I'm read Elizabeth's 3 Good Things, and more recently her The Good Things, series with interest. The Good Things series features a blog post every Wednesday about one good thing in her week and she invites others to share theirs and link up. To quote:
Happiness means different things to everyone. Whether that’s climbing a mountain, baking a cake, spending time with family, travelling somewhere exciting, a gardening or environmental success, visiting a new restaurant, a great outfit post, or your experiences of learning something new, The Good Things is a linky for everyone. For me, happiness is found in the everyday things. It’s about taking notice of the small things and practising gratitude for the life that I have. So, I will join in by writing about something that’s made me happy each week; My Good Thing…
I'm starting off with a Good Thing from last week really - I started to right this post last week then chickened out but I don't want it to get lost.
Volunteering is a hugely important part of my life, since the age of 13 I've been involved in volunteering in some way, shape or form. That's another blog post but currently one of my two main areas of volunteering is through GirlGuiding. Like many women I was a Brownie then a Guide. I was then a Young Leader and a Ranger for a bit. Then I took a break, went to University, did other stuff etc etc. Since 2008 I've been a Brownie Leader and in 2010 opened up a Guide unit too, both in a village just outside York.
Sleepovers, weekends away and longer camps are a big part of both Guiding and Scouting and the weekend before last we went to Bramhope Scout Camp Site which is to the North West of Leeds.
26 10 to 14 year old girls, the 4 leaders who help with Guides each week and one of the leader's mums who drove all the way from Birmingham to cook for us. We've been there twice before and so know what the expect and stay inside - none of us are big campers - but being July and great weather we got to do all sorts of activities.
The site is also run by volunteers and has various outdoor activities available, an assault course, archery, and go karting proving popular. Saturday night's dinner was cooked on open fires by the girls - which is a real skill (bacon, beans, potato and egg followed by chocolate bananas so nothing too complicated/risky) and we also played a wide game across the site.
We like to balance things around too so there were some crafts and cooking indoors too. I was taught how to make loom bands and the girls also love some free time. They all help with jobs like preparing food, laying the table and washing up, as we tell them we've given up our weekend to take them away, we're not waiting on them too!
It was a wonderful weekend and ended what has been at times a tough year in Guiding for me. But 26 happy girls thanking you at the end of the weekend makes it all worthwhile.
Camping as a guide is so much fun and such a good way to learn invaluable life lessons, but wouldn't be possible without the volunteers - well done you :)
ReplyDeleteOh Helen, I adore this post so much. Thank you so much for linking up - and for sharing this story. Volunteering is such a great thing, not only do you give so much of yourself to it, but you must get so much back out of it too. My little girl has just started Brownies this year and is already getting so much out if it, I only hope that she goes all the way through to Guides and gets to camp. Guiding offers something that isn't replicated anywhere else and I think it's really important, in a world that is making our girls grow up far too fast, that Brownies and Guides still exists...
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