I do love a Farmers Market

Where better to promote life-changing volunteering opportunities, than amidst an abundance of abnormally large cauliflowers, strange breads, jam as far as the eye could see and catchily-named businesses, such as 'Eat n Mess' and, erm, 'Villager's Fine Sausages'?

 

Yes, indeed, those lovely people at Chislehurst Farmers Market invited Girlguiding Chislehurst Division to have a presence, which we duly did. Equipped with postcards, flyers, broad smiles and positivity, we mingled for 4 hours, chatting to a plethora of locals about our need for more volunteer Leaders.

 

 

 

 

Never one to miss PR opportunities, I checked which stalls had a Twitter presence, then asked each in turn if they would promote Growing Guiding, which they all happily did.

Here is our happy day at the Farmers' Market:

 

With the German Wholegrain Baker's Shop

With Eat 'n' Mess




With Nut Farms (may contain nuts)




With Villager's Fine Sausages



Thanks to Dine Thyme

 





With those lovely people from M Farmers Market





The previous weekend, a few of us had had an informal presence at Chislehurst Methodist Church's annual plant sale, where we chatted to potential Rainbows and volunteers.  Here's a photo:

 

I've attended various meetings this week where I've fed back on our mission to open more Rainbow units locally.  We have confirmed three units will open in June and September - 3rd Chislehurst Rainbows at Christ Church (Mondays), 6th Chislehurst Rainbows at St Nick's Village Hall (Wednesdays) and 9th Petts Wood Rainbows at Garden Estates Association (Fridays).

I am still working on the other two new Petts Wood units - I have the girls, I have the venues, what I need is adults who are prepared to help out on a weekly basis, to provide continuity for the group, and who may be thinking about doing the Leadership Qualification, which would enable them to actually run a unit.  I'll get straight to the point - could this be you? Are you free early evening (term-time only) on Mondays or Wednesdays, local to Petts Wood (or prepared to travel there).  But I hear what you're saying - what is the Leadership Qualification? Read more about it here:

In Girlguiding, the Leadership Qualification supports you to lead Rainbows, Brownies, Guides or Senior Section units. You need to be over 16 to start work on the qualification, although you can't become a Leader until you are 18.

As a Unit Leader you learn and develop skills on the job and through formal and informal training sessions. You are also supported by a Mentor, who will be an experienced Leader.

What does the Leadership Qualication involve?
There are four modules, completed practically rather than through tests or examinations. They can be completed, and in any order:
Module 1. Your role in the programme Module 2. Your role in Girlguiding
Module 3. Your role in safety and unit administration
Safety is covered by showing you can effectively communicate with parents and the local community, and that the unit's programme is carried out in a safe environment. Unit administration refers to your responsibility for unit funds.
Module 4. Your role in managing the unitAchieving the Leadership Qualification You need to gather evidence to gain the qualification e.g programme schedules, letters to parents, records of discussions had with your Mentor (whom you are allocated when you start) and so on. This could include details of what worked and what didn't, and what you might change in the future.
 
Your Mentor will sign off the completed modules. Any member, from a Young Leader or Unit Helper to the girls in your unit, can sign off the different parts of a module if they see you perform the requirement.

It should take around six months. Throughout the qualification any relevant prior knowledge, skill or experience will be accredited, including any work on the Young Leader Qualification. And when I've finished?
When your Mentor has signed off all the modules required, your workbook and any evidence will be sent to the person appointed by the County to ensure the Mentor has met a common standard. This is not a check on you - it's to ensure your Mentor has helped you in the most appropriate way.
After the final meeting with your Mentor, you will meet with your Commissioner who will end your 'Leader in Training' role and add the Leader or Assistant Leader role, as appropriate. You will also receive a Leadership Qualification certificate and badge, and a Training and Activity Centre voucher.

Interested? E-mail ChislehurstDivisionGrowGuiding@gmail.com and we'll be in touch.

If you'd rather work with older age-groups, that's fine too, groups across the area and beyond would embrace what you could contribute.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

The Petts Wood Growing Guiding Roadshow

I decided after spending two out of three days trying to find new volunteers in Petts Wood, to declare that there had been a 'Petts Wood Growing Guiding Roadshow'.

On Saturday, members of the ever-faithful Chislehurst Division Growing Guiding Sub-Committee (I do like a Sub-Committee) met at Petts Wood Methodist Church for the first of two Growing Guiding Coffee Mornings. Piggy-backing on the regular Coffee Morning, we had fruit kebabs aplenty, bracelets to make, plus a table of Girlguiding resources, a brand new Guiding sale declaring our presence, plus a steady supply of happy smiles.

Attendance of potential Rainbows and potential volunteers was not overwhelming, but several people who had received letters and emails about the #MakeARainbow campaign appeared, including a local parent who is going to help run a new unit in Petts Wood every Wednesday and has put the word out to her peers to help out!

Several people with Rainbow-age children were persuaded in from the cold to hear about our exciting campaign to grow Girlguiding locally.  

A number of those who had heard about the campaign appeared two days later, when we proudly stood at Petts Wood May Fayre at Petts Wood Hall, in our legendary gazebo, encouraging passers-by to make bracelets, collages and chat to us about volunteering with Girlguiding.

The scoping exercise continued to evolve, with parents who had heard about our campaign coming to speak to us, as well as numerous others, some of whom had never heard of Girlguiding but liked the sound of it.

We have a good number of parents considering volunteering once a month and good numbers of girls wanting to join new units.

We were pleased that Olaf, everyone's favourite snowman, endorsed our Growing Guiding campaign.

We are still looking for more adults who are prepared to help regularly with the new Rainbow units. If you are considering giving some time and energy to the most progressive movement of our time for girls and young women, drop us an email ChislehurstDivisionGrowGuiding@gmail.com and we shall be in touch!

Three new Rainbow units - yes, really!

Greetings faithful readers - apologies that it's been a while - bronchitis got the better of me. There is a A LOT to report, so why not go and make a cuppa, then settle down and read the happy news...

We are delighted to confirm that we have not one, not two, but three new Rainbow units opening in Chislehurst & Petts Wood.  If all goes to plan, this three may increase to as many as six new units.

Word has been getting out, via good old traditional methods - articles in newsletters - as well as social media, which has boosted the reach of our campaign, reaching people in all sorts of ways.

There is a lot of learning to take forward. One article in one newsletter won't work. One plea to one community group won't work. A targeted approach to as broad an audience as possible, might just work. It has done so far, but there is always scope for improvement.

I recently ran a training for new Leaders. I asked them how they had come into Guiding. Some had been Guiding since birth and before, due to the unstinting commitment of their mothers, who didn't let the small matter of childbirth stand in the way of Guiding; others had heard about it through friends or community groups; one had seen a poster on a tree!

The advent of social media has brought a plethora of things to the table. Whilst social media takes the blame for all sorts of things, it can be used advantageously to reach people. A Facebook page presents a non-threatening, clear way of enabling Facebook users to read about what Guiding is doing locally and reach new audiences.

You will find our Facebook page here. Feel free to like it and to share it with your friends. One of the Rainbow groups is opening thanks to a Leader who saw the Facebook plea. She was thinking about returning to Guiding, after a university-shaped break, and is now opening a Rainbow unit!

Chislehurst Division now also has a Twitter account, which merrily tweets links to articles, retweets things of note and has a steady, albeit small following.

What else has happened? If you're reading this as a frustrated Leader who can't find any helpers, consider this - have you actually asked for help? It is human nature that we don't like to ask for help. We might be seen as incompetent, unable to manage. Asking for help is often viewed as a sign of weakness. However, this is absolutely NOT the case when we are trying to grow Guiding and is, in fact, positively encouraged.

The populace do not realise that Girlguiding Leaders are volunteers, committing their spare time to something they really believe in. It pains me when parents tick the 'I am unable to help, ever' box. Whilst some may have a valid reason as to why they can never help, I think perhaps that it doesn't occur to some that they could help. Girlguiding isn't just another after-school activity to occupy the children. Girlguiding is the most progressive movement of our time, inspiring girls and young women to reach their potential, to be who they want to be.  We need more inspirational adult Leaders to make this a reality for more girls and young women. 

When new volunteers do come forward, we must nurture them, not frighten them by buying them a t-shirt on their second week; wait till the third week, at least.  That is a joke - we must embrace them, get to know them (and then see if they would like a t-shirt).

We must understand what new volunteers want to gain from being part of Girlguiding, then give them relevant opportunities to explore this. Girlguiding offers all sorts of experiences for adult members, which I shall blog about another time.

Returning to the point.  We have now made concrete plans to open 3 Rainbow units in Chislehurst Division so far - two starting in June and one in September. This is thanks to a mixture of people coming forward - qualified Leaders keen to become Rainbow Leaders; Leaders returning to Guiding; and volunteers brand new to Guiding, who have responded to our call for more volunteers.

Of course, we still need more volunteers to facilitate more opportunities for more girls.  Many of the existing units for Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Senior Section in Chislehurst and Petts Wood would welcome more volunteers.  So if you are thinking about doing some voluntary work, don't hesitate to e-mail 
ChislehurstDivisionGrowGuiding@gmail.com and we can tell you more about the opportunities to volunteer.

We have had plenty of responses to our scoping exercise and the first of our two Growing Guiding Coffee Mornings is tomorrow, Sat 2nd May 2015, 10am - noon, Petts Wood Methodist Church, Queensway (opposite the petrol station by Morrisons). Come along and meet us - we're lovely.