On Saturday 13th September, we held our Harrow and Pinner Division Day. This year we took our inspiration from the London and South East Region Badge and held a ‘Sparkle and Shine’ Event. Around 100 Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers came together for a day of activities themed around the badge.
Young members were split into three groups of mixed sections; 4-8 year old Rainbows and Brownie, 9-12 year old Brownies and Guides and 13+ Guides and Rangers. One of the best things about the event was seeing the different sections mix with each other and all the new friendships that were made!
Once they arrived, the young members were split into two groups for some arrival crafts to keep them busy whilst everyone arrived. The younger group made star crowns and ribbon wands, whist the middle group made pipe cleaner headbands adorned with beads and sparkly stars, and the oldest group were already whisked off to their first session.
After everyone arrived the groups rotated round various sessions, with each session being adapted to their age group.
We had our amazing Peer Educator, Rose, delivering sessions themed around ‘sparkling from within’ helping our young members build their confidence and know their self-worth! Rose, who is also a Ranger and Young Leader in Harrow and Pinner, ran five sessions across the day tailoring each of them to the different age groups.
Everyone enjoyed ‘being a star’ with our guest, Chloe, who ran dance workshops for everyone. Young members really enjoyed learning a dance to Shake It Off, and even the leaders were getting involved with the choreography!
We had craft sessions for each of the age groups with the younger group making kaleidoscopes, the middle group making sun catchers and the older group making ribbon crowns.
The two older groups also ‘travelled through the solar system’ completing challenges ran by some of the Rangers themed around each of the planets including a hula hoop competition for Saturn, making laurel wreaths out of found natural materials for Uranus and a ‘snowball’ fight for Neptune.
In addition to this, the oldest group ‘shared their sparkle’ by making thank you cards for all our volunteers who made the day possible!
After all these amazing activities (and a visit to the shop) everyone gathered together for some singing and games before the Rainbows and Brownies headed home. The Guides and Rangers then enjoyed some S’mores before they also headed home themselves.
A massive thank you to all the volunteers who made the day possible, everyone chipped in to ensure the smooth running of the day.
A special thank you to
- Chris who kept all us volunteers topped up with drinks and cake (the most important role in my opinion!)
- Samira who was our first aider for the day
- Ciara and Suzanne who ran all the different crafts
- Peer Educator Rose for planning and delivering all the sessions throughout the day
- Rangers, Arya, Darshana and Debi, for helping with signing everyone in and running the solar system challenges.
- Our incredible Young Leaders who in addition to helping their units throughout the day, ran games and kept everyone entertained in the breaks
- Our amazing team of volunteers who helped with the arrivals and departures which is definitely one of the hardest roles of the day.
- And last but certainly not least, all of our wonderful volunteers who lead the groups round the activities and were to key to the smooth running of the day!
