GIRL GUIDES

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 25 June 1927, Page 18

GIRL GUIDES

NOTES BY “GUIDER.”

Miss Al. Burgin, camp adviser for the Nor til Island passed tihrougih. Hawet'a on Wednesday after having inspected sites tor a Guiders’ Training Camp at tlie Huatoki Jfoniain, the meeting oi the waters, racecourse and i’ukesura Park (..New Plymouth). Her decision as to tlie site will he' made known later. All sorts of things have t.o be taken into consideration before i camp sue can be approved, not the least being natural slielter from piev ailing winds, a supply of pure water, and soil that will drain quickly i.u tlie event of wet weather.

tv e all regiet that Miss A. Behrens found it impossible to cany out her orevious plan of spending some more time in New Zealand. Miss Behrens landed in Auckland last week from Australia, and after only two days there has left for America. While in Australia Miss Behrens has conducted training classes and camps and lias oeen in great demand everywhere in the great cause of Girl Guiding. Miss Lysaght’s prizes for drawing have been awarded to Marjorie Monaghan (oraitch of flowers of Kowhai), and Joan Downey (branch of flower* of PohutUKawa). both the young artists showed a true artistic gift. The birthday of the Manaia Company is to be celebrated on June 30. There are now e.even companies and packs in the South Taranaki district, with a total of just over three Hundred Brownies, Guides and Rangers enrolled. In addition to these, another Ranger Company has been lornied in Upunake, with Mrs. Gorkill as japtain. and they are looking forward t<> their first enrolment. Mokoia hopes to start a Guide Company in the near future. There was a good attendance at the monthly ’Church parade held last Saturday.' Guides and Brownies were present in live local churches, the girls is usual attending the service of their own denominations. It is laid down in the rules and policy of the Guide movement that every Guide and Brownie should attend the services of ■he religious denomination to which die belongs.

A POST GUIDE CAMP. It does not sound possible, does it ? for, as vou know, the Post Guides are those' whose physical defects are such that they cannot attend the meetings oi any "company. Yet the hirst Suffolk Post Guides have not only had a, most successful camp, but are planning another for next year. They detenu ined to have a camp m the xulle«t sense of the word with its corporate life its discipline and service, so far as each Guide was capable. The planilinnr and preparation had of course to l>e '"more detailed and comprehensive than for an ordinary camp. Each C.iide's doctor had to be consulted to ascertain if it was advisable for her to tamp under canvas. For the majorltv consent was given without hesitation. A few were considered unfit, and through the kindness of people who lent cars these came out daily if they were well enough. Tne weather was fine and warm, one or two davs being almost too hot. The site was on the edge of a little pbateau, and there was always enough breeze to. keep the colour right out rum the plateau the ground sloped sharply to the south and east, and moie gradually to the west, so that with sandy soil the ground drained ouicklv. and the grass was dry by the bine the Guides were up even aitei the heaviest dew. A long time had to be allowed lor evervthing. At colours in the morning, although the smallest possible distance was allotted for the Colour Party to march to the flagstaff, it was a tremendous marathon when the escort was in irons or crutches, and the horseshoe had to lie simplified to patrols marching a 'very short way left and right- in fro'iit of the flagstaff. I‘or the Guiders the campfire circle was only bout a minute’s walk from the marque, but it was a great journey when some had to be carried and some helped, while others picked their way carefully with sticks. The speediest of the campers could neyer manage to report as cooks to the Q.M. tent under threeon arte rs of an hour after reveille, and the majority took an hour or more. Quite tlie biggest undertaking of the camp was a track to a dell about a hundred cards down the slope. Some ol the Guides lit their test fires and some fine dampers were cooked. Then they climbed back again for the last camp fire, which they would not have missed 'or anything.

Camp was to most of these girls the first experience of living in a community, and wonderful as it was to see what each Guide found she could do bv her own individual effort, it was even more interesting to watch their -first experiment in actually working together in patrols and in the company. Quite a number of the Guides had" been brought up to depend very much on other people and had never taken any share in the work at home so it was" a revelation to them to find how much they could do. There were four Guide officers in camp in addition to a doctor and a nurse. Doctor spent most of her time helping with camp jobs, while nurse was to be seen in all her spare mom ents carrying water, which was the onlv thing forbidden to the Guides. All" the other camp duties were undertaken wholly or in part by the girls.