Remembrance Badges for whom?

In the past, different companies have produced their own cloth poppy badges (and other poppy-decorated products), and marketed them directly or indirectly at Guiding Leaders.  And I've tended to be uncomfortable with them, mainly because in most cases it was not clear whether they had gained permission to use poppy logos, Girlguiding UK ones, or both, nor what proportion of the proceeds (if any proportion) were going to the relevant charities (both RBL and PoppyScotland, not just the former).  I feared, rightly or wrongly, that the companies might be more focussed on profits for them rather than proceeds for the cause.

This year, Girlguiding UK have produced their own official poppy badges, and have stated that all profits will go to the relevant poppy charities.  So the concerns about copyright design, and about destination of funds, have been dealt with.

But for me, one concern remains.  Who gets a badge - and who doesn't?

Ideally, each unit thinking of issuing them would do some sort of activity about remembrance, however brief, and then issue them to all members who had thus participated in remembrance.  Or at the first meeting after the 11th, the Leaders would ask each girl whether they participated in the silence either on the Sunday nearest, or on the morning of the 11th itself, regardless of wherever they happened to be when doing it - and would then issue the badge to all who had taken part in one or both of the silences.  Whether that was in a place of worship, at school, at home, or somewhere else.

But I fear some units will only be issuing it to those who opt to take part in the one specified remembrance parade and/or service nominated by the Leaders.  Regardless of whether some of their members may have taken part in other parades or services on the day, and regardless of whether some of their members may have marked the silence in other locations and in other ways.  And there is an immediate problem, because even if there is an option of just the parade and not the service in the church, many of the ceremonies held at war memorials include Christian prayers and/or Christian hymns, which can be a barrier for any girls or Leaders who are not Christians.

The implications of the badges only going to those who parade?  That there is a reward issued to those who mark remembrance in one way, and no reward for those who mark it in any other reasonable way.  No badge if you attend a remembrance service or ceremony at another war memorial or in another religious building, instead of the chosen one.  Or you maintain your regular commitment to your Sunday morning class or club, rather than truant it, perhaps having checked that they plan to pause at 11am to have a silence.  Or if you visit a war veteran relative, or the grave of a relative injured or killed through war.  Or if you respect your family's view that a public parade with flags and bands isn't the right way to remember the war and it's effects, in general, or on your family in particular.

So while I am glad that there is now an official badge we can get and issue without having to worry about whether the proceeds are going to charity or to private profit, I don't feel that all the difficulties are resolved.  Because I believe that either the badges should be issued to everyone who remembers - or to no-one.  Not only given to those who remember in one particular way.

Awards for All?

Guiding has always had a system of awards to present to it’s membership.  Awards for long service, for gallantry, for fortitude, and for ‘good service’.  The first is awarded to adults automatically regardless of what type of role(s) have been held.  The next two categories are nowadays only for youth members, and the last of these categories, whilst notionally available to all Leaders, is in reality only ever awarded to Leaders who have taken on roles at County, Country/Region, National or International level.  Not to those who have only served at Unit Level.

In addition there is a piecemeal selection of local awards in different parts of the country.  These can be at County or at Country/Region level.  Some are open to nominations, others are in the personal gift of the appropriate Commissioner.  Some are aimed at grassroots Leaders, most at those who have taken on roles at County or Country/Region level.  But some localities are covered by more than one local award, whereas other areas have none.  And some awards are given out more frequently than others. 

I do not want to knock those who have gained awards.  I can think of a large number of instances where awards were indeed well deserved.  But I would question the fact that so many awards do not recognise the efforts of those Leaders who, year by year, provide ‘Good Guiding’ in the units.  Many Leaders and volunteers work away quietly, many are the backbone of Guiding.  But the awards structure as it currently stands - does not serve them.

So I would suggest that two steps are needed.

1) Create a parallel set of awards to the existing ones which are awarded for ‘higher level’ service, with the new ones designed to specifically recognise Unit Leaders and volunteers, and their grassroots work in local communities.

2) Each Commissioner, at some point in her term of office, should be expected to nominate someone (or more than one person if she wishes) in her area for an award.  The nomination would naturally have to be considered at a higher level as at present, and there would be no guarantee that nomination would result in an award being given, but it would mean Commissioners being required to consider the Leaders and volunteers in their patch, and consider whether, actually, there is quiet, significant achievement which is going unrecognised.

I wouldn’t want quotas.  Or a set date when each Commissioner nominates, with people waiting to see ‘who will get this time’ and being disappointed if this year no award is made.  And I wouldn’t want Commissioners to have to nominate someone every year whether there is an outstanding candidate to put forward or just a good one (‘Buggins’ turn’).  But in our rush to focus on the recruitment half of ‘recruitment and retention’, and given that the average length of service for a Leader in the UK is only 2 years – we need to value the Leaders we have who give more than two years, who consistently go above and beyond at a local level, provide the continuity in our units and form the backbone of our Districts – and show them that they are valued, and awards aren’t just for the ‘high heid yins’.

Remember what really matters . . .

So it’s remembrance weekend.  And not only is it remembrance weekend, but this year Armistice Sunday and Remembrance Day both fall on the same day.  And not only is it Remembrance Day, but it is the 99^th Remembrance Day, for it is the 100^th anniversary of the armistice which paused the hostilities of the ‘The Great War’, fortunately a long term pause.  It can be easy to build up this year’s Remembrance Day as something extra major, extra special, extra important.

Amongst all the centenary fuss, I think what we need to be careful of – is retaining humility and focus.

Whether your unit are involved in a local commemoration event or not – doesn’t matter.  Some are, and some aren’t.

Whether you have 1 girl or 101 girls attend the local commemoration event with your unit – doesn’t matter.  It’s not a competition.

Whether your girls are wearing coats over their uniforms from start to finish of the event – doesn’t matter.  You can’t concentrate of what is being said and done if you’re being distracted by shivering – and the armed forces members wouldn’t dream of parading without coats in November.

Whether one of the girls is wearing a lime green miniskirt, orange and purple stripe tights, and yellow sandals with pink pom poms with her uniform – doesn’t matter.  It’s a remembrance parade, not a fashion parade, and it’s the remembrance that matters.

Whether one of your girls drops the flag – doesn’t matter.  It’s been done before, it’ll be done again.  It’s no time for rows or recriminations, just time to pick up the flag and put it back in it’s holster ready for the next part of the ceremonial. 

Don’t let anyone upset you by claiming that any of these things actually matter.  None of them do.

All that matters is that your girls, in their own way, at some time over the week running up to the day, have thought about the armed forces members, the civilians, the war workers, the conscientious objectors, those in reserved occupations, the refugees, the medics and nurses, the maimed or injured (whether physically or mentally or both), the widowed or orphaned, the ones left behind, or the ones who worked to aid postwar recovery.  In World War 1, or World War 2, or any of the dozens of other conflicts and incidents which the British armed forces and civilians have been involved in over the past 100 years, or any of those we still are involved in.

Some girls may not want to take part in public commemorations for good reason, reasons they may be comfortable disclosing, or may not.  Some may have other commitments on Sunday morning, but will still take a couple of minutes at 11 o’clock, wherever they are, to pause, and remember.  They are still participating in remembrance just the same as those who do their remembering in public.

I appreciate that people do feel pride in a large turnout of girls, parading down the high street.  And the public do notice it.  But I feel just as proud of the girl who prefers to stay at home and quietly take time to remember in her own way.  People do feel pride in smart uniforms on show - but I feel more pride in the girl who doesn’t own the bandbox-new uniform, who doesn’t have the ironed clothes and polished shoes laid out for her to just put on, and has to be grateful for what she has got to wear even if it doesn’t look as smart as what her better off sisters are wearing.

For what matters is each individual person, wherever they may happen to be, taking time at 11 am.  A minute to thank those who served, and paid the cost of serving, whatever that cost may have been, or to think of how conflict affected their relatives or friends.  And a minute to resolve to do all they can to ensure peace and friendship in the community, the country and the world, so that we might finally have had “the war to end all wars”.

The new Guiding Programme - how is it doing so far?

The ‘new’ Guiding programme has now been in use in most parts of the country for just over a month, in some parts for longer.  Now that most people have had a very brief chance to experience using it for real, what has the feedback been?

Well, an honest reflection of the online traffic would be, that although a few people who had doubts before trying it remain strongly and vocally negative about it, many more are either only unhappy with one or two specific aspects of it, or are happy with it so far - early days though it is, and despite the lack of actual statistics to back these impressions.

Yes, there are some issues which are regularly referenced – the programme is inflexible.  And for Rainbows in particular, having to do 6 Skill Builders, each with 5 topics, plus 18 hours of UMAs, in two years – means that they have gone from inventing most of their own activities and traditions, to now having to ‘do programme’ most of the time, most weeks, if they are to give their girls a chance of Gold Award.  Girls who join Rainbows at 5 ½ or later will probably not be able to do Gold Award, unless the unit runs extra sessions such as activity days or sleepovers, and the girls have good attendance levels, including the key SB meetings.  For those who join Rainbows later there will be the chance to do some Skill Builders, to do Interest Badges, and to perhaps pick up a theme award or two – but not time for all the SBs.

The other frequently-raised issue is absences – with a Skill Builder only being completed when a girl has done all 5 of it’s activities, the girl who is off on one of the weeks when the unit are doing SB activities will fall behind.  The unit will have to judge how to do catch-ups – whether to have the occasional meeting laid aside where the girls can get into small groups each repeating a specific activity, or whether activities can be sent home, or whether the SB remains incomplete until the next time there is a group doing that SB which she can join in with (though the latter could only be an option for Brownies, Guides and Rangers, not for Rainbows)?

Some Leaders are unhappy that, with the cards supplying most of the activity ideas and the instructions, they now have much less to do at unit meetings - where once they were coming up with all the ideas and then out front leading them, now the ideas are already provided, and the girls to some extent lead themselves, aided by the cards.  Although this is familiar to Guide Leaders from Go For Its, it may be less so with Leaders from the other sections.  Or there are disgruntlements at the need to arrange equipment for activities (whether bought, borrowed or whether the girls bring it in themselves).  Although the activities have been designed to be low cost (doubtless in an attempt to head off complaints on expense grounds), some equipment is, naturally, required – mainly post-its, paper, balloons, plastic bottles etc – which has to be acquired and transported to the meeting place, unless storage allows.  But you can’t do a whole programme with nothing . . .

And the recording on GO is unnecessarily slow and painful, especially for Skill Builders.  It’s nonsensical that we have to log into each girl’s record, then plough through a long list of Skill Builders, at each level, to declare the one she is starting.  And having done that, we have to click away from the page and then click back in order to start logging the first activity she has done.  And if she has done all of them, then it’s not enough to just mark the five activities as complete and assume the system will twig that the entire SB must automatically be complete – no, we have to click away from the page before clicking back into it, and we then have to log in each girl’s record to confirm that the Skill Builder is indeed now complete! 

A general complaint is that ‘one size does not fit all’, Leaders want the right to make up their own activities and count these as UMAs.  Who knows whether Guiding will flex on this anytime soon – whilst I can see the temptation to allow some flexibility, I fear that it wouldn’t be long until some units were doing more ‘own UMA’ than they were ones from the programme, on the ‘give an inch and they’ll take a yard’ principle.  And we’d be back to ‘this week’s festival is’, or ‘craft club’ again.

There are fears that new Leaders will be reliant on cards, and will not know how to think up an activity, plan it, obtain the resources, and lead it unaided. 

So if those are the negatives, what are the positives?  Well, they seem to be: 

Busy Leaders have found the cards really useful, as a grab-and-go resource, with clear equipment lists, instructions already planned, suggestions for extension activities. 

Inexperienced Leaders have found them great too – a lot of the planning already done for them, instructions in a logical order, background on what is being done and why.  Assistant Leaders and Young Leaders who have been nervous of trying to plan and run activities themselves, are now more confident to take a card, read it through, and then lead it with the girls.

Common Standard is being hailed by Commissioners – they reckon that once the new programme is in place, it will be far easier for them to spot those units which need support, because the online recording will show whether units are providing a balanced programme with the girls showing signs of regular progress, etc – and any unit which isn’t regularly doing UMAs and SBs is, automatically, not offering the programme they should, and thus struggling.  Leaders will have to list all the girls in their units in order to credit their records with activities done – even in late February/early March . . . often called ‘census time’ . . .

Common Standard amongst units too.  With so many units doing the same package of activities, units will be working at an appropriate level of difficulty for the age group (neither too advanced nor too babyish) and girls will be getting similar opportunities whichever unit they join – there will be fewer ‘good’ units or ‘poor’ units – they’ll all be up to a particular standard - and this achieved by bringing the struggling units up to a standard, not pulling the achieving units down to ‘lowest common denominator’.

Continuity has also been seen as a positive – in planning transitions, being able to assure the girls that there will be many more things that will be familiar when they get to the next section, and much less that is unfamiliar - helps with encouraging girls to give the next section a try.

The activities themselves have been broadly popular with Leaders and with girls in all sections – there are numerous unsolicited reports of girls enjoying activities (even ones their Leaders feared their girls might not enjoy) and of Leaders finding new ideas or new ways of teaching old skills amongst the selection, or being inspired to add to or extend the activities on the cards.

Most of the activities are both accessible to units urban and rural, and affordable.  Equipment has been kept to a minimum, and is usually either things that can be borrowed (like tents or hand tools) or are inexpensive (like sticky notes, balloons, plastic bottles).  Many units who have started the new programme have reported that they have been spending noticeably less on equipment and resources for unit meetings than they used to, without any corresponding reduction in programme interest or engagement.

As a Guide Leader of a small Guide unit (which has been running the programme since mid-August) – most activities are running significantly shorter than billed, for us.  The other week, in our 90-minute meeting we did 80 minutes of UMA activities (30+30+20) and still found ourselves playing a game for over 20 minutes to fill in time, plus holding Horseshoe at the start and end of the meeting.  On that basis, we won’t be as pressured for time to fit everything in as we thought we might be, and could slacken off on the number of UMAs we do next term, or continue to crack on for now, and be able to spend most of the summer term doing outdoor adventure.  Some of this is numbers-based – with only two groups to demonstrate what they have done, or compete against each other, or whatever, activities naturally take less time than they would for four or 5 groups. 

As a Brownie Leader of a large unit (over 20 members) we are finding that things are running within time, but we do have to keep activities moving, so that girls regularly have something new to be doing and early finishers of a particular stage aren’t hanging around bored whilst waiting for their more deliberate sisters, or those who did not get first shot of the equipment – but the activities usually provide a ‘next thing’.  We haven’t clocked up as many UMAs with the Brownies so far, as we have focussed on this term’s Skill Builder, and have had Monday holidays - but I’m happy that we will be able to clock up enough UMA hours over the three years to allow the chance of Gold Awards for any Brownie who wishes to try for one.

Yes, there are pros and cons.  But then, there were always going to be whatever programme was introduced, it was only a question of which ones they happened to be this time.  And of those reacting to it, some people were always going to be negative due to the natural knee-jerk anti-change reaction which humans have, whatever the programme happened to contain and however it was introduced.  Outwith that instinctive reaction, it appears that many more are either happy with it barring a specific concern, or happy with it overall, than are heavily critical of it. 

Guiding's Archives

We in Guiding are unusually fortunate.  Over the 110 years of our history as Girl Scouts and then as Girl Guides, many members, ‘off their own bat’, have collected and preserved our organisation’s history, and their own part in it.  Individual members, Patrols and Units have made and kept log books.  Some members kept the uniforms, books and badges from their youth and early adulthood.  Scrapbooks and photo albums of events were compiled.  Several of the Guide Training Centres have an archive, and sometimes a room in which to house it – and many of the Guide Counties have some form of archive looked after by a lone volunteer or a small team, where some of these personal collections have found a home.  Some County Archivists are fortunate enough to have the use of a room within a County building in which to store the County collection, but many more have to house it themselves.  Despite limited budgets, they attempt to catalogue, conserve, and create a functioning resource, in order to share information about Guiding in their area with the current generations of members, and to preserve the County’s story, ancient and recent, for the future.

They are largely unsupported.  Where other County posts have access to both a Country/Region Adviser and a UK Adviser to whom unusual queries or pressing difficulties can be referred, Guiding Archivists do not – the post of UK Archivist has been left vacant for many years now, and there is no word of any attempts to fill it.  The UK Archives have been put into storage and remain totally inaccessible to County Archivists and ordinary members alike, this has been the case for years since the last archivist left.  New County Archivists get little information – if they are lucky, instructions from the last UK Archivist, over a decade old, will be photocopied once again and forwarded to them by a neighbouring County for local adaptation.  Communication is usually by informal chat and by grapevine, not coordinated.  And many of the Archivists have no deputy, tend to be elderly, are often re-appointed each time a new CC takes post, and most of them continue in the role for as long as they are able – ‘death in service’ is not uncommon.  Though they often have lengthy personal knowledge and recollection of past events which is valuable, there are serious implications for the County if the Archivist “Goes Home”, and the County has to try to sensitively reclaim the Archive from the late Archivist’s grieving relatives, then quickly find somewhere to rehouse it.

In the absence of a UK Archivist, and given the archives themselves were moved out of the London Headquarters building to location unconfirmed during that building’s redevelopment work, it is not clear whether the UK archives have been properly stored in temperature and moisture controlled, infestation-free conditions – nor whether anyone with relevant conservation experience has been tending them, or adding items from recent years to them.  Although there have been rumours of a home being found which will allow access to the contents for research, or perhaps even to create a venue of some sort where they could be displayed - various locations to host the collection, and dates for access to re-open them have been suggested – all have come and gone with no update, and no sign of preparatory work at any of the locations indicated.  So there has been much talk from senior people in Guiding, certainly, but still no tangible sign of action.

There are certainly arguments against Guiding spending money on storing and preserving their archives.  Many would say our money should be spent on providing adventurous and educational activities for today’s young members, not on dusty documents that are rarely read and old badges and uniforms which can provide temptation for moths and pilferers, but not necessarily for a large audience.  Others would argue that we could scan all the information on paper and just dispose of the originals – online resources are the future.  But my thoughts turn back to the BBC Domesday project in 1986.  The information collected by that project was stored on state-of-the-art laser disks, as a ‘New Domesday Book’ written 1000 years after the original, with the idea both books could be studied, in future, perhaps even in 1000 years’ time.  Sadly, by 2002 there were already concerns about whether the data on the disks could still be accessed, as there were only a handful of computers left which were capable of reading the disks, and no spare parts available should those few break down.  Yet the original Domesday book was still as easily accessible to readers today as it had been when it was first written.  Putting information online can be a straightforward way of making it available widely, and it also provides a backup in case the original should be damaged – but retaining the original still has value too.  40 years ago computers ran on cassette tapes, 30 years ago it was large 10” floppy disks, 20 years ago it was DD and HD floppy disks, 10 years ago it was CD ROMs, currently it is Memory Sticks, who can say what it will be in 10 years’ time?  All of these were said to offer long-term document saving and access, but all have experienced data deterioration or loss even if stored under ideal conditions.  Whatever the next tech, paper and ink has seen them all come and go . . .

Interestingly, one of the featured topics in the new modernised Guiding programme – is Guiding history.  It features both in the programmes for all sections, and in the handbooks.  So there are clearly some people in Headquarters, currently involved in creating policy and programme, who think the organisation’s history is one of the key topics for young members to learn about today.  So the view seems to be that yes, our history and the resources for it matter, and yes, it is relevant to make moderate investment in them.  But we need to ensure that the archives which we choose to retain are kept relevant, and Archivists need to be encouraged and supported to produce materials which can be used to support the new programme, meet the needs and interests of units seeking to teach their girls aspects of Guiding history, and encourage the young members to be interested in relevant aspects of the subject.  Each item in an archive’s collection needs to justify it’s place and ‘earn it’s keep’.

We can also think about how to make our County’s history accessible – if you have a regular newsletter, could there be an ‘Archivist’s Corner’ item – a paragraph or two at most, on a particular aspect of Guiding history in the County – 25 years since a particular County Camp, a feature on a Guider from the County who served with the GIS, a brief history of a County Campsite, memories of a Brownie Revels, how we marked the Jubilee, etc.  Deliberately kept short, with many items from recent decades, and comparatively fewer from longer back unless of general interest, so that as many people as possible can reminisce, and people are reminded that history is about the recent past as much as it is the distant past – “yesterday is history too”.  We can also look at ways of sharing the history with youth members.  Activity Boxes containing uniforms for dressing up, examples of books, and activity idea cards which can be used to bring the items in the box to life and spark an interest by comparing ‘then’ with ‘now’ or telling the experiences of real-life past members.  We can create resource packs to help with the ‘Guiding History’ activities in the new programme, and plan activity sessions at County events, and events for units, to help with sharing knowledge and inspiration.

Paper records can be scanned and stored, making them accessible to a larger number of people with a range of different interests in them (it also means that, should the worst happen to the originals, they are not entirely lost).  Use can then be made of offsite storage such as a local museum, enabling public as well as Guiding access to them whilst compact storage allows space to be freed up in the County archive for other items, or to allow more space for people to work in or visit the archive room.  Collections of books and of uniforms can and should be rationalised – enough copies kept to allow access, and to keep significant examples – then the rest sold to raise money which enables the archive to look after, repair and preserve the items that are to be kept, and to acquire items to fill any key gaps in the archive’s collection.  We don’t need to have 20 examples of 1968-1990 Brownie dresses, especially if selling 10 of them would enable us to acquire that Air Ranger uniform we don’t have any examples of at all.

But – this all depends on Archivists having support within the County.  Who will help with cataloguing the existing collection, and who will help open, sort and record the contents of the parcels of new donations which arrive so regularly?  Who will set up the activity boxes, arrange their dispatch, check them for completeness on their return?  Who will repair the sagging hems and loose buttons on the vintage uniforms, carefully hand-launder the dusty items, and darn the little holes and rips to an appropriate standard of skill, or arrange for items to be dropped off and collected from the specialist repairer?  Who will do the lengthy work of scanning page after page of logbooks, County Records and assorted correspondence?  Who will take on the job of selling off the extras, and keeping the accounts?  Could all that ever be done as a one-person-job?  In many Counties, it currently is . . .

The New Programme has arrived

Well, after all the build-up and fanfare, the new programmes have arrived.  And after a week of online firefighting against the instant critics, and trying to explain to the confused, I guess it’s time I gave my verdict on them.

So, what were the things people were asking for beforehand?

·         Interest badges for Rainbows and Rangers

·         Pick-up-and-go activities

·         A ‘highest award’ for each section

·         Proper structure and progression for programmes

·         Smoother transition between sections

Yes, those are things people were asking for, and they have got them.  The new programme has a clear structure, there is continuity between sections, Rainbows and Rangers have the same opportunities as the sections in-between, and there are highest awards for each section.  And the Skills Builders and Unit Meeting Activities do indeed provide pick-up-and-go activities which will be helpful for the inexperienced and the time-poor alike.

Have the programmes been universally welcomed?  Of course not.  But then, they were never going to be.  Change always attracts criticism regardless of the form it takes, and whether or not it is for the better. 

Although we now have all the books and resources, the online training and the online recording tools, there isn’t a single unit in the UK which has yet had a chance to see how the programme works in reality.  And until the first Scottish units start going back in mid-August, then apart from the few year-round units which operate, nobody can honestly say how it is or will be in reality.  All they can express is their hopes or fears. 

Ah, but what is my opinion?  My opinion is that, at first, going back to set tasks will cause upset.  We’ve already got people campaigning to be able to use their own ideas instead of the Unit Meeting Activities (yes, without trying them).  We’ve already got people saying the girls will never do interest badges if they’ve to work on them at home (despite the fact it worked in the past, over many decades).  We’ve already got people saying they can’t teach camp skills, so it’s not fair they are one of the (non-compulsory) topics covered in the programme.  And we've got people saying they haven't time to watch the online training videos (although they're the same people who have got time to spend on social media criticising the programme instead). 

My opinion is that one big thing the new programme will be great for is consistency.  Girls will move through sections learning the same basic skills, and progressing in them year by year.  It will also help to pinpoint failing units – in the past, there were a proportion of units which didn’t use the official programmes but claimed they were still able to offer ‘Good Guiding’.  And sure enough, some could.  Problem was, many others used that claim as an excuse whilst actually delivering repetitive, uninspired programmes, often ones where all the girls did the exact same activity all the time regardless of maturity or capability.  Under this new programme, things are clearly set down.  The unit whose girls regularly complete Unit Meeting Activities and Skills Builders will show signs of making good progress.  The unit where all the girls do the exact same one at the same level (they’re all equally mature, and nobody was off sick the week it was done – again!) will stick out sore thumbishly.  It will improve the standard of Guiding for all. 

Is the structure quite rigid and inflexible?  Yes, currently it is.  But as more UMAs become available (we’re told there will be another batch in January, and further ones thereafter), there will be a bit more flexibility.

But – no-one can truly criticise or praise the programme until at least January 2019.  Only once units have a full term’s experience of how it actually works with the girls in the units, countrywide, can any fair conclusions be reached.  Anything said right now is mere speculation.

How on earth should they tell people?

We should all know that major programme changes are coming to Guiding in the UK, to be finally announced and launched in a few weeks' time.  Because the information has been communicated to Leaders in a range of places and ways.  It has had wide coverage in each of the last few issues of Guiding Magazine (which is sent by post to all adult members free of charge quarterly).  There have been regular articles on the website as front-page splashes.  E-newsletters have been issued to all who subscribe to them, each containing many references and links, and often with the coming programme changes as the lead story.  There has been coverage in various forms of social media such as Facebook and twitter, on both the official and the unofficial forums, national and local.  There have been several questionnaires and surveys issued from headquarters by various means in order to collect opinions from Leaders.  Many Counties have included updates in their regular newsletters (on paper or online), and some have organised trainings.  Taster packs of activities have been issued to every unit, in all sections, for them to try.  Units were invited to apply to test activities and feedback on them.  Information on how it will actually work as a structure and for the unit week to week, and what the specific details will be for the individual unit - may be scant - but by any reasonable measure, and regardless of your opinion on the content of the information issued, every Leader should be aware that significant change is coming, for all sections, and starting from Autumn 2018.

 

But – are they aware?

 

It seems that, despite the vast amount of time, effort and expense to date on communications - there are still some Leaders out there who have a vague awareness that change is coming, but no idea of what or what scale.  And, more amazingly still, there are also some Leaders who claim not to have heard of any coming change whatsoever.  These are often the Leaders who will freely admit they never open the wrapper of the magazine which is sent to them (or who haven’t kept their contact details up to date in order to receive their copy), who don’t subscribe to any of the e-newsletters, who delete Guiding emails unread and do not check the national website, who don’t attend District meetings or read the minutes from them, and don’t read the County newsletter or website.

 

One might suggest that those who try so hard to remain uninformed – could be judged to have ‘voted with their feet’ and might have their clearly-expressed wish to be left in the dark respected?  How much effort should Guiding bother to put into trying to issue information scattergun by umpteen means in the hope that a little of it might reach the attention of these hard-to-hit targets?  Or should Guiding simply focus on using a few means, electronic and non-electronic, which between them are sufficient to reach all those who want to hear.  The rest can sink or swim when the changes come, as they so choose?

 

The problem with that is - that for every Leader who does not receive the information, it means a whole unit of girls, and their families, do not receive it either.  For the Leaders are not at the end of the communication chain, they are one of the key links in it.  If they have not grasped that change is coming (far less what the change incorporates and means for them and for their units) they will not be informing their units that it is coming, nor preparing the unit’s programme towards it by preparing to tie up the loose ends and letting the girls and families know that they might want to finish off any challenges they are currently tackling, and any badge work which has been started.  And the unit members could be left high and dry too, with challenges or major awards part-way through (or almost completed) the deadline for completion past and the badges for them no longer available.  Meantime the new programme could be well under way and most of the trainings on it long since over.  It may be that the first they know of a change may be when they can no longer get the badges for the old programme, and not a minute before. 

 

So, in terms of those Leaders who claim full ignorance that anything is happening and who have proved unreachable so far - what more can (or should) Headquarters do to reach them?  If anything?