Over the course of seven weeks, I had the pleasure of joining Ealing South District Commissioners, Kirsty Pitcher and Katy Edwards, on a tour of 17 units across their District. A huge thank you to all the volunteers who gave me such a warm welcome and took the time to chat — it was appreciated.
An extra special thanks to Kirsty and Katy for planning the schedule and being absolute stars, kindly chauffeuring me between unit meetings and easing my journey home by dropping me at nearby tube stations.
Have a look at some of the things the units got up to in their meetings below:
Rainbows
1st Hanwell Rainbows, were becoming master fruit chefs learning how to peel, prepare and clean fruit properly for the Feeling Fruity Skills Builder (Living Smart Stage 1). I also presented Cleo, with a certificate and badge from the County Thank You Card Competition where she was the Rainbow Runner Up. Many congratulations to Cleo!
3rd Hanwell Rainbows were challenged to design a campsite while thinking about how to care for the animals and plants that they might encounter — and how we can all live in harmony with nature (Caring Campers, Camp Stage 1). There were some excellent tent designs and even a campervan!
Caring Campers
Brownies
4th Acton Brownies were using shaving foam and food colouring to make wrapping paper (Foam Favourites Know Myself UMA), the results looked very effective with a display of blue, yellow and red. Brownies then experimented with ingredients to find the most effective soap in Soapy Solutions (DIY UMA).
8th Acton Brownies were working on the Mapping it Out Skills Builder, learning how to understand grid references. All good preparation for an adventure in the local area! Could your group manage to sneak a ring around a rope without the person in the middle noticing? That was the aim of the game for the UMA Sleighty-ly Confused (part of Skills for my Future). The Brownies were good at keeping a poker face until the inevitable giggles began and they are infectious!
As I met 18th Ealing Brownies, I was warned things could get messy. They were doing the second part of the Momentous Monuments (Know Myself UMA), painting their clay creations that represented aspects of themselves. We had a wide range of masterpieces from pets, hobbies including swimming and skiing to favourite foods like pizza and cakes. We ended singing some campfire songs—including favourites like “Thunderation” and the “Bumblebee Song,” which seem to pop up no matter which unit I visit.
19th Ealing Brownies had a games evening making use of the outside space and hall to let off some steam. They also did some planning for what they would like to do on the last meeting of term with a teddy bears picnic and Olympics being two of the most popular choices!
2nd Hanwell Brownies had some parents come along to be interviewed for their Jobs Badge (Skills for my Future) and I agreed to be interviewed too. We worked round the four groups with each Brownie taking a turn to ask a question before they furiously took notes. Questions ranged from “Do you like your job” to “What hours do you work” to the very important question of “Do you get lunch at the same time each day?” The jobs ranged from a scientist, librarian, teacher and a musician. I was impressed at the curiosity of the Brownies wanting to find out more about my job and their focus on listening to my answers.
10th Hanwell Brownies were exploring the Be Well Theme. One group explored the concept of personal space and ways to ensure everyone feels respected and at ease with My Invisible Bubble game. Meanwhile, the other group played ‘Can You Get It?’, using yes and no questions to work out which animal a Brownie had picked. However they needed to successfully knock over a bottle with a bean bag before they could ask their question.
At 22nd Hanwell Brownies’ meeting, it was apt that we were there that week as the Brownies had a go at the Guiding in a Bubble (Get Guiding UMA), learning how everyone fits into the Guiding family. First they needed to sort a list from smallest (e.g. unit) to biggest (e.g. WAGGGS) and how areas like County and Districts fit in. The challenge was to blow bubbles then get smaller bubbles inside to represent the family, the groups had mixed success!
Momentous Monuments
Guides
4th Acton Guides selected their favourite positivity statements to design a poster with tear-off tabs, each carrying an encouraging message for the local community.. There was also a bingo game where we learnt that not many people like getting up early!
It was great fun watching 8th Acton Guides develop their skills as responsible pet owners during the ‘Pets Rock’ (Skills for My Future) activity — which really put their multi-tasking to the test! Using recycled materials, they first crafted their own pet in small groups, then set to work creating a paper chain. Sounds easy, right? But suddenly, they had to drop everything to walk, feed, or care for their pet before picking up their original task. Once time was up, the finished paper chains were laid out to see which group had managed to create the longest.
On one of the hottest days (of which there have been many recently) we headed down to Northfields Guide Centre to meet 16th Ealing Guides. The Centre is an amazing space for local units for outside activities. The self contained area has a small hut and space to do fire building and games. The Guides had been sorting a wood pile in anticipation of a future campfire (let’s hope on a cooler day!) before doing the only thing you can do in this heat – have a water fight! It looked very refreshing!
2nd Hanwell Guides were looking at Life Hacks (Skills for my Future) like using a straw to take the stem out of strawberries, mixing bicarb and vinegar to remove bad smells and using natural materials to make toiletries. They also wrote as many other life hacks as they could think of to share with others.
We walked in the hall to a group giving an impassioned plea to the rest of the 8th Hanwell Guides (complete with atmospheric music) on why their department should receive funding. The groups had each been allocated a department, health, defence, education or culture and had to persuade the rest of the unit to vote for them. There were some excellent arguments being raised!
Pet Rocks and Festival Goer
Rangers
4th Acton Rangers were looking at what they enjoyed about Rangers and skills needed and how those skills might match with other organisations and charities. Then started looking at programme ideas to begin planning in earnest for next term.
8th Acton Rangers had started their evening with Soundtrack to my Life (Reflect Skills Builder for Know Myself) coming up with a playlist of songs that brought back memories or experiences (with some great karaoke singing going on as well!) The three of us then got involved in “Slow as a Sloth” game with the group, where our aim was the stop the fallen sloth (the person in the middle) from getting to the empty chair, but moving very slowly (which led to some rather hilarious exaggerated slow walking).
Having recently completed or nearly completed exams at schools, a chilled festival vibe was the plan for Grand Union Rangers as the group spent the evening creating flower headbands and decorating festival masks for the Festival Goer Badge. They were also using clay to make pieces of colourful jewellery.
Thank you!
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone, seeing our young members having such a great time and the wide range of activities, and I’m now very well acquainted with several stops on the Elizabeth Line! I’m looking forward to getting to know more of the County in the next academic year.
Marian Brown
Assistant County Commissioner