More than 50 volunteers from across Middlesex West County, together with members of our local Trefoil Guilds, gathered at the Willow Tree Centre on Tuesday 9 June 2026 for this year’s County Awards Evening.
Taking place shortly after Volunteers’ Week, the event provided a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our volunteers and it was great to see representatives from every Division joining the celebrations.
The evening began with a welcome from the County Commissioner, Jennifer Maidment and Assistant County Commissioners, Marian Brown and Hannah Evison-Vale who recognised the commitment, achievements and generosity of our volunteers, linked to our theme of “time”.
Before the Girlguiding Awards, we acknowledged two Borough Awards. Jackie Diamond and Jennifer Dudley. Many congratulations to Jennifer Dudley who was awarded an Ealing Civic Honour Award, one of five awards presented during the ceremony. We are also thrilled that Jackie Diamond was a Harrow Hero Finalist for the Contribution to the Community Award, congratulations Jackie.
For 2025-2026 academic year 80 Long Service Awards were due to be presented, five volunteers completed their Leadership Development Programme and three completed their Going Away Scheme.
Awards presented during the evening
Leadership Development Programme
Hillingdon North Division, Lucy Walker
Going Away Scheme Programme
Ealing Division, Cerys Propert-Lewis, Jo Loveless
Peer Educator Bronze Award
The Peer Educator Scheme has been going from strength to strength in our County and we currently have 10 Peer Educators. Anyone aged between 14-25 years old can be trained as a Peer Educator.
We are delighted that we have had our first Peer Educator Bronze Award, a fantastic achievement.
Harrow and Pinner Division, Rose Mathias-Legg
Queens Guide
The Queen’s Guide award is the highest award you can work towards in guiding and is open to members aged 16 to 30. This is our first Queens Guide in our County since 2018 and we were delighted to hear from our Award winner about her experiences completing the Award.
Hounslow Division and Peer Educator Co-ordinator, Katie Bushell
Region Awards
3 Year
Hounslow Division, Manchari Pratheepan
National Awards
5 Year
Hillingdon North Division, Lucy Walker
10 Year
Hillingdon North Division, Nicola Birdsey
20 Year
Harrow and Pinner Division and County Brownies Adviser, Jane Middleton
30 Year
Ealing Division, Heidi Maidment
Hillingdon North Division and Division Commissioner, Jackie Smith
Hillingdon North Division, Debbie Nelms
40 year
Hillingdon North Division, Chris Fellowes
50 year
Hillingdon North Division, Christine Mills
60 year
Ealing Division
Ann Cousins
Brown Owl puts a lot of effort in to making sure the girls at the 19th Ealing unit have plenty of fun activities to do. There is always a Mother’s Day meal organised in which the girls have to prep an entire three course meal and serve to their mothers. This is one of the busiest sessions for our Brown Owl as she brings in all the equipment and the ingredients for the girls to cook herself. It has also become a bit of a tradition to host trash fashion show in which the girls make outfits out of “trash” aka recyclable rubbish. They then do a catwalk show with the outfits.
There is never a dull session if Brown Owl is involved in the prep. There is always something exciting for the girls to do. She has been involved in numerous pack holidays and is planning to go again this year to Willow tree.
When we asked some of the current brownies what they thought of their Brown Owl, they said: “she helps us learn and is very good at coming up with fun activities.” We are lucky to have Brown Owl at our unit, we even have some of the original items from 60 years ago that we use when the new Brownies make their promise.
Kanya Paramaguru, Leader in Training, 19th Ealing Brownies and member of County Marketing Team
Thank you Award
Harrow Weald and Stanmore Division, Division Commissioner and Enquiry Co-Ordinator, Emma Calderbank
A special thank you goes to Kathy Greaves and Beryl O’Brien from Willow Tree Trefoil Guild, who handwrote all 80 Long Service Award certificates. We are also grateful to the Awards and Recognition Committee for organising the refreshments, and to Sarah Past for capturing the evening through photographs.
