Note to Parents

Note to Parents:
During the first half of the year, we have made exceptions for many girls who did not bring back their permission forms on time. This has made it difficult for planning these events, as we have had to make many last minute adjustments. Starting in January, we will no longer be accepting permission forms after their due date. Thank you for understanding.

Planning for Tents ...

The 64th London Guides received a donation from Great-West Life as part of their Community Builders Volunteer Recognition Program.

The 64th Guides has earmarked this donation to provide new tents for the Unit.

Thanks to Great-West Life for recognizing the great contributions that their employees make as volunteers in their communities!

Remembrance Day Meeting

We were excited to have one of the parents speak to the girls for our Remembrance Day meeting.

The girls also completed a poppy craft and other activities to complete the Manitoba Girl Guides' Remembrance Day challenge!

More Enrolments!

Some girls missed our Halloween Enrolment, so they were enrolled when they were all together at the meeting recently!

All of our new members are now enrolled!

CONGRATULATIONS GIRLS!!!!

A Halloween Enrolment!

Enrolment was this past Tuesday.
And the theme was Halloween!

First the girls were introduced to the Unit and made their Promise.
Then they reached into the hole in the top of the decorated box ...

...what was inside ? ?

UGH! Looks like it was OOEY, GOOEY, ICKY and STICKY!



AHA! It is their Enrolment Pin inside a small baggie to keep it clean!!

See it in there?

Amongst the pumpkin innards and jello and ... ? ! ? ! ?

After receiving her Enrolment Pin and her Certificate, the girls made the Girl Guide sign and handshake with each of their leaders and are now enrolled in the 64th Guides!

Badge Testing - Tasty Treats

MMMmmm!

We love when someone is tested for their Tasty Treats badge!!!

Well done Melissa!

Who's next?

Girl Guide Cookies!

It didn't rain!

Our door to door cookie sales were a big success!!

Well done girls!!!

Our Bike Hike ~ what a beautiful day!!

Meet Your Leaders!

For 2009/2010 the 64th Guides will have a new member in the leadership team!

This year, Lisa will be joining Sheri, Amanda and Kabrena for the Unit meetings. Anne is still the Unit Treasurer and Breanne will be joining us from university for camps and other events.

Want to read a bit more about your leaders?

Read their interviews from last year!

Here are the links ...
... Sheri
... Amanda
... Kabrena
... Anne
... Breanne

...and Lisa will be interviewed this year!

A new Guiding year!!

Is everyone ready for a new Guiding year?!?!

Your leaders are preparing for Tuesday September 15, 2009.

Hope to see you then!!

... and be sure to check out GGC GIRLS online!

Its a secure place just for the girls!

100 Years Ago Today - Crystal Palace

100 years today girls showed up at the Crystal Palace Rally for Boy Scouts.

Nesta Maude Ashworth was one of them!

She registered at Scout Headquarters by using her initials instead of her given names! She attended the Crystal Palace Rally in September 1909, with her friend, Rutha Orman, when they were sixteen years old.

Nesta wrote in her memoirs that Lord Baden-Powell came over to the group of girls and asked them who they were. "We're the Girl Scouts" they said, but he replied that there were no Girl Scouts. They quickly responded with "Oh yes there are, 'cos we're them!".

After B-P recovered from his surprise at seeing the girls at the rally, he asked his sister Agnes to organize something for the girls. Thus, Girl Guides was born.

The first Guide Company in Canada was in St. Catharines, Ontario. It was started by Mrs. A.H. Malcolmson. She travelled to England in 1909 and was at the Crystal Palace Rally. Back in Canada she registered the 1st St. Catharines Company of B-P Girl Guides and Agnes Baden-Powell, B-P's sister, signed the certificate.

Girl Guides were officially established in 1910 and will be celebrating 100 years in 2010.

This photo shows Blanche Lintorn Orman with daughter Rotha on the left and Nesta Maude on the right.

2009-2010 Guiding Year

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are all having a great summer!

If you have any fun ideas about things you would like our unit to do next year, post it here by leaving a comment - and we'll try to work it into our planning!

See you in September!

YOU can help Girl Guides go to Camp - VOTE at airmiles.ca

It was recently brought to my attention that a Brown Owl from Alberta has entered the Airmiles Million air miles "Share the Dream" contest!

Her dream is to fly girls from across Canada to "Guiding Mosaic 2010", the international camp for Girl Guides being held in 2010 - so they may take part in the 100th Anniversary Celebration.
Her dream has been chosen as one of the top 10 and requires votes to win.

VOTING ENDS JUNE 12TH!!

Vote for her dream by clicking HERE and scroll down to BROWN OWL.

What a neat dream...WE CAN help her by casting our vote!

Here is the full link to vote:
http://million.airmiles.ca/index.html?regId=OHuoIs1CuL2r2XLAapRMqQ%3D%3D#/share

What was your favourite thing about Guides?

Tonight was our year-end banquet and we had great food, great fun, and lots of great achievements were celebrated!

Great work, girls!!!

So, what was your FAVOURITE thing about Guides this year???

Leave a comment!!!

Badge Testing

Badge Testing

Last week I was lucky enough to be able to do some badge testing to finalize some badges for the girls before year-end. Kaylin brought in some great work! I loved her outline (above) for a quilt block that is based on a tale.
She provided great level of detail in her drawing (left), and even has a clear piece that can be lifted to show the placement of the brain. Perhaps there is a future doctor in this young woman?
I'd love to show more work that the girls have completed this year. They've all outdone themselves with lots of solid commitment and lots of work to complete their badges this year!!
I was not always able to be the badge tester but I did get to see some of the presentations.

Well done, girls!

I look forward to seeing you all at the year-end banquet!

Golf!! A program for girls 7-18 years of age!!

Yes!

Golf for GIRLS!!!

Thanks to Geraldine for sharing this information - her Guides have been taking part for several years now!

The RCGA CN Future Links Girls’ Club is a developmental golf program designed specifically for girls 7-18 years of age. The program is based on the premise that we can encourage more young girls to experience all of the positives the game of golf has to offer through the delivery of fun golf activities and learning environments in a “girls only” setting.

Visit the website at www.girlsclublondon.com for information!

Girls' Club London was established in 2007 with an initial membership of 50 girls and grew to three groups of 40 girls in 2008 to become the largest organization of its kind in Canada. This year will be the same as last year with 3 different groups of 40 girls each, “headquartered” out of 3 top quality driving ranges here in the city. Instruction at each location is provided by certified CPGA Golf Professionals. There are 9 outings scheduled for each group and the cost is $115 plus a $15 RCGA registration fee for a total of $130.00, an exceptional value for all that is being offered.

Each group will meet at their “Home Base” range twice, visit the other ranges once, and experience on course play 3 times. In addition, all 3 groups will join together for our season end “Grand Finale” at Eastpark Golf Gardens for a Shotgun Scramble tournament, BBQ picnic and other fun stuff that Eastpark has to offer such as the waterslide, rock climbing, go-carts etc.

Registration is scheduled for 12:00 noon - 1:00pm, Sunday April 26th at The South London Community Centre (1119 Jalna Blvd., behind the White Oaks Mall).

You must visit our website at www.girlsclublondon.com to download the schedules and documents required for registration.

Applicants must complete all 4 parts of the "Player Application Kit", sign the "Parent / Guardian Agreement" and bring the completed documents along with your payment ($130.00 cash or cheque payable to Girls' Club London) to the registration session April 26th. If you have some flexibility, you may also indicate the order of your "Home Base" location preference. (ie. 1st-Bob Martin's, 2nd-Forest Glen, 3rd-Windermere etc.)

Thanks again to Geraldine for sharing this info she received from:
Dave Morrow, Site Director
RCGA CN Future Links
Girls' Club London
www.girlsclublondon.com

Volunteer Week - thanks to our volunteers!!

“Canadian Girls Say…”

“Canadian Girls Say…”

Girl Guides of Canada is excited to officially launch the “Canadian Girls Say…” photography project.

Although the 64th Guides will not participate as a unit (our meetings were already planned when this was announced), our girls are encouraged to participate in this groundbreaking project, which empowers girls to voice how they feel about their community through photography.

We hope that all our girls will be interested in participating in this fun and new project!

Interested girls can click here to download a copy of the “Canadian Girls Say…Lones Activity Guide” to participate. Please note that all photos must be submitted by June 22, 2009.

"Chinese" weaving

I don't know why this is called "Chinese" weaving, but that's how it is best known.

It is a popular activity with Girl Guides!

Great for free time at camp, a simple project to take along on a long trip, ongoing craft for meeting nights, or any other time an activity is needed.

Low cost for supplies (cardboard and yarn).

Small enough to take anywhere.

Easy enough for most girls Guide aged or older (approximately age 9 and up).

And, you can use cereal boxes for the cardboard! It's the perfect thickness for this activity!

Most of us know people who are trying to reduce their yarn stash, so it's possible to find yarn for little or no cost.

Everyone’s got a Guiding story

As always, Girl Guides of Canada (GGC) are interested in hearing about you and your Guiding experiences.

GGC wants to celebrate 100 years of Guiding by bringing together a collection of stories from our Members.

Which Guiding activity changed your life and how?

How have you changed the lives of others through your Guiding activities?

Did your Guiding experiences help you in your career?

Do you come from a Guiding family?

Send GGC your Guiding story (500 words or less) to commhelp@girlguides.ca

Girl Guide Cookies are here!

Yes the cookies are here!

Tuesday March 24th we'll be meeting at the school and selling door-to-door in the neighbourhood.

Do you know how Canadian Girl Guide cookies started? In 1927, a Girl Guide leader in Regina baked and boxed up cookies for her girls as a simple way to raise money for uniforms and camping equipment. We're still going strong!

Click here for some great cookie recipes!

Did you know? GGC is proud to introduce a new reduced trans-fat classic cookie for the launch of the 2009 classic campaign. We have worked closely with our baker to reduce the trans-fat content of our classic chocolate and vanilla cookies by 90 per cent while maintaining the same great taste that Canadians love. As always, it is important to remember that cookies are a treat.

Mmmm - sounds great!

There will be surveys posted by GGC soon - we'll let you know the link once they're available!

GSUSA cookies

GSUSA (Girl Scouts USA) have more varieties of cookies than Canadian Girl Guides. We took the quiz to see what kind of Girl Scout cookie we are! Here is the results:

I am Caramel deLites / Samosas

You are blessed with a brilliant, dynamic mind.
It's sometimes hard to figure out what your focus should be.
You're the type of person who does almost everything well.
You are very competent but also unfocused.
You're not an easy person to pin down. You are vibrantly complex.
You have many facets to your personality, and they're often in competition with one another.

What Girl Scout Cookie Are You?

100 years of Canadian Guiding

In 2010, Girl Guides of Canada (GGC) will be celebrating its 100th anniversary.

“Girl greatness starts here” is the theme for the centennial, showcasing GGC as the orginal girl driven organization. Plans are well underway for celebration activities throughout the year on a national, provinical and local level. Highlights include a national launch party, a national Rally Day, a national service project and our Guiding Mosaic 2010 camp.

There will be a special 2010 Celebrations section on http://www.girlguides.ca/ which will include a calendar of events, event descriptions and registration, Challenge descriptions and other 2010 news. Registration for our January 2010 launch party opens online in September. All provinces will also be holding their own launch events.

No Meeting on March Break

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to remind you that there is an error on the latest newsletter.

We will be having no meeting on Tuesday March 17th, 2009.

Please remember that on Tuesday March 24th we will be selling cookies in the neighbourhood.

Please meet at the school parking lot at 6:45 sharp! Pick up is at 8:15.

If you have not handed in a permission slip yet, check your email! We emailed out a copy.

Have a great March Break!

Your Leaders: Anne

Your Leaders.

Anne.

Your Unit Treasurer.

You don't see much of her, but behind the scenes, she's balancing the books and taking care of the finances for the Unit.

Here she answers some questions:

• Three things you have done as a member of Girl Guides: taught Pathfinders to knit, packaged up craft kits to be sent to Guides and Brownies in Dominica, and climbed The Moon pyramid in Mexico
• Three foods you tried because of Girl Guides: Mars bar salad, hot dog cooked in a milk carton, fresh baked bread from a dutch oven in the fire pit
• Three places you've been, yes, with Girl Guides: Ottawa with Pathfinders, Wolfville Nova Scotia for the WAGGGS World Conference, Our Cabaña in Mexico with Cadets
• Three Girl Guide crests/badges you own: World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions (fun night!), 29th World Conference, Guiding...One Hour A Week...!?
• Three things about Girl Guide camp: 1 you love - sunny Sundays, 1 you hate - rainy Sundays, 1 you dream of - always being able to put away dry tents
• Three things you'd tell someone if they thought they might want to join Girl Guides: Guiding is THE place for today's girls. As an adult, Guiding provides opportunities and training. We have fun, make new friends and grow through a wide variety of experiences.
  

On the topic of Treasurer and Unit funds ... did you know that accounting records must be kept up-to-date so that a report of the financial situation of the group is available at any time. Funds collected by units ... are funds subject to public scrutiny?

Your Leaders: Amanda

Your Leaders.

Amanda

Every weekly meeting, she is there working with the girls. This week, we learn a wee bit more about this leader with the 64th Guides.

• Three things about Girl Guide camp: 1 you love, 1 you hate, 1 you dream of! I love- Camping; I hate-waking up early; I dream of-banana boats
• Three places you've been, yes, with Girl Guides: Ottawa, Firestation, Camp
• Three friends you've made through Girl Guides:Sheri, Breanne, Kabrena
• Three things you own "just for Girl Guides": Uniform, Program Book, My Camp Backpack
• Three crafts that you'll never do again: Tye Dying, anything that involves painting
• Three memories you treasure (Girl Guides!): My gold camp, Ottawa, Camping with the guides when I was in Pathfinders
• Three things you have done as a member of Girl Guides: Skiing, Tubing, Camping
• Three foods you tried because of Girl Guides: Banana Boats, Tin Foil Dinners, Anything from the gross food challenge at Survivor Camp
• Three Girl Guide crests/badges you own: Tubing/Skiing, I Love Being a Junior Leader!, Lippizaner

Thanks Amanda! We have one more leader to profile and that would be our Treasurer so check back again next week. In the meantime, enjoy all the upcoming activities with the Unit, and watch this blog for any notices or announcements.

Your Leaders: Sheri

Your Leaders.

Sheri.

You see her pretty much every week, but how much do you really know about her? We made her slow down for a few minutes and answer some questions for us. Here is the low-down.

• Three things you have done as a member of Girl Guides: Gone camping, traveled to 3 other countries, earned a Girl Guides of Canada scholarship
• Three foods you tried because of Girl Guides: Tin Foil Dinners, Banana Boats and Hot dogs in a milk carton
• Three places you've been, yes, with Girl Guides: Bolar mountain for either skiing or tubing, Fire station and Pax Lodge in London, England
• Three things about Girl Guide camp: 1 you love - campfires, 1 you hate - when the girls get grumpy, 1 you dream of - never forgetting to bring something to camp
• Three friends you've made through Girl Guides: Amanda, Breanne and Kabrena!
• Three things you own "just for Girl Guides": My uniform, camp blanket and craft/meeting supplies
• Three things you'd tell someone if they thought they might want to join Girl Guides: It's a great organization, if you give a little, you will gain a lot, and there is a lot of opportunity available for any age level.

Thanks Sheri!

We'll have to see about putting your camp blanket on the blog! Maybe you can remember where some of those crests came from?

Thinking Day 2009

February 22, 2009 is Thinking Day 'round the world for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS).

In conjunction with Thinking Day, Siloam church held an interfaith service this evening. Guiding members from the 64th and the 65th London Guide Units took part in the "Seeking Spirit” service - part of which honoured the Baden Powells and the Guiding/Scouting legacy. This service was also a culmination of the Religion in Life activities that the church facilitated for Guiding members from the 2 Units.

Many thanks to Cindy, the Youth Minister at Siloam, for coordinating this evening and for all her work on the Religion in Life activities.

Thinking Day 2009

The World Thinking Day theme for 2009 is

girls worldwide say “stop the spread of AIDS, malaria and other diseases”

This theme is part of WAGGGS’ new Global Action Theme. At the 33rd WAGGGS World Conference in 2008, WAGGGS announced its new Global Action Theme:

girls worldwide say “together we can change our world”

which focuses on the Millennium Development Goals.

The theme encourages girls, young women and members of all ages to make a personal commitment to change the world around them.

Thinking Day greetings from the 64th London Guides to all our Guiding sisters worldwide.

Your Leaders: Kabrena

Your Leaders.

Kabrena

Here are Kabrena's responses to some of the questions we asked, to help you to get to know the leaders of the 64th Guides.

Hm, in some cases, we didn't get three responses to our question ... she must have been busy studying for exams!

• Three things you have done as a member of Girl Guides: Camping, Sell cookies, Belly Dancing
• Three foods you tried because of Girl Guides: Bananna Boats, Hot Dogs in Milk cartons, Girl Guide cookies


• Three places you've been, yes, with Girl Guides: Camping, Ice skating, Fire hall


• Three Girl Guide crests/badges you own: Canada Cord [and Kabrena didn't write this, but we know she has the Lipizzaner crest and the skiing crest from Feb.3rd!]


• Three things about Girl Guide camp: 1 you love, 1 you hate, 1 you dream of! Hate: Cleaning the bathrooms, Love: Camp Fire, Dream of: Sleeping under the stars


• Three crafts that you'll never do again: A Bull's eye ( stick string thing)


• Three activities that were amazing: Amazing Race, DIBC Camp, Garbage bag fashion show


• Three things you own "just for Girl Guides": Uniform, Girl Guide Hat
• Three things you'd tell someone if they thought they might want to join Girl Guides: It is a life changing experience, You will have the time of your life and make great new long lasting friendships.

Thanks so much Kabrena! We love having you as a member of the leadership team!

Your Leaders: Breanne

Your Leaders.

Breanne.

What do you know about Breanne? We interviewed her and here is a little bit of information to help you to get to know her!

• Three foods you tried because of Girl Guides: baby food, banana boats, tacos in a bag
• Three places you've been, yes, with Girl Guides: Ottawa, Food Bank, Fire Station
• Three memories you treasure (Girl Guides!): Campfires, Gold Camp, All nighter with Pathfinders
• Three Girl Guide crests/badges you own: Tubing, Lipizzaner Stallions, Cookie Selling
• Three things about Girl Guide camp: 1 you love, 1 you hate, 1 you dream of!: I love the food, I hate having to go home, I dream of being able to be at camp all the time
• Three friends you've made through Girl Guides: Amanda N., Sheri F., Anne F.
• Two crafts that you'll never do again: knit a dishcloth, anything to do with knots
• An activity that was amazing: Compass, Shelter, Fire Building Challenge
• Three things you own "just for Girl Guides": used to have very uncomfortable navy pants, dress shirt with shoulder pads, rainsuit
  

Thanks Breanne, for responding to our questions! We'll profile another Guider in the coming weeks. In the meantime, have a great camp this weekend.

Great Fun SKIING at Boler Mountain!

The girls had GREAT FUN at Boler Mountain and enjoyed skiing this year!

Each year, our unit alternates tubing and skiing at the Girl Guide event, and this year it was time for skiing.

Many thanks to Boler Staff for assisting to provide the girls with a wonderful evening - even the weather was perfect.

IMPORTANT note re: SKIING at BOLER

Important UPDATE:

Boler requires that their consent forms be signed at Boler Mountain.

We can NOT drop them off to you ahead of time.

So, even though we said we hoped to do that, we cannot.

Parents who are carpooling: You will need to make arrangements with the person driving your daughter - you will need to give him/her permission to sign the consent form on your behalf.

Call Sheri if you have any questions.

Meet your Leaders!

Want to know a little more about your Leaders? We've asked them a few questions and will put them here for you to read.

Here are photos of Amanda, Breanne, Sheri and Kabrena taken at the Lippizzaner Stallions overnight event.









Be sure to check back - the first Spotlight will be posted soon!

Cookie Sales help Camp fees

The girls learned that Cookie Sales translate into reduced fees for camping!

Our cookie order has now been input to Girl Guides and your cookies will arrive in March!

Way to go, girls!!

Happy New Year

What is your New Year's Resolution?

• Do you plan to earn a specific badge?
• Maybe you want to try a new activity?
  
  Let us know by leaving a comment!