Guides, Brownies To Greet Chief

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31345, 15 April 1967, Page 2

Guides, Brownies To Greet Chief

Girl guides and brownies from all areas in the South Island, and some from the North Island, began arriving in Christchurch last evening to welcome the World Chief Guide, Lady BadenPowell, today.

About 6000 are expected to attend the South Island rally at the Addington Raceway this morning. They will come by special buses and trains, by private car, on their bicycles and on foot.

A (pedal train has been put on to bring brownies and guides from Otago. Four extn carriages on the limited express will accommodate the children from Southland. From these two provinces and Westland about 766 guides and brownies are expected to take part in the rally. All will have to spend two nights sleeping on trains—last, evening and tonight Nelson, Marlborough and Buller children arrived by special buses last evening, a total of nearly 400. About 500 are probably coming in private cars from other districts.

A party of nearly 100 are expected from Hawke’s Bay, as well as three brownies and a guider from Wellington. It was found to be more convenient to bring these groups to Christchurch for the South Island rally than to take them to Auckland for the North Island welcome.

Most of the cabins at the Showgrounds Motor Camp were booked last evening by visiting guides who eould not make the two-way journey from areas outside Canterbury in one day. Many others

were bUletted privately overnight

Short Notice

Such a large-scale rally usually takes more than a year to plan, but the national headquarters of the Gill Guide Association in Christchurch had only six months’ notice of Lady Baden-Pewell’s visit

The announcement came at a time when officers were busy organising the National Heritage Trails and the Adventure Camp, which meant they had only two months in which to concentrate fully on all the details of the big event

Two travelling trainers from the headquarters spent 10 days teaching guides and brownies in Nelson, Marlborough, Westland and South Canterbury their parte in the rally. Otago and Southland companies had to be trained by their own leaders. Every guide and brownie should get a close view of their chief. Lady BadenPowell will be driven slowly in an open car through the assembled company on the grass oval inside the race trade Guard Of Honour Lady Baden-Powell, the wife of the founder of the Boy Scout and Girl Guide movements (the late Lord Robert Baden-Powell) is now 78. On her arrival at Christchurch Airport last evening she inspected a guard of honour of guides, accompanied by the Chief Commissioner

for New Zeeland, Mra M. G. Turnbull.

The Chief Guide waa welcomed by about 200 adult members and friends of the movement in Canterbury at a reception at the national headquarters in Armagh street last evening.

After the rally today, Lady Baden-Powell will lunch with South Island commissioners

and guiders at the raceway and will leave for Auckland later in the afternoon. After her five-day visit to New Zealand she will tour Australia.