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Guiding is a lot more than selling cookies

Registration is beginning for young girls interested in Girl Guides

You have all seen them over the years — girls in Sparks, Brownies, Guides and Pathfinders out and about in Sooke. These girls have all joined Girl Guides of Canada for a different reason. For some, the desire to go camping inspires them; for others it is a wish to be with their friends. Some girls have heard we love to craft and sing, and others just like the idea of trying new things.

Girl Guides is this and more and is alive and well and growing here in Sooke. Last year the girls participated in a range of activities — lots of camping, in cabins and tents; travel and hosteling; glass and ceramic crafts; singing and dancing; service projects such as helping collect for WildARC and the local food bank; and making birthday parties in boxes for distribution by CASA.

At the District Camp at the end of the year girls went hunting and panning for “gold,” tried out canoeing and archery and spent a weekend getting to know all the other girls involved in guiding in Sooke.

The end of the year was celebrated with a party at the Sooke Flats complete with cake and one of the torrential rainstorms we have experienced this year. The highlight of the party was the awards. The Lady Baden Powell Challenge (the highest award in Guides) was earned by April Petrie, Samantha Larocque, Sabrina Montgomery and Emily Phillips. The Canada Cord, the highest award you can receive in Pathfinders, was earned by Kayla Curtis and Maryna Ell, who have been members of guiding here in Sooke since Sparks.

To quote one of the girls, in an essay she wrote for school, “Guiding gives modern girls a friendly environment, the option to grow with important values and the (real) sensation of being important. For all these reasons and more, Girl Guides of Canada is beneficial to modern girls. Girls need Guides and so I am glad to have them.”

Girls Guides is always open to new members of any age (adults too!). Girl Guides of Canada is offering online registration at http:’’www.girlguides.ca or visit SEAPARC on Monday, Sept. 10 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. to register for this year.

In 1909, 11,000 boys participated in a Scouting rally organized by Lord Baden-Powell London, Great Britain. To Baden-Powell’s surprise, a large number of girls also showed up. They had been practicing scouting and demanded entry into the rally. Baden-Powell was impressed and he asked his sister, Agnes, to create a program just for girls. This was the beginning of guiding.