volunteering – Page 2

#SBSevent2015 – Meeting Theo Paphitis

On January 30th, Mr CG, the monkey and I headed to the ICC in Birmingham for the #SBSevent2015. For those not in the know, #SBS is the twitter hashtag for Small Business Sunday, an initiative set up by Theo Paphitis. Small business owners tweet to @theopaphitis on Sundays between 5pm and 7.30pm. He personally chooses 6 winners and retweets them to his 462,199 followers (at time of writing). I won on 6th January 2014 and for a week my twitter feed went mad, I wrote press releases for the local paper and the national Guiding magazine and tried to put Craftyguider out there.About every 12 months or so, all winners of the #SBS awards get to go to a big event for networking, Q&A and meeting the man himself. I felt a bit out of my depth as I’m not a career woman any more. Craftyguider is a fundraising venture and I take no money from the business other than material costs. It’s lovely when people do buy from me as it means a lot that someone has appreciated something I’ve created, and it means a lot to my Guides who benefit from the money that I invest in the unit.

After the networking session, Kypros Kyprianou, Group CEO of Ryman Stationery (and fellow Spurs fan!), took to the stage to introduce the next part of the day, and then his boss, Theo Paphitis.Theo talked through some of the great things that were happening with SBS, including the newly updated SBS website. I’ve been on and updated my profile page already.

After lunch, there was a Q&A session with Julien Callede, co-founder of Made.com, Judy Naake who introduced St Tropez tans to the UK, and Rob Forkan, co-founder of Gandy’s flip flops.

Towards the end of the questions (which overran their time slot), some people started queuing for their photo with Theo. I didn’t as I thought it would be a bit rude to walk out on the session, and I was interested in what people were saying. Some people had long journeys ahead of them though, and with the cold weather, they probably needed to get away as quickly as possible.And this is me with my certificate and Theo. By this time, I managed to squeak to him that I was Craftyguider, a Guide leader who made things, before my voice gave out completely! Mr CG has had the benefit of me being almost silent for more than 48 hours now. We collected our goody bags and fortunately had a clear journey home to relieve my parents from their 24 hour babysitting stint.

And when I got home, I found I’d been nominated to receive a Certificate of Good Service from Girlguiding Hertfordshire “for being totally devoted to Girlguiding and for helping in many and varied roles”. Whilst my #SBS is fantastic, this Guiding award is more special to me. It means that 2 people have taken the trouble to write nomination letters for me, my commissioner has agreed the nomination, and that the awards committee have approved it.

I’ll be back at #SBS next year. Mr CG has said he might want me to try and get an #SBS for his company, and eldest Craftyguidelet will shortly launch her polymer clay jewellery. #SBS winner at 8 years old?

#SBS One Year On

One year ago today, I sent a tweet to Theo Paphitis for his Small Business Sunday (#SBS) competition. I wrote “When I was a Guide, I earned 2 Craft badges. Now I’m a leader, I design and make badges.” I was hoping to be one of the 6 businesses to earn a retweet from him the next day, and my aim was to keep trying every week during 2014. I couldn’t possibly imagine that he would choose me as the first winner of the new year.

I can’t say that it has changed my life. Craftyguider.com is strictly a fundraising venture for my Guide unit. I don’t earn a penny from it (as all profits go into my Guide unit), and I don’t want to as long as I can recoup my costs. I am interested in making it a success though, and I do get a buzz when people buy from me and give me positive feedback. 2014 was by far my best year and I’d like to thank everyone who has supported me.

One result of all this is my 8 year old is already planning her business empire. She wants a career involving music, singing, polymer clay and chocolate. She wants a business like mummy, and is keen to help out. She was there on my stall the day Craftyguider started up in September 2011 when she was only 4. She’s already asking for a twitter account so she can enter #SBS too.

On January 30th, I’ll be at the SBS Winners Event picking up my certificate and having my photo taken with Theo himself. Perhaps Craftyguidelet can make it a family thing and be there in her own right the following year? She’s already got 2 Brownie Craft badges so she’s got a head start on me already.

That was the year that was ~ 2014

It was a great year for the shop. Craftyguider had it’s best year yet, and I raised a nice sum of money to put into the Guide accounts. I get to meet Theo Paphitis soon to collect my #SBS (Small Business Sunday) award, and I featured in Guiding magazine and the local press. However, I didn’t manage to launch a presence on Etsy, or learn about taking better photos.

I managed to make enough Christmas cards for friends and family, and sold handmade Christmas cards and tags in my shop for the first time. However I didn’t start in July as planned, and had a few late nights before craft fairs frantically making stock.

I handmade a few Christmas and birthday gifts this year, however I didn’t make as many as I’d planned to.

Q and A a Day I kept up to date with my Q&A a day diary (if you count the odd catch up sessions when I missed a couple/few/several days), however the Craftyguidelets didn’t do theirs.

I blogged more than usual, however I didn’t get into a rhythm and get all my ideas off the ground, especially more tutorials.

I worked hard to keep my local Rainbow and Brownie units open and helped to recruit new leaders, however I didn’t manage to get new units to open so that all the girls who want to join, can.

I have completed quite a few magazine kits this year, but not the one a week I wanted to. I have also tackled the magazine mountain and now say to myself that buying more magazines doesn’t make me happy, and the clutter makes me sad when I’m standing at the magazine display in the supermarket. However, the magazine hill is still there.

I haven’t learned how to procrastinate less, I’m still carrying some extra pounds, and the office is a bomb site.

I have learned an important thing this year though. I can’t (and shouldn’t) do everything. I don’t have to fill every available minute in the service of others or dusting the bannisters or attending meetings or making things for the shop. I need to prioritise my girls, my husband, my family and me. All the ‘howevers’ above have occurred because something else came up. A craft session with the Craftyguidelets, making Elsa dresses, going on family holidays, extra time at the park after school, a day out on my own to a craft fair as a customer, not a vendor.

Have a wonderful new year everyone, and I hope 2015 is everything you want it to be.

Louise x

Girlguiding UK Big Gig 2014

Wem-ber-leee, Wem-ber-leee, Wem-ber-leee! No, sorry. It’s not football, it should be “HELLO WEMBLEY. GIVE ME A SCREAM!!!!!” Cue 10,000 Guides and their leaders at Girlguiding UK’s Big Gig to raise the roof of Wembley Arena for the biggest event of the Guiding calendar in the eyes of my Guides. A real pop concert with real chart names.

On Saturday 4th October, 13 Guides, one Guide mum and 2 leaders left a train station in Hertfordshire to go down to Wembley Arena to join 10,000 other Guiding types for the second Big Gig of the day. The Guides were excited. The mum was excited. The 2 leaders, let’s face it, were doing their duty to their Guides and going along so the Guides didn’t miss out on the trip. I’ve heard of Union J and Little Mix but couldn’t (and still can’t) identify any of their songs. I think I’ve seen Diversity do their thing. Kingsland Road? Mike Dignam? Neon Jungle? I don’t think I’ve ever heard Ken Bruce play any of their songs on Radio 2 so there’s no hope for me there!

I tweeted about the event in the morning and after one of my tweets, Mike Dignam followed me on Twitter! “Wow!” I thought, “This will impress the Guides!”. Nope. They’d never heard of him either!

After a bit of Google and Wikipedia revision, I felt prepared for the trip (one member of Union J has strange eyebrows so I’m sure to recognise them, therefore Kingsland Road will be the ones without the eyebrows).

A completely smooth trip by train and tube and we took our seats. As you can see from the picture, we were quite a way back, but as tickets are allocated by lottery, you don’t get to choose.These were a great find thanks to the #BigGig2014 hashtag on twitter. They hand them out for free at the information counters and someone had tweeted about it. They came in handy for the Little Mix set at the end!10,000 Guides with their phones lit up is a fantastic sight. Add to that the flashing bunny ears, freaky hair and illuminated squid heads and it looked brilliant.And then I became a cool Guide leader. Mike Dignam came up on stage. “He’s WELL fit!” came the cry from the Guides. “Is he the one that follows you on twitter?”. Kimberly Wyatt (ex-Pussycat Dolls and Got To Dance judge – I’ve heard of her!) was hosting and posted a selfie on Instagram which I liked and commented on on behalf of my Guides. I was a social media queen for them.

Stooshe was a surprise, and were a hit with the Guides. Ken Bruce has played them so I was able to show my knowledge there too! And I’d heard of Stacey Solomon too.

Once Little Mix had finished, we managed to dash to the train station before the rush and got home before I turned into a pumpkin. I even got some thank yous from the Guides without them being nudged to do it by their mums!

The Big Gig is a fabulous event organised by Girlguiding UK twice a year all over the UK. I’ve been going fairly regularly since they started more than 10 years ago. I’ve seen Ed Sheeran (before he was a megastar, absolutely brilliant with just a guitar and some pedals), Orson, Shayne Ward (Google him if you don’t remember), Pixie Lott, Eliza Doolittle, Lawson, Conor Maynard, Dionne Bromfield, Katy B, Olly Murs, Amelia Lily, JLS, Scouting for Girls, Lil’ Chris, Sugababes, Aleesha Dixon, McFly, The Saturdays and loads more.

The only way Guides can enjoy events like this is if more people volunteer. We were only able to go because of the Guide mum who was willing to step in and be an extra adult. You don’t have to be a leader to support Guiding. We need people to test badges, do accounts, help once a term in meetings, or even come to pop concerts.

And by the way, Mike Dignam has since unfollowed me on twitter. Obviously handmade cards and news on the Craftyguidelet’s broken arm weren’t his thing. His loss!

Dear September

Where did our time go September? 30 days and it was all over!

You gave me glorious weather (mostly!) and lots of time in the garden appreciating the wonderful flowers still blooming their socks off. Considering that from February to April it looked like a muddy mess, now it’s landscaped and lovely.

My little Leprechaun turned Imp now has her Brownie Gardener badge for the hard work she put in sowing seeds, thinning out, weeding, watering and finally clearing away. Hopefully she’ll help again next Spring, and her grandparents want to hire her for her skills with a seed packet.

I achieved things, September. This pretty dress for Rainbow Craftyguidelet, some cards, some bunting, and even a tutorial for the book bags I made for the Craftyguidelets’ music lessons. Sales have been picking up with Craftyguider following a bit of promo work, and the big push to Christmas starts now. The Christmas shop is now open. I just need to fill it up a bit more!My Guiding life has started again. Guides and Rainbows are back, and once again I am juggling admin, trying to get as many girls as possible off the waiting lists and into units where they can join the fun, and trying to encourage more volunteers to come forward and help this to happen.I have also started Trefoil Guild which is like the WI for Guiding types. It was so lovely just going to a meeting for grown ups, not being asked to do anything, not being responsible for anything, not feeling guilty for not doing more. I just enjoyed the talk on the fabulous work of Guide Dogs and the puppy walkers. Finally something just for me to enjoy!WI planning has started again for our Handmade Christmas Craft Fair on 16th November. I need to get a shifty on for my stall!

But then just like that it was over September. 30 days of full on busyness and then phwoomp! October happened.

Autumn is here and I’ll be joining in with Miss Beatrix’s #BashSAD challenge to banish the blues of the shorter days. I’m also attempting to complete a whole month of the Fat Mum Slim #fmsphotoaday challenge on Instagram. My house is finally gaining some order after a summer of neglect, the kids are settled at school. Let’s do this October!

What was that? Half term at the end of the month? *sticks fingers in ears and pretends not to hear*

What are you up to this month?

Guide Dogs and Trefoil Guild

Meet my new friend Harry. I’m not a doggy person but he’s kind of cute! He was the guest of honour (with his puppy walker Sarah) at my first Trefoil Guild meeting to talk about Guide Dogs and the need for funds and more puppy walkers.

Sarah has been a Guide Dog puppy walker for a number of years, and Harry is her 5th puppy. He is a HUGE retriever/labrador cross and was so well behaved. He is almost at the end of his puppy walking stage, and will hopefully go to Guide Dog boot camp and graduate to be an essential part of a blind or partially sighted person’s life. She spoke with such a passion about her role as a puppy walker and the urgent need for more. The call for funds is a common one in an organisation which doesn’t receive any government funding, but I didn’t realise there were other support roles required too. Each puppy costs Guide Dogs UK around £50,000 from birth to retirement at about 9 or 10, and yet each potential owner only has to pay 50p as a token contractural amount to get their dog. Puppy walkers take a young puppy and train it over a year to strict guide dog standards to produce a well behaved dog, ready for final training on a harness before it is handed over to someone who really needs one. Sarah told us a number of stories about people whose lives have been transformed for the better because of their partnership with their pooch.

The Trefoil Guild is Guiding for adults. Like WI for Guiding types really. As I’m a Guiding geek and a WI member, I thought I’d give it a go. I found my local branch and they were really welcoming and helpful. I did feel incredibly young at the meeting (being at least 20 years younger than everyone else in the room!), but everyone was really lovely and they went out of their way to chat to me.

Like the WI, the Trefoil has gained an ‘older woman’ reputation, despite being open to anyone 18+. It was so nice being somewhere where I wasn’t organising something or responsible for something. I just went, moved a few chairs to help out, and left. Bliss! I will be back next month for more, and when I join, I will be channelling my Guiding geekiness more and going for the Voyage Awards. I’m a sucker for a badge!

Getting to Know You – Ice Breaker Activities

It’s the start of the new term at Guides and as usual we have some new starters. I do my Guiding in a fairly rural area, so most of the Guides know each other from the main school in the village, but it seems that there is a huge gulf between the lofty year 7’s and the new year 5’s.

Looking for some new ideas, I stumbled across icebreakers.ws which has a number of interesting games to get everyone talking and learning more about each other. Who knows, they may actually find out that the year 6’s aren’t an alien species and are quite interesting!

I’ve tried the Bingo style games before where you have a sheet of paper and have to go around finding someone who has an elder brother, someone who is left-handed and someone who can’t stand One Direction. This is good at making the Guides talk to people outside of their normal friend group because Nancy the new girl is the only one with a hamster, and if they want to get that signed off, they need to share the fact that they hate marmite.

Another suggestion on the website is the blanket game where you hide one person behind a blanket and everyone else tries to guess who it is. I find this works best when you know each other a bit first. Rainbows won’t peek while you are hiding someone, but Guides aren’t beyond a bit of cheating. Or is it just mine?

I think I’ll be trying the connecting stories game within the new patrols. One person starts off a story such as “I had jam on toast for breakfast this morning” and then the next person needs to provide an anecdote related to this such as “my mum made strawberry jam this summer” followed by someone else’s “I went to a pick your own farm and we picked 3 punnets of delicious strawberries”. The linked stories have to carry on as long as possible.

With my old unit, I played the “move to the left” game where everyone sits in a circle on their own chair. The person in the middle makes a statement such as “move to the left if you have an older brother”. Anyone this applies to has to move to the left and sit in the next chair. If a Guide doesn’t have an older brother, they stay put, which can mean they get someone sat on their lap. If there is a complete pile up, you can rescue the poor unfortunate Guide left sitting underneath 4 others by making a statement that you know applies to her alone.

Do you have any good ice breaker activities to share?

Girlguiding is the leading charity for girls and young women in the UK, with 553,633 members. Thanks to the dedication and support of 100,000 amazing volunteers, we are active in every part of the UK, giving girls and young women a space where they can be themselves, have fun, build brilliant friendships, gain valuable life skills and make a positive difference to their lives and their communities. We build girls’ confidence and raise their aspirations. We give them the chance to discover their full potential and encourage them to be a powerful force for good. We give them a space to have fun. We run Rainbows (5—7 years), Brownies (7—10 years), Guides (10—14 years) and The Senior Section (14—25 years). If you can give some time to help support or lead a unit, just click here or call 0800 1 69 59 01.

Calling all Brownies

Right-click to download high-res image

2014 is the year that Brownies celebrate their Centenary. All members of Girlguiding from Rainbows to Adults have a Big Brownie Birthday Challenge badge that they can work towards so we can join in with the celebrations, even if we aren’t Brownies. Challenges take inspiration from various milestone years in the last 100 years in the Brownie programme.
1957 was Baden-Powell Centenary year (being 100 years since the birth of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting and Guiding) and Brownies did six World Good Turns on the theme of Houses of Today and Tomorrow. On the evening of World Thinking Day (22nd February), all members put lights in their window to celebrate the joint birthdays of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell.
In this Brownie Centenary year, and also Hertfordshire County’s Centenary year, Girlguiding is challenging as many members and former members of Guiding to put a light in their window on the evening of 22nd February. It doesn’t matter if you were thrown out of the Brownies (if I had a pound for every time…) or if you have your 40 year service award, put a light in your window to remember Robert and Olave Baden-Powell’s birthday and the contribution they made to the lives of millions of people around the world.

Time to dig out those Christmas lights again and think of something imaginative for my window.

What are your memories of Guiding?

Because you said yes…

Because you said yes…

A young girl will feel the pride of being someone special as she carefully puts on her uniform for the very first time.

A girl can move to a new town and have “instant friendships” with girls she might never have met.

Parents will experience that special pride when they listen to their daughter say the Guide Promise for the first time.

Bright eyes will become a little brighter with excitement as the kindling finally catches on the first camp fire.

Nervous giggles will emit from tents as girls try to fall asleep their first night of camp.

The community, and yes, the world will be richer because a girl has learned the importance of caring for her environment and the warm feeling that comes from giving service to someone less fortunate than herself.

A parent will find a Promise Badge carefully tucked away in a drawer as their daughter packs to leave home for her first adventures as a young adult.

A young woman will contact the Guides one day and say, “I had so much fun when I was a Guide, I’d like to try being a Leader.”

…and the circle will continue – because you said yes!

source and author unknown

When I was about 8 or 9, I moved from Highgate to Enfield, changed school and just started to make friends. I used to play outside with my siblings, and my sister and I were spotted by one of the neighbours. Mrs Cockaday lived a few doors down and was just about to open a new Brownie and Guide unit. My mum was happy for us to make new friends and try something new so we were amongst the first batch of girls to join. Because of my age, I was only a Brownie for about a year and gained my Agility and Road badges. I then flew up to Guides and my Guidey swottiness began.

I loved being a Guide. I went to all the camps, got all the collective badge emblems, over 50 interest badges, my service flash, patrol pennants, patrol purpose patches, Queens Guide award, Baden Powell Trefoil award – and then I was old enough to be a Ranger Guide. Captain retired and I moved on.

I joined Rangers with a friend. We went to a Youth Hostel, painted the hut, did our swimming trial for kayaking, and I made plans to do the new Queens Guide award. But then it all went wrong. The Venture Scouts were going to close, probably due to lack of leaders or members, so the Rangers were going to convert to Venture Scouts to combine the two units. This would have been OK if the boys in the Venture Unit hadn’t have been my little brother’s mates. No way was I giving up my evening to spend time with boys, especially them. Unfortunately I hadn’t been told about becoming a Young Leader so I left Guiding.

A few years later, after I’d been to University (oblivious to SSAGO too as I commuted in 2 hours each way every day so couldn’t be in any of the clubs), I spotted an article in the local paper. “Guide unit to close unless they find a new leader” sort of thing. Much to the surprise of the District Commissioner, I answered the ad saying I’d help. I ended up becoming leader, much to my surprise as I imagined Guide leaders all being older women.

I’ve done most of the volunteer jobs in Guiding – leader of Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers, Young Leaders, District and Division Commissioner, I hold my camp, holiday, first aid and music licences, I can still tie my knots and I can light a fire using just one Cub Scout and some kindling. Almost 19 years later and I am still here. I tell people I had two daughters so they can take over my unit when I’m too doddery to carry on. My blood is Guiding blue.

But the most important thing is that I’ve been part of the lives of hundreds of girls and young women because Mrs Cockaday, my Guide Captain, said yes.

If you want to say yes, just click here to find out more. You don’t have to have been a Guidey swot, women who were “kicked out of the Brownies” as a child can still apply, men can help out in various ways. Even if you have never been in Guiding at all, you can be trained up. It looks great on a CV and a UCAS form, and as I sit here blurry eyed thinking of all those circles I’ve been part of, there are girls all over the UK who won’t get the chance to join in due to lack of leaders.

Unless you say yes.