More articles published and some replies!

It's been an exciting week for Growing Guiding in Chislehurst Division.  Not only have 105 letters been posted to the parents / guardians of those waiting-to-join Rainbows, 3 people have replied!

I received a phone call from a recipient of a letter, saying that she had been wondering what had been happening with Rainbows locally; we had a good chat about the #MakeARainbow campaign and this parent will be completing the online form and coming along to one of the two Coffee Mornings in May.

Another parent has e-mailed our new e-mail address, explaining her preferences for new Rainbow units.  Someone else e-mailed a few weeks ago, expressing interest in volunteering as a Rainbow Leader, having seen a poster in Sainsbury's a while ago.  We have spoken on the phone and I am arranging for her to visit some local Rainbow meetings to see what they do.  

If you're reading this and have not received a letter about Rainbows in Chislehurst Division, you can access the form here.  Feel free to complete the form, then share the link with your friends who have daughters of Rainbow age (5 - 7) as we are keen to understand the local need.  

This is all part of a scoping exercise to help us establish where we might be able to establish new Rainbow units in Chislehurst and Petts Wood.  We have six venues in Chislehurst and Petts Wood poised to host new units.  We are really keen to get more adults involved as volunteers.  If this is something you are interested in, please get in touch! E-mail ChislehurstDivisionGrowGuiding@gmail.com and we can have coffee and an informal chat about the opportunities available.  

We are grateful for the Friends of Chislehurst Recreation Ground who have included our article in their newsletter.  Also, Raring2Go Bromley, whose magazine goes into 17,000 bookbags in Bromley Borough have kindly included our Growing Guiding blurb on p.12.  

Keep a look out for more articles about Growing Guiding in Chislehurst Division! Why not get involved? Be part of our progressive movement and take this amazing opportunity to help girls and young women to reach their potential!

Have you received a letter?

Greetings and welcome to the Chislehurst Division Growing Guiding blog!

Maybe you have just received a letter explaining the situation in Chislehurst Division and have decided to have a quick look at the blog to see what it's all about.

Maybe you're here because you've seen the link in a local newsletter - perhaps that of Chislehurst Methodist Church, Farringtons School, the Petts Wood Gazette, Look Out or any of the other publications which have kindly accepted articles about our campaign to open new Rainbow units locally.

Maybe you are a prolific tweeter and saw a link in a tweet.

Whoever you are - welcome.

Yesterday marked a milestone in the campaign to #MakeARainbow as finally, the letters to the parents / guardians of the 105 girls who are eligible to join Rainbows but cannot due to a lack of units for them to join, were posted.


Thanks to three diligent Guides - Maddy, Ruby and Jemima - who helped out as part of their service to the community, 105 envelopes were prepared, then stuffed with a personalised letter to the parents, an invitation to our two Growing Guiding Coffee Mornings in May (one at Christ Church Chislehurst, one at Petts Wood Methodist Church), plus a Girlguiding postcard - either a Rainbow one or a volunteering one.

Stamps

Posting the letters

On Tuesday morning, I hurried to Old Street Post Office and posted the whole lot, as you can see from the photo above.  I am aware that I look a bit suspicious, but it took five attempts, plus a lot of odd looks from passers-by to get this photograph.  Then I nearly posted the phone in error, which would have been awkward.


I'm now awaiting a flurry of e-mails and text messages from people eager to help out with Rainbows in Chislehurst and Petts Wood!


Scroll down to read about why we're trying to #MakeARainbow in Chislehurst Division and read more about the Rainbow programme here. If you're interested in finding out more about Rainbows or any other section, e-mail ChislehurstDivisionGrowGuiding@gmail.com


Keep checking the blog for updates on the campaign.

Three things

Today, on the day when Girlguiding launched the plan for 2020, #BeingOurBest, three exciting things happened in Chislehurst Division.

I received an email from a parent who helped at Guides on Monday after a last minute request via our secret Guide parents' Facebook page, saying how much she'd enjoyed it & how she would be happy to help again.

If we had not requested help, this may not have happened.

A few hours later, I received an email from a parent of a 16-year-old girl who is looking to do some service locally and would like to help at Rainbows. I was in touch with her a while ago about joining our new Senior Section unit (she was in my Brownie unit some years ago) which opened in February. I mentioned possible future leadership opportunities.

If there had not been that contact, that email may not have come.

The third excitement of the day was when a qualified Rainbow Leader offered to help supervise a potential Rainbow unit in the Division. We had spoken at a recent County event about the mega-plan. This is wonderful news!

What does this teach us about Growing Guiding?

Ask for help. Stay in touch with people. Share what you are doing with others.
You never know where it may lead.

Word is getting out

Farringtons News, March 2015

We've reached that exciting part of a campaign where articles are gradually appearing in community newsletters, magazines, school publications and so on.  Above is our piece on p3 in the Farringtons News.  If you scour the local area, you'll also find a double-page spread in The Petts Wood Gazette, a piece in Look Out (St Nicholas' Church newsletter), plus articles in Contact (Chislehurst Methodist Church newsletter), Christ Church Chislehurst News, St Francis of Assisi's newsletter (the church in Petts Wood, rather than St Francis himself), The Annunciation's newsletter, plus there are many other articles in the pipeline for other newsletters and websites.  If you have channels of communication open to you and can help us spread the word, please do so: ChislehurstDivisionGrowGuiding@gmail.com


Maybe you've arrived here because you wanted to read about our mission to grow Guiding in Chislehurst and Petts Wood. Let me update you.

Since the last blogpost, I have finalised the details for all of the potential Rainbow units. We did some mapping a while back to understand the need for more units. The idea was to plot where it would make sense to open new Rainbow units. After a great deal of research and a flurry of emails and phone calls explaining that I was scoping rather than booking and that all this is theoretical depending on if people come forward to volunteer, I now have a list of six different venues which are happy to host Rainbow units - three in Chislehurst, three in Petts Wood.  Some are venues which currently host other sections, or have done in the past; others are venues which Girlguiding has not used before.

Whilst it is all theoretical at this point, it's still important to present people with options as to whether they would consider particular units if they were available. I wish I could wave a magic wand and open six units overnight, but this is impossible without more volunteers.  For some reason, all units in Chislehurst Village run on Mondays or Tuesdays, therefore there may be a whole group of people who don't engage with Girlguiding locally because those days are not convenient to them.  But there are 5 other days in the week when units could be operating! A big part of Growing Guiding is identifying the need in particular areas, then working to meet that need.  Petts Wood now has just 1 Rainbow unit and is in urgent need of more.

A letter has been prepared and is going to be sent to all the families who are waiting-to-join Rainbows in Chislehurst Division. It outlines how we are scoping possibilities for new units and asks parents firstly if potential venues, times and dates  would suit them and secondly, how they can be part of the adventure! We are entirely volunteer-led, but we need more volunteers to get involved.  If you are on the waiting-to-join list, expect a letter to be with you very soon! Please respond to it, and consider how you can join the most progressive movement of our time.

I attended the County Growing Guiding Co-ordinators meeting last Wednesday where I outlined our Division mega-plan to get girls off waiting-to-join lists and into new Rainbow units. We have been very pro-active in placing articles, tweeting, blogging, organising coffee mornings (watch this space), booking promotional stalls at events - come and see us at Petts Wood May Fayre on May 4th, Chislehurst Rotary Fair on June 13th and Chislehurst Rocks on June 20th. If you're in the Chislehurst or Petts Wood area and know of other events we could attend, please let us know!

We've emailed all the community spaces in the area, schools, nurseries, places of worship etc., asking for them to help us to recruit volunteers to open new Rainbow units.  If you are reading this because we've emailed you about our campaign, do get in touch - we're lovely. We can provide articles of any length, soundbites, photos, tweets, posters, adverts, case studies, speakers, whatever you want really.  Get in touch!

The Mission

In Chislehurst Division, which is made up of Chislehurst Village and Petts Wood Districts, we have over 100 girls who are the correct age to join Rainbows (5-7), but we have just 3 Rainbow units in the Division, all of which are full.

This reflects the situation nationally, which is why the Chief Guide has launched the #MakeARainbow campaign to encourage the opening of new Rainbow units, in order that all those who would like to join, can join!

In Chislehurst Division, we have made an ambitious plan to bring more volunteers into Guiding. You may well be reading this because you saw the link somewhere. We have written articles for all sorts of community magazines and newsletters, to explain how great Girlguiding is and to encourage potential volunteers to get in touch. We are distributing posters, flyers, placing advertisements, using social media and blogging, as well as having a presence at local events such as Chislehurst Rocks and the Petts Wood May Fayre.

We are in the process of identifying venues for new potential Rainbow units. We are writing to the parents of the 100 or so girls who are waiting-to-join Rainbows to explain the situation - we have the venues, we have the girls, what we need is more adults to help run units.

We are asking those on the list to let us know if various days and times suit potential Rainbows, then we will look to open more units which will be sustainable.

What's it all about? Girlguiding is the largest charity for girls and young women in the UK. Part of a global movement of 10 million members across 146 countries, we are for all girls; we give girls a voice; we give girls a safe space; we change as the lives of girls change. We provide a wide range of opportunities to support every member to reach her potential.  Read more about what the different sections do here.

We are going to use this blog to document our journey to find more volunteers and ultimately, to open more units.

Maybe you are interested in helping with another section - Brownies (7 - 10) Guides (10 - 14) Senior Section (14 - 25) - there are units across the area which would welcome you! If you're definitely interested, register here or if you want to have a chat about the opportunities, email chislehurstdivisiongrowguiding@gmail.com and we'll be happy to chat to you about what you could do.

Please keep reading our blog for insights into how our campaign progresses and if you tweet, please use #GrowingGuidingGLK 

Thanks for reading and do check back soon!