You came 2nd in a knitting competition -and won £1.50

I have been knitting a cable knit jumper for a few weeks. I enjoy knitting as you can easily pick it up and put it down again. Anyway, I heard that they were short of entries for the Allotment Society show so I decided to enter my jumper. At the time it needed sewing together (the bit I hate) so I spent Friday evening at Guides doing that. I entered and came 2nd! The winner was also a cable knit but much finer and almost certainly more carefully sewn. Next year I will allow myself more time - and aim to win.

Bigger than ever

At the County Commissioners conference last weekend, Gill Slocombe asked us to get one more girl into our units - and it looks like we are already doing that: yesterday I discovered that Surrey West have 9800 members and recognised volunteers on Go! Our numbers have been creeping up but never before been above 97xx. Hurray and well done!
It was also a relief at last to meet with County Commissioners of as big and some bigger Counties at the conference. In the session where we joined in size groups I was with Leicestershire, Hertfordshire and Berkshire and one of the CCs said what a relief it was to not feel like a freak. I know what she means. Being so large, Surrey West has to be efficient and as professional as it can. Equally it is able, should it choose, to pay for services. Many smaller Counties can run in a much more informal way. Trying to tell them about how you have a County Office or use an accounting package is not relevent for them so I was finding that networking consisted of me telling them things they weren't interested in and them telling me things that we have moved well beyond. I spoke to Gill Slocombe afterwards to suggest a Large Counties conference so we could share ideas and experiences. I am sure we would find it really useful.

Subscription progress

Well done everyone who has paid their subscriptions - 76% so far although I know others have paid following Margaret's reminder but the cheques are still to be processed. However, we need to have 80% paid before we get money back......so let's have another push.

Full house in the County Team

For the first time in my time as CC we have a complete set of County Advisers and Division Commissioners. How about that? Not only that but we have some roles most Counties don't have like a Climbing Adviser (shared with Surrey East) and Social Media Editors (Very very recent appointment). What is great is that many of the recent applicants have been young Guiders (sorry - if I say young Leaders it could confuse) and Senior Section. That is a massive breath of fresh air for the middle-aged group they are joining and exactly where we should be going to find the next generation of County appointments.

Photos and films

Today we held an all day session to get some photos and videos suitable for our campaign showing how Guiding can help your life. We had Leaders who told their stories about Guiding - whether it was Guiding helping them swim the Channel/find a husband (yes really)/ start a business/ learn new skills/ have fun ..... and we had some great girls who played, did crafts, got very wet in the rain and, I hope, had a good time. We should have a lot of footage to form the basis of the DVD we are making. We should also have some great shots we can use in annual reports etc. Not only that but all the seed pots I need for my allotment were made by Rainbows, Brownies and Guides so I am ready to plant this month in plenty of time.

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