We currently have over 6200 Girlguiding members in Norfolk. We are a large county, both in terms of membership numbers but also geographically. Google maps says that to drive from Hunstanton in the far west of the county to Lowestoft in the very east of the county would take well over 2 hours and is nearly 80 miles! And bear in mind we don’t have many motorways in Norfolk!!As a large and diverse county, Norfolk boasts a fantastic coastline with many popular seaside resorts such as Great Yarmouth, Cromer and Hunstanton to name but a few, the beautiful Norfolk Broads, many large historical towns, hundreds of small rural villages and of course the lively and vibrant city of Norwich.
As a county we are very lucky to have so much on our doorstep. We are very proud owners of Patteson Lodge Estate in Coltishall, home to our county residential centre and campsite and more recently our purpose built Archive Resource Centre (the ARC). Patteson Lodge is just over the road from Hautbois Activity Centre (Girlguiding Anglia) and our members certainly make good use of those facilities and activities. Closer to Norwich we jointly own Eaton Vale Scout and Guide Activity Centre which also offers a wide range of outdoor activities and residential accommodation in a beautiful, peaceful setting. Throughout the pandemic our volunteers and young members continued to meet, many quickly getting to grips with Zoom or staying in touch by other means and they managed to achieve such a lot – including thousands of badges!
It is always a proud moment as county commissioner to read about all the varied and interesting activities that units get up to in our county Blue Sheet – which can be found on our website: https://www.girlguidingnorfolk.org.uk/latest-news/blue-sheet/. The fun that is had and the memories created are priceless and will stay with the girls and their leaders for a lifetime. That is what guiding is about isn’t it?
It is great to see so many units now back to meeting face to face, either inside or outside. Some are even venturing away on residentials and week on week there is more of a ‘normal’ feel about guiding. Let’s hope that can continue during the winter months.
One of our many successes during the pandemic has been the launch of our county online shop. The team is currently extremely busy sending out our Christmas 2021 badge – isn’t this penguin so cute? Our gorgeous 4 seasons sleepover badges are also very popluar – but you will need to look at our shop to see those! Link to our website is below.
As a county we are working on our plans for 2022 – Patteson Lodge celebrates its 40th anniversary in July so that will be of course be a good reason to party! Add into the mix the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations and it is all shaping up to be a good summer.
Thank you for reading. We would be delighted to see you in Norfolk sometime. You would be assured of a warm guiding welcome.
