Programme Bunting

Who couldn't use this  in a Programme Training? Machine Washable but £25 for 32 pennants!

Recruitment Rocks

This is the latest in a long line of recruitment attempts - my husband and I wandered around the local park at the weekend hiding them in time for the half term holiday, and followed up with a village FB post asking the finders to post a photo. The unit is not financially viable, and despite running the new programme with lots of girl led guiding choice, a Mamma Mia themed sleep-over (the girls choice, not ours) and outdoor Adventure planned for this term, numbers are not increasing. 

Write up of our Adventures, Brownies own stories as part of the old Writers badge, and fun photos in the village magazine & website have been received positively by villagers and brownies alike; who enjoy reading about their exploits in class they tell me!

We've tried Bring a Friend Parties (the 2nd one we stipulated the friend couldn't already be a brownie from another unit), we held a Royal Street Party, and have added the new programme flyer and welcome letter for every girls book bag in 2 local schools. We had a press release in the local newspaper, taken Splat the Rat to the Annual local Duck Race 2 years running. We have run a Guess the brownie bear's birthday competition. Toured round all the local pubs, butchers, hairdresser, shops, Post Office and even Local Show Homes with the official recruitment posters. We've challenged the brownies to each tell a friend about something they have done at brownies, and bribed them with the reward of a SW Region Recruitment Badge if they can bring a new brownie. 

What ever we try we are in a village location and no matter what we do we have 15 brownie units within a 3 mile radius and at least 2 locally flourishing dance schools. The model of Girl Guiding has to change if we are to survive. I have proposed joining units locally, but I sense a reticence to change! In Munich we ran 1 Saturday a month, and it was amazing what you could achieve in 4 hours on a Saturday morning as long as there was a snack of some sort, but I sense this would be a step too far locally!

I've been using my recent enforced time at home to do some scrap-booking, being careful not to break any GDPR rules of course, as I can't remember many of the girls names from 34 years ago! I was struck by the number of photos with a full unit of 24 brownies (and some of those girls will now be in their 40's) but also a few, whose names I can remember have gone on to do amazing things with wonderful careers. I'm wondering how I can harness that for a local recruitment drive!  

Fundraising Policy

I was once asked to do a cross section training on Fundraising so it's refreshing to see the Girlguiding provided material has been considerably refreshed since then. A few years ago we had the A-Z of ideas and nothing else. Now we have a Fundraising policy as well as a Fundraising Toolkit & a Code of Fundraising Practice. Even the A-Z has been refreshed with up to date ideas and this lovely poster to make it much easier to include the girls and even parents in the process. There is even a link to a 37 minute webinar made available by the Fundraising Regulator if you need to satisfy the urge to find out more. If you don't want to watch the full webinar there is a "Fundraising Promise" which would be worth discussing with the girls before you do some fundraising. See if you can find the Bingo and cake sale resources? Well done, Girlguiding a good refresh.

Midlands resource "Stay with Girlguiding" & badge

Its aimed at Commissioners to improve retention. However, there are plenty of ideas that could be used with the unit. There is a badge to be earned for every adult in the district by trying 3 retention ideas inspired by the pack. Ideas are inspired by the new programme so its really up to date. There are 6 pdf's including a badge order form and one called "Value your Volunteer" which we don't do enough of.
The badge is really cute, but well hidden on the Midlands website, this is  the URL to cut and paste: http://www.girlguiding-midlands.org.uk/resource-detail.php?ID=44 or search the Midlands website under "Resources".

LASER Guiding Conversations on Bereavement

I've never seen a Guiding Conversation which has been "franchised" which is what it looks like has happened here. London & South East England (note the "Region" has been dropped) have produced a really good Guiding Conversation on Bereavement in collaboration with a number of  UK authorities on the subject. I wish it had been around in 2005 when my own children suffered a bereavement, and there was very little information around to support them. This provides some really sensible practical advice including bereavement in different faith traditions, and finishes with some useful URL's to explore for further support (see below):

Sign-posting for further support
To help leaders to feel able, confident and supported in delivering the conversation online support is available: 
• Winston’s Wish     https://www.winstonswish.org/about-us/
• Hope Support Services   http://www.hopesupport.org.uk/  
• Hospice UK      https://www.hospiceuk.org
• Dying Matters     http://www.dyingmatters.org/
• Childhood Bereavement Network  http://www.childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice   https://www.noahsarkhospice.org.uk/
• Cruse Bereavement Care    https://www.cruse.org.uk/    
• Maggie’s Centre    https://www.maggiescentres.org/
• NHS Choices     https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/bereavement/
 
Books are also available to help young people cope with grief, loss and bereavement. Visit  https://childbereavementuk.org/for-families/info-sheets/other-reading/support-children-young-people/

You can find the pdf here:
https://www.girlguidinglaser.org.uk/resource/Guiding-conversation-bereavement.pdf