Girlguiding West Bridgford South Trent Division have had an exciting and busy return to meetings over the last few months and the individual units, Rainbows (5-7 years), Brownies (7-10 years), Guides (10-14 years) and Rangers (14 – 18 years) have been busy providing a fun filled program for all our young people.
The Division covers West Bridgford, Wilford and Clifton. Girlguiding is the leading charity for girls and young women in the UK and we have 150 adult volunteers and 545 young members just in our Division.
We have had some very notable achievements this term. On the 3 October our Division Treasurer and also Rainbow leader with 1st Edwalton Rainbows Kate Meakin finally got her chance to run the London Marathon after the disappointment of it being moved twice due to Covid. She absolutely smashed it with a finishing time of 4 hours 53 mins 45 seconds and raised £1136 for the Division. We are so proud of Kate and our hashtag of #runkaterun will stay with her for a while. She enjoyed herself so much that she wants to do it again next year.
The Division Commissioners had been planning for a while to provide a community defibrillator on our Division HQ ‘Paxdien’ which is on Rectory Road in West Bridgford. The building is used by some of our own units but also by a number of groups from Baby sensory classes to yoga and personal training and we felt that as our building is so central to West Bridgford it is in a perfect position to provide such an important community resource.
After the sad death of Dylan Rich in September whose sister has been one of our young members as a Rainbow, Brownie and Guide and is now a Young Leader with one of our Brownie Units we decided that this was now more important than ever and with the money that Kate had raised running the marathon we are so pleased to have our defibrillator installed and ready for use by 15 November 2021. In an emergency the Defibrillator can be accessed by calling 999 who will be able to provide the code for the locked box.
On 16 October Amelia Philips of 1st Edwalton Guides was presented with a Celtic Cross for bravery by our
County Commissioner Kirstie Pogson. Amelia and her family were attacked by a herd of cows whilst out walking in the country and she was nearly trampled by one of them. Amelia says that she remembered what she had been taught in Brownies to not panic, listen to instruction and act quickly, her parents believe this is what saved her life.
Through fun, friendship, challenge and adventure we empower girls to find their voice inspiring them to discover the best in themselves and to make a positive difference in the community.
To keep providing amazing opportunities for girls we need more volunteers, if you would like to join our lovely team please visit www.girlguiding.org.uk/ get-involved/become-a-volunteer