Press Release - Guiding is Growing

As you may read in the paper or hear on the radio today, Guiding is growing by 1 new member a minute and remains the largest youth organisation in the UK. Hurrah! And it is the same for Surrey West where are numbers are now higher than ever with a total membership of well over 9700 of whom about 8000 are Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Senior Section and the rest are leaders and other volunteers. The great thing is that, since Go became fully operational, we have been able to map this and will be able to in future.
Of course, someone will bring up the Scouts - aren't they bigger/don't girls prefer them etc and the answer to the first is "No" and the answer to the second is that we welcome any girl joining the youth organisation that suits them. For some girls it will be Scouts but for others it will be Guides - others will prefer Girls Brigade, Red Cross, Sea Rangers etc etc and every single one of those organisations are giving them great life chances just as we are. I am happy if a child, girl or boy, is being helped to make the best of themselves - this isn't a numbers competition it is about our children's future.
PS - all of my children joined scouts or guides but only one is still involved and she is now a Guide Leader with Cindy in New Haw. My 2nd daughter was a keen actress at Yvonne Arnaud Youth Theatre and my son is an Army Cadet. They have all learned a lot from whichever they chose.

Allotment 3 and a cold

We now have compost bins, manure, raised beds ready to be built and a half painted shed. Now we are on the hunt for top soil. We couldn't do much last weekend because of the cold.

Drove to Pax Lodge to join Camberley Division for dinner. Because it was already snowing I left early and drove home using motorways because I thought they would be gritted. Ha ha. You couldn't actually see the road surface and the "lane" I was driving in could have been anything although it felt about the right distance from the edge.

Now I have a really bad cold....the first for ages. Hot and cold flushes, very bad chesty cough, and a clamp around my head. I caught it from my son.

This week is a quiet work week, fortunately, but I am seeing a creative agency on wednesday who are offering 8 hours free consulting for charities. It is based in Guildford and I aim to get some sort of steer on the best way to promote ourselves. I'll let you know how it goes