Girlguiding South West England comes together to share in celebrations and seeks news volunteers
On 18 and 19 February 2023, over 6,000 members, volunteers and families connected across the South West of England to celebrate World Thinking Day, a special day in the Guiding and Scouting Calendar, and ‘travelled’ the world together.
Celebrated since 1926, World Thinking Day is a day of international friendship. It is an opportunity to speak out on issues that affect young women and fundraise for 10 million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 150 countries. It happens every 22 February and is a chance for Girl Guiding members and Girl Scouts across the world to think about each other, the worldwide movement they’re part of, and important issues.
Tomorrow, World Thinking Day will be celebrated across the globe, discussing the theme of ‘Our World, Our Peaceful Future’ – a chance to learn about how girls and young women are overly affected by environmental issues. Those joining in the celebrations tomorrow or who took part in Girlguiding South West England’s event over the weekend will get a chance to explore what we can learn from the environment and how we can work with nature to create a more peaceful and secure future for girls everywhere. Topics explored include stewardship, harmony, and the role the environment plays in peace and security.
Girlguiding South West England’s large-scale online event was designed to be as flexible as possible to ensure girls and young women could experience an international trip either from the comfort of their own home or meeting up in the local areas, towns and counties. Girls took part as a unit, district, or division meeting, either in person or virtually, or as individuals with their parents/carers.
Girlguiding South West England worked with industry specialists to create an activity pack and videos, all having a transport, travel, or peace theme, providing girls with experiences to explore the world that they may have missed over the last few years.
We travelled across the globe, checking in with the five World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts Regions (Africa, Arab, Asia Pacific, Europe & Western Hemisphere) and took part in various activities with a theme of ‘Make your way around the world’. Young members took part in activities such as s’mores making and road trip planning in the USA, learned about canoeing in the Amazon Rainforest, took part in a range of camel related activities in the Arab Region and learned about the first hot air balloon flight by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783 in Europe. This event was open to all our members from 4-year-old Rainbows through to 18-year-old Rangers and our fantastic volunteers supporting them.
Those who took part in the World Thinking Day celebrations were also invited to join a closed Facebook Group to share what they were doing with each other and learnt more about World Thinking Day. It was fantastic to see how involved everyone was across the weekend – we saw girls and their families and friends joining in the activities, with photos shared of camel racing, camp fire sleepovers and tasty treats being made with other Region members. They also received our World Thinking Day badge, also available to buy at our Region Shop.
As part of the celebrations, members took the opportunity to renew their Guiding promise. One particularly special promise renewal took part during sunrise at the beach at the memorial stone for Lord Baden Powell overlooking Brownsea Island. Guiding members followed their renewal with hot chocolate, pastries and a song from each WAGGGS Region.
Laura Cottey, Chief Commissioner for Girlguiding South West England, said, “It was wonderful to see so many girls, volunteers and families joined together as we celebrated World Thinking Day at the weekend. We saw camel racing, beautifully decorated llamas, lots of yummy food and adventures at home with some impressive looking dens! Girlguiding plays an important role in bringing girls and young women together to explore the world around them, the environment and the wider world”.
As we move through 2023 and into 2024, we would like to provide even more opportunities and experiences like our World Thinking Day celebration for girls and young women across the South West of England and with around 8500 girls on our waiting list we desperately need new volunteers to help us. By giving just one or two hours a week, being a Girlguiding volunteer could see you going around the world accompanying girls on trips of a lifetime, spending a weekday evening helping girls learn a new skill or enjoying an action-packed outdoors adventure weekend as you make your own lifelong friendships.
We welcome volunteers of all backgrounds, ages, cultures, faiths and abilities and for more information about volunteering with Girlguiding, visit www.girlguiding.org.uk/joinus
