Our volunteers do amazing things – some of which might surprise you. You could find yourself white water rafting, training guiding Leaders overseas, celebrating LGBT inclusion in a local Pride parade or singing along with 10,000 girls at Wembley Arena.
What volunteering is all about
Volunteering with us isn’t just about campfires and helping girls to get their next badge – although those are special moments that we all share. It’s about empowering girls and giving them new experiences. It’s being a role model and helping girls to realise their full potential. It’s sharing and developing your skills.
Our volunteering opportunities can fit around your skills, commitments and interests. You don’t need to have been involved in guiding before to make a big difference and find a role that’s perfect for you.
To find out about all the ways you can get involved in Girlguiding click here: www.girlguiding.org.uk/get-involved/become-a-volunteer/ways-of-volunteering/
Our Leaders are just like you!
To prove it we asked some of our volunteers to write a profile of their day. It might surprise you just how much our volunteers get out of their experience too.
Profile: A Day in the Life of a Student, Brownie Leader, and Senior Section Member
You know that “Monday Feeling” that most people dread? Those “back to work” blues, the “start of another busy week” stress. Well I seem to have found the perfect cure to mine – Girlguiding. My full-time-essays-due-exams-looming-oh-no-it’s-Monday-again routine that comes with studying for A-levels is completely counteracted by my longing for the fun, laughter and good feeling of my Monday evenings. First it’s off to Brownies, where I’m surrounded by excited chattering girls with more enthusiasm than most Mondays have in their little finger. We sing songs, chat about our week, play (loud!) games, learn new things about ourselves and also the world around us, and kick Monday right back out the door. At the end of the meeting I feel refreshed (honestly!) and overwhelmingly proud of everyone who continues to make Guiding happen and put those smiles on the girls’ faces. The girls skip excitedly out the door clutching whatever new craft or trinket they have made that evening, and handing activity or trip letters to mum or dad saying “pleeeaase can I do this???”. Although I’m 19 part of me is still a big Brownie at heart, and being a Leader means I get up to all the exciting things the girls do! Camps, adventures, fundraising, badges, and trying new activities are a main part of my life as a Brownie Leader. As the saying goes in Guiding – the best job I do, I do for free!
After Brownies it’s then a quick dash to the second part of my Monday Evenings – Senior Section meetings. The main ingredients in our Senior Section are laughter, a lot more laughter, fun… oh and food. We are always thinking of new ways to try something new, have fun and earn as many badges as we can! From blindfold jelly bean tasting, to rifle shooting, and attending as many camping trips as possible. Summer 2014 we went to WINGS International Scout and Guide camp in Great Windsor Park for 7 days, meeting guiding friends from all over the world. Just a few weekends ago we camped at our County’s Briarlands Campsite for the official opening of the new accommodation – Brooks Lodge! We completed (yet another) challenge badge, this one based around “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!”, and took part in a day full of activities. Not to mention we got to meet the Chief Guide, Gill Slocombe! Being part of the Senior Section stops me from ever getting bored. If I’m not planning and thinking of more things to do, I’m working my way towards my Chief Guide Award, or planning my Senior Section Camp Permit.
So that’s my sure-fire way to cure a bout of the “Mondays”. Volunteering and participating in Girlguiding gives me more of a buzz than any triple-shot-espresso could. I promise you it’s not something you will ever regret trying, so what have you got to lose?
Profile : Full time working mum with 4 kids and a Brownie Leader
Imagine a crazy day, it’s raining and the kids have lost their coats, one shoe and have no idea what a reading folder is let alone where they’ve hidden it.
The day gets busier with meetings, phone calls and new deadlines and then suddenly it’s time to go. A mad rush to clear my desk, end the constant stream of phone calls and run out of the door for my drive to Brownies.
I arrive and the eager ones are already there bouncing up and down, with lots of stories of what they’ve been up to and what pets their Dads have promised them.
In one and a half hours we’ve sung, jumped around, talked, made something, played a few games, squealed, talked and probably talked some more. We’ve laughed hard, really hard not something we’ve done all day, the girls are hilarious, the original thinkers of outside the box and then the new girl, the quiet one suddenly says something about why she’s here, why she likes it and that is the cherry on top – a magical moment and suddenly it’s time to wrap up.
We’re late (again!) so it’s rush, rush, rush & actually really funny watching 32 girls trying to clear up quickly. Then suddenly we’re outside after saying our goodbyes to the Brownies & laughing at the roller coaster evening we’ve just had. It’s only been 1 1/2 hours & none of us can remember what happened during the day, our spirits have been lifted, our moods lighter & happier. This is why I volunteer, what else could achieve such a great result in so little time? The gym certainly doesn’t do this for me!