Spotlight on… Royston Girlguiding

Our Guiding Light still shines!

Up until COVID-19 put a stop to things in March, we have been celebrating 100 years of guiding in Royston. Our opening ceremony on 7th July 2019 focussed on celebrating the historical traditions of Girlguiding, many of which were new experiences for the girls. We ended the day with some delicious cake and singing ‘Happy Birthday’!
In November 2019 we had our special centenary Brownies adventure to Birmingham Sea Life Centre. After a fun coach trip there, complete with lots of singing, we had a tour of the centre that included areas not normally open to the public. The girls had a late night, but they all slept cuddled up together in the 360o ocean tunnel while the sea life swam all around them. It was an amazing adventure.

Little did we know that our centenary Thinking Day service on 23rd February 2020 would be our last event, which makes the fact that it was such a great, well-attended event even more poignant. We were able to showcase Girlguiding in Royston and internationally, as well as present some special achievement awards.

While our centenary celebrations are on hold for now, we haven’t let COVID-19 dampen our guiding spirit! A number of units have managed to run online meetings, engaged with the girls through Facebook, run challenges via email, and we have our District competition to see which unit completes the most interest badges. We are very proud of one of our Guides, Rose, who won a national art competition to commemorate the NHS. Her winning design will appear on a 45ft TES MacDonald trailer as it moves around the country.
We are looking forward to a time when we can resume our centenary celebrations, but in the meantime our Guiding Lights are shining bright!

Anna Bond – Assistant District Commissioner

Girlguiding Royston District