units. I will look at the ones you mentioned. Thanks.

@AliceK82 sorry if I misinterpreted re: the challenge of finding girl-group. There are a lot of quite polarised views from both sides re Girlguiding here. I hope you find something that suits. I think it's really sad what now exists (or doesn't).

First thing is to think about what kind of role you'd want - I've assumed from what you've put you'd want to join a unit and help every week.
Then you can register at the link others have sent, and the district or division commissioner will get in touch with you about helping to find a unit.

The is some mandatory training and checks (DBS, references, safeguarding training), but otherwise your level of commitment is for you and the other leaders to discuss.

I'd also recommend you think about what you'd be comfortable and able to run as an activity for about 30 children; crafts, games, songs, etc. We tend to start brand new volunteers off with just supporting small groups doing the activities, and build up to them running activities they're familiar with, but if you've got particular experience then the team should be able to work this into the programme (eg we had a parent with an environmental background run an activity on making seedbombs recently). It's definitely something lots of people really enjoy and get a lot out of, and is obviously a great thing to volunteer to give kids new experiences and teach them life skills, so if you're interested please do register, as lots of areas are crying out for volunteers.