Girl Guides

I wanted to post this a few days ago but I've been letting is simmer for a while as I'm so upset and hurt about it, I didn't want to post in that state of mind.

In York with a Girl Guiding sign - I was proud to be involved!

As you may or may not know, I have been involved in the Girl Guiding movement all my life. I know a lot of people probably say this but I mean literally. I joke that it's in my blood; it's who I am. My Grandma was a Girl Guide, going on to be a Guides leader and then District Commissioner, continuing on to be a Brownie Guides leader - she retired after gaining her 40 years' service honours. My mum followed in Grandma's footsteps and did both Guides and Brownies, earning her 20 years' service and then I joined in, qualifying as a Brownie leader.  In fact, I never really left! I 'finished' Brownies at 11 years old, stayed on to 'help out' and then when I was old enough, started my leadership qualification.

Three generations of Guiders (back in 2006)

Unfortunately due to work commitments, we had to close our unit in 2012. It was devastating. We had been through ups and downs and thought we'd have to close a couple of years previously when we were down to around 3 girls on our books - most girls wanted to join cubs and scouts since they became unisex. We did a last ditch recruitment drive, putting up posters and flyers and we turned it around.

Grandma making the headlines for delivering
me and keeping her Guide Promise!

We had a big party at the last meeting and there were tears all round. I genuinely loved those girls and all that we stood for. We met up in the November to attend the annual Remembrance Parade, as we always had done, but just as ordinary members of the public, rather than a uniformed organisation. It was strange but I wanted to go - I'd never missed one in all my life! Unfortunatly I don't think I'll be able to attend this year - it's just too difficult and raw at the moment.
I still get teary when I think about it!

So why am I telling you all of this? I guess that I just wanted to give you a bit of background. I'm sure that if you read the newspapers regularly, you'll have seen the news last week that the Girl Guiding movement have taken steps to remove God from their Promise.

The Brownie Promise was:

I Promise to do my best: 

To love my God, to serve the Queen and my country, 

To help other people and To keep the Brownie Guide Law

It has now been changed to:

I Promise to do my best: 

To be true to myself and develop my beliefs. 

To serve the Queen and my community,

To help other people and to keep the Brownie Guide Law

Now it's not the first time the Promise has changed. Apparently, in 1994, a little girl refused to say that she would "do her duty to God" as was the Promise, so they changed it to "love my God", which would emcompass all peronal beliefs and 'gods' in general.

We had a Brownie once who was happy to participate in everything. She never mentioned anything about her Promise but her mum came in early one night and heard us saying our prayer. She wasn't happy and said that she didnt want her daughter to participate in it. We explained that as a Christian organisation, and as our meeting place was a church, we weren't going to stop doing it. If her daughter didn't want to join in, she didn't have to, and we would take her name off the list to read the prayer. This pacified the situation but the little girl was really upset that her name wasn't on the list, often asking (as they all did), "when is it my turn to read the prayer?" and joining in with the Lord's Prayer every week, unless she spotted her mum.

I had always said that once I had got myself settled: married; children; and living in an area I'm going to stay in, that's when I'll renew my warrant and re-open a Brownie unit. As I stated earlier, it's who I am; I'm lost without it. Now that they've secularised themselves, though, and basically turned their back on all they stand for, I won't bother. I still have a heart for voluntary and children's work but I'll have to find another outlet for it.

Julie Bentley - campaigner for
abortion rights and the
woman who removed
God from Girl Guiding.

To say I'm devastated isn't an over-reaction. If anything, it's an understatement!


I guess it was only a matter of time, after all, they did hire a woman as Chief Executive last year who was former head of the Family Planning Association, an abortion and contraception group (and had never been a Guide herself!). She said last yar that the Girl Guides are "the ultimate feminist organisation" - I retweeted them telling them exactly what I thought of that and that I was ashamed to be a part of it. I mean rally, why we need a Chief Exec is beyond me - it's a charity, not a business.

I'll end with a quote from Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail (please don't discredit me for using the DM - I know they're not the most prestigious but my Grandma sent me a clipping!) 
"You may think the Girl Guides are unimportant, but they're not. A promise that once soared to embrace God and country is cut back to concentrate on self. don't tell me that this won't be a big thing for millions of young women."

My heart breaks. Pray for our young people, our country and those in charge.
- Lisa