Hello, my name is Katie and I have just started as the new Digital Lead Volunteer for Girlguiding Anglia’s Communications Team. I have just taken over my own Guide unit in Oxfordshire and have been volunteering in Anglia for 6 years.
How did you begin volunteering in Anglia?
I started in guiding as a Brownie, and then a guide.
I began volunteering when I turned 14 as a young leader in my Guide unit. At this age I was extremely shy, and quiet, however, being involved in Guides has taught me how to be confident, how to make friends, how to form my own opinions and stand up for those opinions. Even now as an adult, I am constantly reminded of how volunteering for Guides has helped me.
Guiding gave me a really strong support system, and group of incredible female role models. Under their leadership I got to learn so much about what makes a good unit leader, and now always strive to be able to provide to the girls coming into my unit the same experiences that these amazing women gave me.
Why did you apply for the role in the communications team?
I am really excited about my new role as Digital Lead Volunteer because it means that I am contributing to other young girls finding their own units and getting those experiences and lessons that were so crucial to me when I was their age.
Guiding has supported me getting into university, and in job applications. I now work as an events assistant, and my experience with guiding is one of the things that made me stand out in my job interview. I have always looked at guiding as an opportunity to widen my experiences and make sure I highlight it on my CV and job applications. I always wanted to move into the digital marketing world, so this position felt like the perfect way to gain experience in that field in a way that was flexible with my day job.
I am most excited about being able to watch different projects take shape from start to finish, and make positive changes to the way that Anglia engages members and non members using digital communications. Having only been in the role for a month, I am already involved in a couple of projects, and am really excited to start working more closely with the team.
For more information on the voluntary positions available within Anglia, click here.
Firstly we would to say a big thank you to all of our members that have accessed A Safe Space training, you’re all helping to keep our members safe.
For those of you that haven’t managed to get your training up to date, there is still time.
Next week you will receive an email from HQ because the compliance date is fast approaching so here’s what you can do to play your part.
Everyone on GO must do the Level 1 e-learning just make sure you add your membership number at the end so that it shows on GO that you’ve completed it. It takes 20 minutes and helps you understand the code of conduct.
Lots of our members also need Level 2, which you can also do by completing an e-learning. This level focuses on risk assessment, an essential skill within Girlguiding and again can be done in just 20 minutes.
If your role requires you to complete Level 3 you’ll be able to do a live online training from Mid-September and bookings will be opening on Friday 4 September. Find them on the Girlguiding Anglia website. You might also be able to apply for RPL if you are a designated safeguarding lead in your work role, read the guidance and apply with your evidence by emailing safespace@girlguiding-anglia.org.uk.
Levels 1, 2 and 3 each last for 3 years and you will be automatically reminded about renewal 6 months before each one runs out.
Anyone requiring Level 4 will have been directly emailed by HQ and Girlguiding Anglia, please reply and ensure you’ve booked onto one of the sessions.
If you are not sure what level you need please check here or contact your district commissioner for advice.
Our trainers are working very hard to bring you lots of Level 3 sessions until the end of 2020 (well, mid-December) and deserve our thanks for the extra mile they are all going to keep guiding safe.
Thank you.
Fiona Joines
Trainer Qualification Coordinator
Hello everyone.
The summer is almost over, and we are looking at the start of a new term with new adventures in guiding. August has flown by and certainly provided me with some challenges, not all guiding ones but here is one I would like to share. It was my brothers birthday a few weeks back and we had a family BBQ to celebrate. I asked my brother what dessert he would like me to make and he said “Black Forest Cheesecake!” Of course I said “sure, yes”- thinking, I’ve never made one, it’s got to be easy right? Well in fact it wasn’t difficult after all and if I say so myself it was delicious! It made me reflect on that guiding postcard GIRLS CAN….
This term and indeed next year, we are going to face challenges, but I believe if we work together, we can get through these unpredictable times by keeping our guiding light strong and offering guiding to all our members. Now that we can meet outdoors, I encourage all of you to think about how you might be able to do this safely. I know that lots of leaders have already successfully offered this which is great to hear, you can take a look at the latest guidance and risk assessment assistance.
As virtual guiding continues, we will carry on thinking about blended ways of offering our programme. We hope that joining up with other units, sharing ideas and supporting each other to deliver virtual meetings are all possibilities for our members. Helping and supporting virtually can be a phone call to a leader we haven’t seen in our district for a while and working together so that all our girls can take part in the next term.
As we prepare for the new term, I have a challenge for you. Have you completed the necessary levels of A Safe Space training you need? Every member is required to complete level 1 and 2, they are available online and take approximately 20 minutes each. Everyone needs these levels, then level 3 at least one volunteer per unit and level 4 for our commissioners. Girlguiding values its members and wants them to be protected and have the knowledge to keep themselves and all our members safe. You can find all the new A Safe Space updates here.
I encourage all of you to please ensure you have completed the levels you need prior to the compliance deadline.
Keep smiling, stay safe,
Tracy Foster
Region Chief Commissioner
The struggles of lockdown and how guiding has positively impacted my mental health – written by Rudy Boddington
When the schools closed, and Guiding was cancelled I won’t lie I was disappointed. I had spent a long time planning a district camp which has now been cancelled, along with exciting trips for my unit. At this point I was still going into the office, I work for the emergency service’s in ICT so, in the beginning, everything else was very much business as usual apart from Guiding.
I threw myself into helping the district switch gears to remote guiding. In an attempt not to slow down and to fill my days with something I helped set up challenges and tasks for the Rainbows, Brownies, and Guides in the district. We scheduled posts on Facebook and sent emails to parents with the week’s activities.
My day job has led to me spending weeks teaching people how to use skype and other video calling software and I honestly couldn’t face the thought of an additional video call with my Guides every week. At the end of my working day, I wanted to step away from my makeshift office (a fold-up camping table against the bookshelf in my sewing room!) and not have to explain the inner workings of the mute button to another single person!
It got to week 3, and we should have been on District camp. I set a list of challenges for girls to pick from to complete at home, and we had a virtual campfire on the Friday night to kick it all off. I set up the new tent in the garden, (because I was going for the whole experience!) and the first song we sang was singing in the rain… well, it then did start to rain so I was uprooted to my kitchen with my poor husband trying to wash up around me! No-one was singing together, the delays were terrible, though action songs worked well it was something about the smiling faces I hadn’t anticipated on helping make me smile for a little while longer. That weekend we participated in most of the challenges, all in the name of social media posts. We had eggy bread for breakfast and made s’mores in the evening. I don’t know about the girls, but my husband and I had a lovely weekend.
It then hit half term and day 732 of lockdown, or how it felt, to be honest I had lost my sparkle. My commute across the landing to work was wearing thin and I spent the weekend struggling to motivate myself to do anything. I often feel I am an introverted extrovert in that I like being around people but recharge by being on my own. Though having all this time on my own was not being helpful and I was well and truly fed up! I think a lot of people can relate to this at the moment, the monotony of staying at home and not seeing friends and family was taking its toll on my mental health.
The following week on Monday I decided to bite the bullet and schedule a virtual guide meeting. I had only had 4 guides attend the virtual campfire, but I thought I’d run a test meeting to see how it went. I sent the virtual permission forms around and sat back and waited. I was scheduled to help the Rainbows on their second virtual meeting. They had started the week before and needed someone Level 3 safeguarding to sit in. By the time Wednesday came around I’d been having emails all day with parents returning forms, so it looked to be a great Guide meeting. I helped the Rainbows do their scavenger hunt from 6-6:45, which I really enjoyed. We started Guides at 7:30pm, slightly nervous that it wouldn’t live up to the previous Rainbows meeting!
At 7:30 we had 10 Guides, me, and Marie our new helper who hadn’t managed very many meetings since Christmas due to ill health but was able to help this time because she was at home. There were three massive pluses to come out that meeting from what I could see:
- One of our quieter guides us told us she’d been working on activities! With everyone else’s mics muted she managed to get a word in edgeways and felt more confident about it!
- I kept in contact with a new volunteer who is very enthusiastic and will be a brilliant leader
- Lastly. I went away feeling refreshed. Not been on holiday refreshed, but re-energised for whatever lockdown would throw at me. The silly games the Guides played, the fighting to unmute their mics whilst I had muted them, and random TikTok dancing made me remember why I like guiding in the first place! It’s the smiling faces!
Don’t get me wrong virtual guiding doesn’t fit into everyone’s lives right now, and I’m sure whatever you are managing to provide for the girls is greatly appreciated! I challenged my Guides to complete their Mixology badge and I had an email from one parent telling me how they had a mocktail party on their Saturday night, and how glad she was her daughter joined Guides when she did! You must remember whatever you manage to do, be it forwarding on the national activities, virtual meetings, or setting weekly challenges every little bit is helping all the families. If you are like me too it helps you keep going as well!
