GIRL GUIDE NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22911, 19 June 1936, Page 22

GIRL GUIDE NOTES

By Guides.

MOURNING,

As notified in the New Zealand Guider of June 1, mourning is not to bo worn in New Zealand after that date.

KING’S BIRTHDAY.

The Guides have been invited the Mayor to a civic function in the Town Hail to mark the of the first birthday of King Edward \HI since his accession. The place of meeting will be Filleul street, opposite the entrance to the Town Hall, and the time II a.m. As we need to give a rough. estimate of the number attending, captains are asked to notify their district captains regarding the number they expect to be present.

FIRST CLASS. First class tests will be held on Saturday afternoon, July 4, at a place to be announced later. Entries should reach the district commissioners a week before. ORDER ON RARADE. At the church parade last year on the occasion of the visit of the chiefs, it was the chief commissioner, if we remember rightly, who remarked, “ I’m not wanting to criticise, I’m merely asking for information. Why do you put your Guiders in front and not with their companies? ” The only reason we could give was that we had always done so, which of course, is not really a reason, merely the justification of a habit. It was because of this remark and the fact that it indicated that we used a method not in force elsewhere that we tried out a different way at the Thinking Day parade this year—namely, having Guldens sitting with their companies. The same order was used for the march up at the rally. Would it not be better to use this method now at church and other parades? In this way the Guiders would not be cut off from their companies in lonely dignity. They could sit at the end of the seats and thus be able to lead their Guides in the matter of when to stand and to sit. The Colour party provides the formality that is needed for a parade. They must .always have suitable accommodation so that nothing mars the. dignity of their performance. No public parade with Colours should ever be held without a rehearsal by the Colour party. Better leave the Colours behind than handle them badly. AUNT HELEN’S GARDEN. “Aunt Helen.” Mrs Storrow, has for a number of years been showering the Girl Scouts with gifts, and when the new Pine Tree Training Camp was completed last spring, many expressed a wish that they might do something for Mrs Storrow. It was eventually discovered that she wag interested in having a herb garden as part of Storrowtown. the village of old New England buildings, which has been given by her to the Eastern States Exposition so that it may be preserved by future generations. , The Girl Scouts conceived the idea ot building for her just the nicest kind of garden, of having it come as a gift from every Girl Stout in New England. So the garden was completed and given to Mrs Storrow on Sunday evening, September 15. She came, in the uniform of the World Committee, to the Girl Scout booth at the Eastern States Exposition, where she was received by the members of the Regional Committee. A Girl Scout in Greek dress led the way, her arms filled with sweet herbs, through linos ot girls dressed in the costumes of different lands, each carrying the flag of her country; their way lay along a path oyer which their guide scattered sweet-smelling herbs. ~ There if a lovely flat stone wall enclosing the , ‘arden, and several red cedars growing close to it outside, between which will later be a mass of sweet briar, we hope. Inside is a tiny pool, about which grow several kinds of mint; the pool is fed with fresh water with water which drips from the old stone well. There was a grape arbour already there. The walks are flagstones, and in the centre of tie garden is a little boulder on which the sundial has been set. . , It was great fun making the garden and keeping it a surprise.' We had to have a plan of course. This was made uy Mrs Grace H. Kirkwood, a former C*irl Scout and a graduate of the Cambridge School of Landscape Architecture. Most of the herbs were planted by the girls themselves; many were raised by I

them first for the garden, while many came from those who already had herbs in their gardens. All-day planting parties were held; groups of Girl Scouts brought their bunches and spent most of the day planting. . , ' The garden is 35ft by 37ft; the entrance to the grape arbour has a turnstile; long seats run along each side. This made a delightful place to serve tea on the day the garden was presented to Mrs Ktorrow. . . . .... With all the sweet herbs growing, within it. each symbolising a thought of protection, happiness, health, and love, could, anything express better than this garden what the Girl Scouts feel for Mrs Storrow? —From the Trailmaker.

THE FORMATION OF A FOURTH BRANCH. (By Katharine Fo^se.) There has been a great deal of discussion as to whether it is. necessary to form a fourth branch in Guiding. When the question was discussed by the British Commissioners’ Conference at Buxton it was considered that Ranger age should he lowered to school-leay ing ace. and that a fourth branch should be brought into being for which all adults, both active and ex-members of the Rirt Guides’ Association, should be eligible; the'minimum age for this to be 21. The subject was also discussed by the World Committee at its Eighth Session in Finland last July, and great interest was expressed in the almost unlimited possibilities of a fourth branch. It was considered that if the energy of all adult members of our movement, together with those who are no longer able to do active work as Guides or Gnj Scouts, could be harnessed as a universal force for good, the fourth branch might, through this natural fruition of what is essentially a children’s movement, achieve almost anything. ... All sorts of possible activities were described in committee, and it was decided to include the subject in the programme for the Ninth World Conference m Sweden. , It was generally agreed that only by including active Guiders, secretaries, commissioners and other grown-up mein* bers of our movement in this adult branch could it be made attractive to women who for one reason or another are unable to bo active members. Also that, ns one of the chief objects of the fourth branch would be to encourage Guides. Girl Scouts and Rangers to take their proper place in the community as members whose training in our movement would enable them to take responsibility and to shoulder iheir obligations as citizens. the fourth branch would work on adult lines. It would provide its own motive power from within its qwn membership and not call for leadership from outside, and it would base its ideals on the fundamental principles of the Guide promise and law, the members thereby endeavouring to live for the glory of God.