Guides and Guns

In Guiding, shooting at targets dates back to the earliest Girl Scout days.  Over time it became a rarer activity – at some points due to shortage of weapons and ammunition due to government requisition at time of war - and post-war fewer suitable locations for shooting existed.  Attitudes to weapons in society changed too – whereas at one time a large portion of the population lived in rural areas where gun ownership was normal for pest control or ‘food for the pot’, rapid urbanisation and increasing affluence reduced this.  There were gradually fewer ‘old soldiers’ with their service revolvers or battlefield souvenirs in the attic, or on top of the wardrobe.  The gradual introduction of gun licencing also saw a reduction in the numbers of weapons kept, aided by regular amnesties for unwanted weapons, such that ownership eventually became restricted to members of registered gun clubs, and to agricultural workers who had cause to carry out ‘pest control’.  Archery also existed, but mainly as a niche sport, and usually at roundel targets rather than live game.  The wearing of Guide knives in uniform was discouraged from the late 1980s onwards, as knife laws in general started to be tightened. 

 

It was following a couple of notorious gun incidents (not Guiding-related) in the late 1980s and early 1990s that Guiding tightened up it’s policies on shooting.  The aim was, as usual with Guiding, to try to manage risk (both physical and reputational) whilst still enabling an activity to be carried out.  So the shooting of arrows, pellets, cartridges and bullets was allowed to continue - provided it was done under the supervision of qualified instructors, in appropriate locations and with appropriate safety precautions, and strictly as a target sport only – so shooting at roundel targets, tin cans, or ‘clay pigeons’.  The only thing which was not permitted - was shooting guns or weapons resembling guns at either people or animals, or representations of people or animals.  There wasn’t all that much outcry when the new rules were introduced, simply because the number of Units which had any cause to alter their programmes was very small indeed.  Most Units didn’t do any form of shooting, and of those who did, most were doing target shooting rather than live game anyway.  And having it supervised by qualified people was a reasonable ruling to make given the safety risks of such weapons if the activity is not properly managed and supervised.

 

Although it was gun incidents that helped to encourage the revision of Guiding’s rules, it was also other sensitivities too – between those who had been affected by any of the then regularly-occurring terrorist incidents in the UK, to those whose faith/religious beliefs barred the taking of life or any simulation of it, to those who felt it inappropriate for children to become accustomed to pointing deadly weapons at creatures (whether actual or simulated), especially considering the Guide Law’s references to being a friend to animals and respecting living things.  Most groups saw the new rules as a happy balance between safety and sport.  After all, is it compatible to be a friend and a sister to every other Guide, while at the same time deliberately aiming and firing weapons at them, or to respect all living things whilst deliberately killing or pretending to kill some for fun?

 

It was around that time that some new activities were becoming more fashionable and widespread in society – the first fad was paintball, and the second, laserquest.  I should declare an interest, in that for a while at that time I did some work for a paintball company.  Both of these sports involved firing guns directly at people.  As soon as Guide Headquarters became aware of the spread of these new activities, they clarified the rule book in order to confirm what was already fairly clear to most of us anyway – that because these activities involved deliberately firing weapons at people (even if the ‘ammunition’ wasn’t quite as dangerous as arrows or pellets), they did indeed fall under the existing rules, and thus were not a permitted Guiding activity.  What happened then – well, most Units accepted that the rules prohibited these sports, and they lived within those rules, even if it meant changing plans.  Unfortunately some Units decided to carry on with their outings anyway, declaring that they were attending the venue ‘as a group of friends, who by chance just happened to also all be members and Leaders of the same Guiding Unit’.  It was clearly a pretence, and the downside of it was that they did not have the protection of Guiding insurance to cover for any injury or liability (and in most cases it’s likely the adults in the group did not organise alternative insurance cover instead).  And of course, even if the paperwork was careful not to mention Guiding anywhere, even if it specifically stated that this was not a Guiding-sanctioned outing (and stated why), there was the risk that some parents might not have fully grasped the implications – that as it was declared as nothing to do with Guiding, there was thus no accident or liability insurance in place to protect their girl if she was injured, or if she inadvertently injured someone else, beyond whatever cover the activity company provided . . . anyone can trip and break a bone, anyone can slip their facemask off at the wrong moment and get a paintball in the face . . .

 

Over twenty years on, and the rules on Guides and weapons basically read the same now as then.  What is and is not allowed is all fairly clear.  Yet in recent years there has been an increase in the number of people protesting about Guiding’s restrictions on sports which involve shooting at people, such as paintball or laserquest.  People complaining that unless their girls are allowed to do Laserquest or Paintball they will leave the Unit (allegedly for that reason, and that reason alone), in order to join clubs which will permit it.  People complaining that other organisations break the rules about activities at joint events (rules which forbid the provision of an activity unless the safety rules of all the organisations permit participation in it, with whoever’s rules are the tightest prevailing), causing some participants to be disadvantaged and upset.  People getting upset that they are allowed to use balloons, buckets and plastic bottles in their water fights, but not water pistols or ‘super soaker’ guns.

 

So far as I can see, the rules are clear.  It seems obvious to me what is permitted, what is permitted subject to certain safety precautions, and what is not permitted at all.  If we feel that the current rules are wrong, any one of us is free to make representations to headquarters, explaining what we think should be altered and why.  What we are not free to do is to deliberately ignore the rules, and in doing so risk having girls in our charge doing activities without the protection of the insurance cover Guiding normally provides - and putting ourselves at risk of being sued if a problem occurs. 

Our Founder

There was a little girl, born way back in 1858, in London.  She had several brothers, but as the second-youngest child, was closest to the two brothers nearest in age to her – one a year older, and the other a year younger.  She didn’t remember her father, a well-known clergyman and professor who had died when she was two, and although there had been other girls in the family they had all died young, so as the only surviving daughter her destiny seemed to be to spend her life as her mother’s companion.  Though her mother was a strong advocate of Girls’ Schools (at a time when these were rare), once her sons’ school expenses had been paid it did not leave sufficient funds to send her own girl to school without adversely affecting the family’s lifestyle.  So although the girl saw each of her brothers in turn leave the family home to go away to school, she had to stay and do lessons at home.  She developed a wide range of interests – in nature study and botany, astronomy, beekeeping, and in playing the violin.  She also learned to ride a bicycle and was noted for her skill at bicycle tricks – and she learned metalwork too.  As well as all of this, she learned to  help her mother to run the household.  This was not easy, as in order to keep up appearances, the houses they had were always more expensive than they could afford – though the boys had scholarships for school, they had to be kept over the long holidays, so to save expense the family home would be let out, and the family travelled the country staying in guesthouses while the boys camped.  She had to help see to all the arrangements for this.  Gradually, as her mother became older and her brothers had left home, she took on an ever-increasing share of the household management, and such was her mother’s reliance that there was no prospect for her of marriage or leaving home.  But there were other hobbies too – her younger brother had become a pioneer aviator in balloons, and later aircraft – within a few years of the first-ever powered flight.  And she helped him with this – she helped to source and stitch the fabric for the balloon canopies, and source and repair the aeroplane engines – unusual hobbies for a Victorian spinster, alongside the more conventional charity work she did.

 

Meantime, her elder brother had left school and joined the army.  He had a very successful career in the army, and became famous for his exploits in India and Africa, to the extent of being the sort of hero who had memorabilia.  Such was his celebrity that a flood of fan letters was a regular occurrence, many being from young boys seeking his advice.  His army experiences gave him the idea of starting a training scheme for boys such as those who wrote to him.  So he did a test run, and then launched it to the public by way of a magazine.  Many people wonder whether he expected it to be only boys taking part in the scheme – given the wide-ranging interests of his younger sister it is possible he could imagine some girls being interested in it – but what is clear is that as soon as he knew there were girls joining the scheme (and he clearly knew this by very early in 1908) he was very positive about them doing so.  There are numerous accounts of him giving speeches on Scouting where questions from girls in the audience were welcomed, and he offered them encouragement to start troops, examples of him replying to written requests for Scouting information from girls, suggestions for Girl Scout uniform appeared in the 1908 edition of the handbook, “Scouting for Boys”, and he wrote about and in praise of Girl Scouts in his column in “The Scout” in January 1909 – all well before the Scout Rally at Crystal Palace in September 1909.

 

Although initially the female involvement in Scouting had been overlooked by the public, in an era when militant suffragettes were making national headlines, it was inevitable that any activity which offered girls more freedom than they had hitherto experienced would be viewed critically by the public, especially in a mixed organisation.  Although the criticisms were initially a trickle which could be brushed aside as being a few isolated and unofficial cases, it soon became clear that public pressure was growing, and something would need to be done if the positive image of the boys’ organisation were not to be damaged by negative comments about Girl Scouts.  Initially, he had approached the first aid organisations, with a view to their organising a scheme of junior first aid orderlies for the Girl Scouts to join.  But none of these bodies were interested in taking on this task.  Thus his next step was to approached his sister about setting up a girls’ club along the lines of the boys’ group he had created – and she accepted the task.  By this time she was in her early 50s.

 

Within weeks she had set up the girls’ club from scratch.  She had rented a room from the boys’ club, hired a secretary, and commenced the process of registration.  She arranged supply of stocks of uniform and equipment, designed and gained copyright protection for the badges, awards, names and insignias.  Although naturally shy, she travelled the country speaking at public meetings and recruiting both women and girls to join the club.  She took the handbook for the boys’ club and rewrote it for the girls, utilising a lot of her own knowledge on many of the subjects included.  Within 4 years of the club starting the uniforms, handbooks and badges were in place, and she had also launched a group for younger girls.  Two years later, she added on a leadership training scheme for young women.  Although war soon came to the country, the work continued, with the girls’ club taking on a wide range of war work, such as running canteens, working in hospitals, fundraising for ambulances and ‘rest huts’ for off-duty soldiers, collecting waste for recycling, making and laundering bandages and dressings, working on farms and foraging and preserving food. 

 

And yet, when it comes to the credit for the girls’ club, her name is rarely mentioned.  Six years after the club started, she was sidelined (against her wishes), and thereafter was rarely invited to events she might reasonably have expected to attend.  And though the person for whom she was sidelined undoubtedly did a lot of work over many decades, the credit was not shared between them as it surely ought have been. 

 

That is why so many people in Guiding who ought to, do not know that the founder of Scouting was Robert Baden-Powell – and the founder of Guiding was his sister, Miss Agnes Baden-Powell.  Not Olave – though she served Guiding from 1916 to 1930 as Chief Commissioner and from 1930 to 1977 as World Chief Guide, she had nothing whatsoever to do with Scouting or Guiding in any capacity before 1912, and a limited involvement in the 4 years thereafter.  Given that Guides were founded in January 1910, the credit for anything which happened in that early era undoubtedly belongs to Agnes, not Olave.

 

 

Agnes died in 1945, and was buried in the family grave in Kensal Green Cemetery in London.  But – for reasons now unknown, her name was never added onto the family gravestone there.  Now, the gravestone is unstable and in need of repair.  A group of Leaders are working, with the permission of her surviving family, to try to raise the sum needed to both repair the existing gravestone, and add Agnes’ name to it.  But – the bill for the work is £10,000.  Wouldn’t it be great if as many Leaders as possible could join the Guild set up for this purpose, help with  the fundraising work, and give our founder the recognition she surely deserves?  If we work together, perhaps it could be done in time for the Anniversary of her birth in 2018?

Guider or Leader?

Oh yes, I know.  The term “Guider” was dropped several years ago, and replaced with “Leader” as it was thought it would be better understood by the public.  Nevertheless . . .

 

A while back, my Assistant Leader being unavailable, I asked my Commissioner to help out with Guides one night.  This wasn’t so onerous as it sounds – although she is a Brownie Leader to trade, her daughter was one of the Guides, so she would have been dropping off and collecting anyway.  She has many years of Guiding experience, so I was surprised at the thing that surprised her most about what to me seemed like an ordinary Guide meeting, as average as they get – how much of the meeting I spent sitting in a chair sorting out the paperwork, or chatting to her, or preparing resources for a forthcoming meeting, or sorting out unit equipment – or doing all sorts of things which weren’t actually Leading (or didn’t seem to be) – that I wasn’t giving out instructions, or teaching skills, or directly interacting with the Guides, or taking them step by step through what was to be done.

 

This despite the fact that actually, I didn’t need to do that – I had given the Guides the initial instructions for the evening’s main activity, and the Patrols were then each working on the activity harmoniously and productively under the supervision of their Patrol Leaders.  So I was happy to leave it to the Patrol Leaders to do the leading, and bar wandering round a few times to see how they were getting on, and dropping any pearls of wisdom or encouragement which might be beneficial to the PLs, they needed no input from me.

 

This, after all, is girl-led Guiding, which is meant to be what we provide.  That they are provided with the means, and they then carry out the activity in their way, using their own ideas and techniques as far as possible.  Current recommendations are that Rainbow programmes should be 10% girl led – and doubtless that will mainly be either collecting their suggestions in general, or offering either/or choices regarding games and activities.  Brownie programmes should be 25% girl led – they are much more capable of choosing, and have a wider range of experiences to draw ideas from.  The older Brownies are capable of planning and running simple activities unaided if given sufficient encouragement to try it, and Sixers should be capable of organising their Sixes to carry out activities as a team, with minimal adult input, once they have the initial instructions.  By the Guide stage, the idea is 50% girl led – so twice as much as in the Brownie section, again a reflection of growing capabilities, and of the scope offered by things like GFIs, BP and Camp Permit.  Nevertheless, it still recognises that the only ideas the Guides can suggest fall into two categories – 1) things they have heard of and fancy trying; 2) things they have done before but would like to do again.  They can’t suggest anything else - because they don’t know it exists.  Senior Section, of course, is 75% girl led – it should be the direct opposite of Brownies, with the Leaders providing information, resources, advising on how the unit members can get their ideas down to brass tacks.  And all this I agree with.  To my mind, my job as a Leader in the Guide section is - to gradually work myself out of a job, at least 50% of the time!

 

That, however, brings me to my initial question.  You see, in my mind, one of the things which is an automatic part of the definition of a ‘Leader’, is someone who has followers.  To me, it’s a fundamental that unless you have followers (at least one of them), then you cannot possibly be a Leader, no matter how many of the personality traits you might care to show.  But, if my unit is girl-led, and my colleague and I are both Leaders too – then every single one of us in the unit is a Leader, so who, I have to ask, are the followers?  Answer – there aren’t any. 

 

I would suggest that actually, “Leader” is a fairly inaccurate description of my job.  My job in the unit isn’t and shouldn’t be to be the one out in the front saying “follow me”.  No, my job is not to say ‘do it my way’, my job is to advise, to suggest, to provide ideas and resources, to facilitate, in order to enable the Guides to take the lead and find their own way of doing it – in other words, to be a “Guider”.

 

So, although the book says I have to call myself “Leader”, it’s one of the few areas where I really am inclined to disagree.  If I were a Leader at my unit, I’d be a failure, because I’d be failing to let the girls take the lead at every opportunity they could do.  No, if I want to be a successful leader in Guiding, I should not be a leader.  I should be a Guider.

Proud but Nervous . . .

Today I’m feeling a mix of emotions as a Guider.  I’ll explain why.

 

For the first time in over 35 years, my unit has two Guides tackling their Patrol Camp Permit this weekend.  M and L have had a lot of training, and done a lot of preparation work, and I’m confident that they will be well organised, and will both run successful camps on their neighbouring sites.  Not only is it over 35 years since my unit had candidates for camp permit, but it is also over 25 years since anyone in my Division tried for it.  I’m looking forward to spending a weekend in the field-over-the-road, being their contact, but otherwise staying tastefully in my little tent, so they have peace to get on with it and do it their way.

 

So emotion 1 is that I am proud of them, that they are all set and ready to take on the challenge.  And emotion 2 is that I’m nervous for them, that they will have everything organised and keep the site ship-shape, that they will cope when the unexpected and impossible-to-prepare for happens, and that the assessors will be positive and kind.

 

But, and this is a very difficult thing to say – the 3^rd emotion is that I’m also proud of me.  For M was one of my Brownies for a while, and I’ve seen both M and L rise through Guides, the opportunities they’ve taken, the way they’ve matured, the skills they’ve learned.  For parts of the time I was running the Guide unit single-handed, and I’ve been Leader-in-Charge throughout their time in the Guide unit.  Over the years (and especially in the last 12 months) I’ve laid the path towards this with the camps and holidays my friends and I have run – it’s no coincidence that in recent terms my unit has covered fire safety badge and large chunks of first aid badge, that we’ve regularly had the Guides cooking on fires and on stoves, building shelters in the woods and working on Patrol challenges, that M and L camped together at last year’s camp, and I’ve run PL trainings. 

 

So often in our units we focus on the negatives.  We note the number of dropouts, without properly acknowledging the number who stick in the unit through thick and thin.  We note the times when there are low turnouts, without paying much heed to the times the turnout is good.  We agonise over the misbehaviour, and wonder whether we could be handling it better.  We worry about progress and targets, and whether our programme is balanced enough, challenging enough, up-to-date enough, engaging enough.  We worry about smartness, and rules, and other things which are very important, but not absolutely vital.

 

So I think it is right and proper that, just occasionally, just as a one-off – we take five minutes to sit back, pat ourselves on the back, and say, despite all the negatives we so often prefer to wallow in – we’re a success story and we should be proud of it!

Term on Nothing?

One of the newspapers hereabouts used to have the ‘HON Man’ – it stood for ‘Holiday On Nothing’ and suggested ways of having a family break at minimal cost, as tested out by their journalist, who was only ever referred to as the HON Man.  Well, what I am proposing is a ‘TON’ term – nothing to do with weightlifting, but simply suggestions for what to do this summer term (and beyond) if paying the annual subscriptions has left your unit somewhat rooked this time.

 

 

Step 1 – spring clean your storage.

Have you got loads oddments of craft materials which you could use for a dabble night?  Might you discover paper, paint, pens and other oddments about to go dog-eared for want of use?  Sort out what you can realistically use, what is fit to donate to a unit in a poorer area who might appreciate, what you might pass on to archives, and what is fit for nothing but throwing out.  But - before you actually do the throwing of that last category in particular, step back and think about what is in that particular pile, and why it is there.  Is it literally rubbish that was never going to have been much use for anything, or are there signs that you have been wasteful – are there felt pens with no lids on, and a batch of lids lurking in the corner of the box?  Is there paper or card which is crumpled or dog eared for want of being put away carefully, or has shapes cut out of the middle that could easily have been cut from one corner leaving most of a sheet for future use?  Are there skipping ropes full of knots because they weren’t hanked with an overhand knot before being put in the box?  Are there oddments of string or wool that could have been wound into a hank or ball but weren’t?  Are there badges or equipment you over-ordered, or  items from multipacks that were always going to be spare – and how much unit money is thus going to waste from buying things you didn’t need?  Then cast a similar critical eye over the other piles – do they suggest well-managed resources, all carefully looked after and all regularly utilised as regularly as they might be – or not?

 

Did you uncover resources or equipment which you had forgotten you had even bought or made, or older resources you could re-use?  (no need to worry about obtaining the badge originally associated with that challenge pack, just give some of the activities a go on their own merits!)  Have you got stuff in your first aid kit or cookery store cupboard which has gone out of date, or is about to – and is it over-ordering, or unavoidable?  Have you got games equipment, song books, or other resources which haven’t been used for a while?  You may well find that there is more stuff lurking than you thought - and that the programme is starting to plan itself, for the first few weeks at least, with no need to spend anything at all . . . !

 

 

Step 2 – what does your locality offer? 

Are there local clubs or societies, and if so would a member be willing to demonstrate or coach?  What about local businesses or trades – would a mechanic from the local garage be willing to have the Guides or Senior Section unit along to do some bike or car maintenance, or give advice on things to look for when viewing a second-hand car in an auction or private sale?  Would a local joiner be willing to donate some offcuts for the Guides or Brownies to make bird feeders or insect houses, and perhaps help them learn to use tools safely?  Could the countryside ranger, park keeper or environment group lead a nature walk, or give you the chance to help with some conservation work?  Could the sports club offer a taster session, perhaps in return for handing out leaflets about their youth classes?  Could someone from the women’s institute give ideas and advice on dressmaking or doing-up clothes, cookery, or other practical household skills?  Could you do a swap night with another unit – visit them to see what they do and find out what they’ve been up to recently, then host one of their leaders in exchange?  Even the most rural of communities will be able to offer someone with an interesting hobby or skill, and in urban areas you will be spoilt for choice!

 

 

Step 3 – What ideas do you have for a ‘night-on-nothing’? 

Could you do a music night, where you learn some new songs then have a sing-song or campfire?  Is there a park, a piece of waste ground, or someone’s back garden you could use to practice outdoor skills like nature study, fire building, shelter building, play outdoor games, organise a scavenger hunt or wide game?  Could you collect up some free newspapers and use them for a theme night?  If the weather is foul, why not a board games night, a bingo night or a quiz night?  Could you go for a dollar hike, or teach some skills via a dollar market?  Could you try to do 40 challenges in 40 minutes?  Stage a mini Olympics?  Could you do a good turn, such as tidying up around the war memorial (why neglect it until November embarrassment looms?), making and sending birthday cards to the Queen, sending some information to the section below about what your unit does to encourage recruitment, or having a good-turn-drive week?  How are the girls at skipping, at jumping into a long rope, at ball throwing and catching, at throwing a lifeline, or other practical dexterity skills?  Could you choose a suitable disco track and challenge the girls to make up a dance routine together?  Could they do a movement to music, or learn some campfire skits, or act out part of the Promise or Law, or make and use some percussion instruments?  Or a ‘befriend a tree night’ – where you gather in a park or wood, and each girl chooses a tree, uses a tree book to find out what sort it is, takes bark and leaf rubbings, collects a sample of it’s fruit if available, learns to identify it blindfold, estimates it’s age and height (can Guides find out about techniques which were used for doing this in the old Guide First Class challenge?).  Could you obtain identical boxes for each Six or Patrol from someone who works in an office, and challenge the girls to take these bare bedrooms and use your craft oddments to do a “60-minute makeover” on them?  Could you do a night of ‘good turn skills’ where the girls learn all sorts of things they could use for doing good turns – how to make tea, sew on buttons or badges, fold clothes, change a light bulb, construct a piece of flat-pack furniture, check a car’s oil level, change a tap washer, clean a sink, make a bed, iron a necker, read a street map and give directions, or whichever other skills you could share with the girls for them to use as good turns.  My Guides love wide games, either in the streets after dark, or on a local disused railway line on the light summer nights – loads of fun and adventure in the fresh air, and all for free!

 

 

Step 4 – what can you do to avoid the same problem next year? 

Is there equipment you could invest in, or could you be more strategic about what you buy so there is less wastage?  Are you using your funds to best advantage – spending a lot on challenge badges for activities which only last one night and could have been done for their own sake, or on badges for outings (which are unnecessary, and in several cases will be lost before the month is out anyway)?  Buying craft kits from catalogues when it’s invariably cheaper to invest in components in bulk instead, which can then be used several times over in differing ways?  (If you buy sets of glass paints or pens of a given brand, you can use them on plastic baubles at Christmas, on glass tumblers, on candle votives, on jam jars, on acetate to make window clings – and they can be used several times over a number of years and would only need occasional replenishing with ones of the same shade – whereas if you buy a kit of baubles and paints you will only get a one-off use, with at most a few dregs of colours you haven’t a make or colour code for, so can’t obtain matching top-ups for anyway)!  Are all your girls paid up-to-date with their subs or do you need to do some ‘credit control’ work to ensure that everyone is paying their share, and that you have applications in to the County hardship fund for any families which are struggling (again, this shouldn’t come out of unit funds)?  Have you got your Gift Aid up to date, and have all the parents been approached about it, in case more have become eligible to donate in this way, or new recruits hadn’t been asked yet?  Have you a list of sources for grants and other funding which you could utilise if you had a project to invest in?  Is fundraising on your schedule?

 

 

Step 5 – Plan your spending. 

Sure, if your unit is like mine then there is a long list of things you would love to buy if money and storage were both no object.  But given both are probably significant objects, what are the bare minimums you need to buy over the next 12 months – the badges and books the girls are entitled to and should receive, the official publications the unit should be buying in order to keep the programme fresh and the library current, the bills which are foreseeable.  Secondly, what long-term things are you thinking about?  So are there tents which will need to be replaced in due course, or are you saving up towards camp or holiday equipment, or a major trip happening next year?  Would you like to invest in something you could get a lot of use out of, like a parachute, or an altar fireplace?  Have you a major event coming up such as an international trip (to a UK international event or to somewhere abroad) or a unit anniversary?  And finally, plan your optional investments.  Think about getting the best value for each thing you buy – so will it be the skipping ropes from the bargain store, which never seem to last more than a term or two, or investing some money in sash window cord, or line from the ship’s chandlers, which you could cut into lengths and knot the ends of, so it will be sound for 10 years or more of hard use?  Buy some ready-made bean bags, or buy some good sturdy cotton or canvas fabric to make some much more sturdy ones which would be easy to repair when the time comes?  Ask around about which types of felt pens last, and put the Sixers or oldest Rainbows in charge of ensuring all the pens have their lids on properly before the box is put away so they don’t dry up?  Talk to other units which share your hall about buying some resources jointly – does it really make sense for each unit to have it’s own parachute, or paints and brushes, or stoves, or whatever it might happen to be which you would each only be using a few times a year and not simultaneously, when you could split the cost and share the use so that everyone’s money and storage space goes further?  Could you have a joint ‘library’ of reference books and resource packs which live in the hall?  Need both Guide units own a full set of Go For Its, given each would only be using half a dozen at a time?

 

Final Thought

I’m not suggesting scrimping and saving over every little thing.  Or literally not spending a penny on anything whatsoever all term.  All I’m saying is, remember that old Guide Law about “A Guide is Thrifty” and the old saw about looking after the pennies – we are custodians of other people’s money, and there are lots of ways in which you can have a term on next-to-nothing without the programme feeling curtailed at all!

Craft Kits

Craft is included as a small part of the overall Guiding programme, in order to develop two specific skills.

 

The first is ‘fine motor skills’.  In using scissors to cut out shapes accurately, or using glue spreaders to paste just up to the edge and not over, in manipulating pencil or paint brush to sketch images, the girls are learning to minutely control their arms and fingers, and develop their hand-eye coordination.  So any good craft activity will give them the opportunity to do things like draw or paint freehand, sculpt or mould, or practice using tools like needles, saws, scissors or planes accurately and dextrously.

 

And the second is ‘artistic taste’.  Learning about design, colour, shape and form, and developing personal ideas and opinions on them.  To bring it down to brass tacks examples, say you were making simple calendars.  Flossie chose a piece of green card to attach her picture and calendar tab onto, and now has to choose which colour of ribbon she wants for the hanging loop – a choice of dark green, navy, red or gold.  So Flossie is looking at the coloured card and at the ribbon choices available, and is judging for herself which combination of colours she thinks will look best together – considering colour and design in relation to her personal taste, and making her own decisions, expressing herself and her personal tastes.  Or say she is given a piece of black cardboard and some wax crayons, and asked to draw a ‘firework picture’ – so she has to think about what sort of firework shapes to have and in what position – perhaps single rockets, perhaps spinning wheels, perhaps clusters or cloudburst fireworks – maybe she might have a bonfire, or figures holding sparklers - or perhaps not, it’s up to her to imagine the scene, consider what colours she wants to use to portray it, and think about how to combine them in order to produce an effect she will find pleasing.  Or say she is given a bar of soap and a penknife in order to whittle and produce a carving, she has to think about what 3-d shape she wants to portray, and then work out what needs to be pared away from the bar in order to gradually reveal the shape which she is mentally picturing.  In all these examples, every girl in the group will have a slightly different vision of what she wants the outcome of her work to be, and each will achieve a different result – but one she has chosen for herself, and one which reflects her tastes and preferences.  And those may be conventional tastes, or may be quite original.

 

There are a limited number of products available from the ‘craft kit companies’ which do support these educational aims.  Most will indeed supply bulk stocks of paper and card, paint and chalks, coloured pens and crayons, and other basic/generic resources to stock your craft box.  And a few of their kits also take some slight steps towards supporting the aim – those where they supply a pre-selected object to decorate, but give the individual some freedom to decide on a decoration scheme, using the 4 or 6 colours of paint provided.  There is heavy restriction in that the object for decorating is in a predetermined form, and the choice of colours limited to only 4-6 which can’t necessarily be mixed in order to offer some variety of shade - but there is a little freedom. 

 

Far too many, however, advertise large numbers of craft kits which offer no choice or scope for taste at all, they are just a form of ‘painting by numbers’.  In such packs the colour scheme for every component and aspect has already been pre-chosen, and every piece has already been cut out, allowing little or no scope to deviate from the designer’s choices, and certainly no encouragement to do so.  If you choose to make the blue rabbit, then you are supplied with a green bow, if you choose the pink rabbit it’s a white bow.  The decision has already been made for you, you weren’t consulted.  All you get to do is assemble the pieces the designer chose and cut out, in the colour scheme they chose.  And as a result, almost all the potential educational benefits the craft activity could have had, are lost.  The girls aren’t getting to be creative, they just assemble other people’s work.  Worst of all – we invariably pay a premium for these pre-pack kits, compared to the cost of buying the component materials, despite the reduced benefits!

 

Of course it takes longer to make the craft if each child gets to choose options, and cut out her own components.  Of course it can mean using more stuff if we buy enough to offer a choice rather than dish out a pre-selected set of parts in the colour scheme we choose.  Of course it means more work and mess if we make templates and supervise the girls drawing round and cutting out, before they start assembly.  And if we give the girls freedom to paint a picture of their choice, or invent and create an object from a selection of scrap - then we also have to allow time for them to think up ideas and design their creation as well as construct it.  So yes, naturally that will restrict what can be achieved in an hour’s meeting.  Yes, we could make it far quicker on the night if the adults did all the cutting out beforehand – the adults are quicker because we got the very practice we’re now denying the girls.  Units should only do craft a couple of times a term anyway, as craft is only one among several of ‘The Arts’ and the arts but a small part of the overall programme alongside outdoors, relationships, self-development and all the rest of the topics we cover.  So no reason why we couldn’t spread the activity over 2 weeks, or aim for something simpler which can be fitted into the unit’s meeting time, but which the child can honestly say is “all my own work” not “someone else’s work really, I just stuck it together for them”.

 

As an educational charity, shouldn’t we be focussing on drawing out the maximum educational benefits from the activities we do, and on making the time to let the girls get full advantage, rather than give in to temptation and just take that expensive, easy-way-out, the pre-packaged craft kit?  

 

Does Guiding Discriminate?

A charge regularly levelled at us by some, is that Guiding discriminates. And of course it does. Always has.

It discriminates blatantly on gender, almost 100%. And on the grounds of age, given no under 4's are permitted to join, and there was until recently a bar on membership, and major restrictions on the roles which available to those over 65 – and there is still a strict minimum age for joining each section. So clear age discrimination too. And a lot of Guiding’s opportunities are restricted to members aged 14-26 only, sometimes for no obvious reason – more age discrimination. So no question about it, Guiding discriminates. Extensively, regularly, and across more than one category. It always has done, and it still does, perhaps more than ever. And it makes no apology either.

How serious a problem you consider that discrimination to be, however - depends on what your attitude to discrimination is. Dear me, have I shocked you by even suggesting that? Well, before you rush to reply, let’s pause for a moment – is all discrimination automatically and absolutely wrong in every possible case?

Of course, most people in a democratic country like ours would consider themselves 100% opposed to discrimination. But dig around a little, start asking a few awkward questions, and those who were once so certain start to find some niggly wee exceptions. For instance, should a belief in individual freedom and liberty really include the freedom to carry out activities that are illegal, or which may involve causing unwanted harm to others, or which will cause major damage to the environment, or which will cause damage to other people’s property? If you were a strict ‘100% believer’ then your answer to all of those would have to be an automatic yes, in every case and regardless. It would mean that you couldn’t choose to exclude those who commit acts of any type that, on consideration, you might feel shouldn’t be permitted – not if you’re 100% opposed to all discrimination, you can’t. Yes, immediately you consider discrimination and civil liberties, you can find yourself wandering into some awfully grey areas, and starting to make exceptions. Perhaps even the most liberal of us is more likely to be opposed to discrimination in 95%, or 98% of cases, than quite the full 100%?

And after that comes the question ‘Can there be such a thing as positive discrimination?’ Or must encouraging/favouring one group automatically mean discriminating against those who are not receiving the encouragement/favouring?

There was a time when society demanded that almost all clubs and societies be single-gender. Mixing between the genders was considered inappropriate other than in the most carefully-managed of circumstances, so it was easier to have separate clubs than tangle with the complex proprieties. Whether that was unfair discrimination to either gender - would depend on whether there was equal access to similar/equivalent facilities for each gender, and whether the members and potential members all wished to have their separate clubs. After all, for there to be unfair discrimination, there first has to be someone who believes they are being discriminated against. If everyone is entirely happy about separate clubs, then there is no unfairness, and thus no unfair discrimination. There is only discrimination the moment one person feels they are being discriminated against . . .

Over time, some of the single-gender clubs opted to become mixed, some didn’t. Of those that didn’t, reasons tended to be either that the majority of members wanted to retain single-gender membership, or there was a lack of demand from those affected by the single-gender status – if no-one of the opposite gender had ever sought membership, the question had never arisen. And a club ‘going open’ wouldn’t automatically result in a significant change in the membership balance unless the activities the particular club carried out were ones which in themselves attracted a mixed membership. Of those clubs that did go from single-gender to open, it tended to either be a case of viability (if there weren’t enough members to keep two single-gender clubs open, then merger could create one viable club for all, rather than both clubs closing leaving no club for anyone), or sharing of facilities (does it make sense to have the expense of 2 clubs each with separate premises, stocks of equipment, training facilities/sessions and administration)? And if the aim is to open a single-gender club to being mixed, it’s not enough just to say ‘the other lot can join now’ or to stick some new toilets and changing rooms in the clubhouse building – it means revisiting every aspect of the club to make sure it is not just grudgingly accepting, but is fully welcoming, and that all opportunities are genuinely and equally open to all members, not just theoretically so.

In these modern times, with the increasing numbers of mixed clubs, some of the few remaining single-gender clubs of various sorts have come under pressure to open their membership. Usually, the reason given for pressuring change is lack of equal access to facilities. In golf and bowls clubs we see arguments about restricted playing times for lady members, or lack of access to some parts of the playing facilities or clubhouse. So it isn’t objection to the fact that separate clubs exist, but an objection to any restrictions on access to facilities which disadvantage one group of members as compared to another. It’s not the principle of the clubs that’s objected to, it’s the details that decide whether there is unfair discrimination or not.

We live in an era when the phrase ‘positive discrimination’ is bandied about. We regularly hear in the media about efforts to try to increase representation in various areas where the membership does not reflect average diversity in the surrounding population. And these special efforts are always painted as a positive thing – as breaking glass ceilings, as making public bodies more representative, etc. Any voices that question whether discrimination can ever be universally ‘positive’ - are rarely heard, and anyone who dares ask the question risks being accused of trying to block change, and keep things in the ‘dark ages’. But if there are 12 jobs available, and a rule states that at least ¼ must go to a particular category of applicant, then that means that the firm cannot necessarily choose the best 12 applicants - and that some candidates who were in the top 12 on merit may not get a job, just because they don’t happen to be in the category with the guaranteed quota – while some of those 3 protected places may go to people who did not come anywhere near the top 12. So positive discrimination for some – may automatically mean negative discrimination for others?

Some have asked the question, can clubs such as Guiding continue to keep their single-gender status in the longer term?

The most commonly-used argument in Guiding is that it’s fine for Guiding to be single-gender - because that’s what the members want. Yet, if we look at countries which have had discrimination by gender, ethnicity/caste, class or other criteria, the most common reason they give/gave was that it's what the beneficiaries of the policy wanted. So by itself, I don’t see ‘because the girls want a girls-only space’ as a justifiable reason to give for barring boys and men from most roles in Guiding. It’s almost saying ‘we want to continue discriminating - because it means we get the better deal’.

I’d rather see factual reasons used – apart from anything else, because there are several! Educational studies have shown that although boys can achieve more in a mixed environment, girls achieve significantly more educationally in a single-gender environment. Studies of sport and activity show that girls are more likely to do exercise, more frequently and for longer, in a single-gender environment than in a mixed one. It’s proven that girls develop leadership skills more effectively in a single-gender environment where they are able to step into leadership roles without competing with boys to do so. So those are all areas where girls can benefit from a single-gender environment – without actively disadvantaging boys. Are those, perhaps, rare examples of discrimination not being negative? Or not? Either way, they are more valid and fact-based arguments to use than ‘because we want to’.

In theory, we are also better-able to attract girls from certain ethnic/religious backgrounds into Guiding because of our single-gender status, whereas their parents would not be as comfortable for them to join a mixed club. But, although that’s quite possibly true in theory – in practice, is Guiding’s record of reaching out to a wide cross-section of ethnic groups actually something to boast about? Do we really have thriving units in all parts of town? Are we really reaching all the girls in the community whatever their ethnicity or cultural background and ensuring all know what we have to offer? I’d suggest one glance at most units’ member lists in comparison to the local school rolls, would make it clear we’re not, and the fact that a wider range of girls could join (but don’t) is not something we can take any real pride yet. It needs a lot more work done both to reach out to all parts of the country and explain what we have to offer – and to educate the Leaders on what steps they could take to ensure their units were genuinely open, welcoming and inclusive of all cultural/faith needs, and avoid incorrect assumptions or faux pas. There’s a lot more to it than just offering a hijab among the uniform options . . .

So I asked the question “does Guiding discriminate?” And the answer is “of course it does.” There’s no doubt about it, it discriminates constantly. But the question we actually have to ask, is, “is the fact that Guiding actively discriminates a problem?”