Thursday 30 October 2014

Iceland day 3

Today was as cold as ever but we still had fun. As we had had a really late night last night we had breakfast at 9:00 and came down in our pyjamas! Afterwards we had free-time till 11:30 when we got ready to go whale-watching by layering up until we could hardly move.
Once we had taken the short coach drive to the harbour we all rushed to get a window seat so that we could easily see any possible signs of a whale or dolphin. When the boat moved away from the harbour we started on our pack lunches as we knew we wouldn't be seeing any whales or dolphins anytime soon. After we had got out of the main bay area and had eaten our packed lunches we saw something in the distance. It turned out to be DOLPHINS!!!

After that we went back to the hostel for a few minutes then straight out for dinner... Which Was EPIC!!! We had an amazing day. The dolphins are tired and so are we! Good Night!!
This was written by the Senior Patrol - Rebecca, Olivia, Emily, Laura and Emmy.

Second day in Iceland

After a good night's sleep we woke up and went to breakfast at 8:30. We had a nice balanced breakfast including cereal, toast, fruit and lots of biscuits! Then we went for a extremely long HELEN walk! Helen's walks are long but this was even longer. When we finally ended the walk at this beautiful church we were split into small groups of 5 and 7. When we started walking off into groups, Edda's group decided to go into the church and up the tower. We walked in casually and then got stopped and told it cost 700 kr EACH and we all said no straightaway. We then walked around some shops and lots of people spent most of their money. In the shops we bought traditional Icelandic souvenirs.

Once we'd all finished shopping we met at the church to enjoy our "lovely" lunch. Until we realised that most of us had vegetable sandwiches or chicken, egg and iceberg lettuce. When we were walking back to the hostel by the sea and mountains a guide said “I need the toilet” another guide said  “I wonder if you pee will your wee freeze?” Look at the picture which shows that it is zero degrees.



When we arrived at the hostel we were all very cold even though some of us were wearing 5 or 6 layers, but then some people only wore 1 or 2.  Hats are very important in the cold.  


At 5:45 we met in the lobby and prepared to walk to have dinner. Helen didn't really know were she was going so we went in most doors until we arrived at the right destination. We walked into this building called World Class and went into their separate function room and we had a whole restaurant to ourselves. For starters we had homemade mushroom soup with brown wholemeal bread. For mains most of us had chicken with potatoes and grape and carrot salad but the vegetarians had a couscous salad. When we finished dinner we walked back to the hostel for preparing for a long trip on the coach to see the northern lights!

Here they are:

Photo: We have been very lucky the past few nights as the Aurora has been clearly visible, even in the city, and dancing right above us !  This picture was taken by our very own maintenance hero Jirka. Isn't it beautiful?

We got back. It was 00:15; most of us had a nap on the coach though so we got in and Helen told us to go straight to bed and to come down at 8:30 for breakfast in our pyjamas!

Written by Alice G, Alice P, Eleanor B, Jade and Grace (The Chocolate Whales)


Tuesday 28 October 2014

The Iceland trip begins

Each day, a patrol is taking reponsibility for the blog.  Today is the turn of the patrol they call 'Mrs Hal', because it consists of Madeleine, Ruby, Sophie, Harley, Amy and Lucy.  Here it is...
On the coach, Lucy realised she had equivalent of £1.30 in Icelandic kroner.  This will not go very far.  After a long drive we eventually arrived at the airport. After going through security, we went to the shops in the airport to buy our lunch but 20 minutes later, Harley realised that she had lost her boarding pass so she couldn't buy anything. Helen managed to get another one printed for her! 
On the plane we found our seats, settled down and then found that Amy's screen wasn't working so Sophie shared hers with Amy; subsequently, Amy broke Sophie's screen. Meanwhile Madeleine was writing some postcards to her family at home, including Wilson the dog.  Ruby thought that her ears were exploding.  Apart from this, all was going well.
On arrival in Iceland, we realised that, whilst there was no snow immediately evident, there were snow-capped peaks in the distance, therefore we understood why it is called ICEland.  
We bundled into a large coach, driven by a man called Shiki.  He drove us to the Blue Lagoon, even though we were meant to be going to our youth hostel.  
On arrival at our accommodation, we struggled to make our beds.  Sophie couldn't work out how to put her duvet cover on, so she crawled into it, spread it over the floor and, variously assisted by the others, suceeded in putting it on.  She is still wearing it now.  
Meanwhile, Harriet managed to get stuck in the toilet after the lock failed.  Helen suggested we get a ladder; unfortunately the staff member heard 'write a letter' which was less helpful.  Another Guide locked herself out of her bag and another considered finding gummy bears under her bed to be an emergency.
We've just had dinner and are really tired, so it's time for us to sign-out and say goodnight.  We all say hello to our families - 'hi everyone!'
Written by: Madeleine, Ruby, Sophie, Harley, Amy, Lucy. 

Monday 27 October 2014

Why International?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that international opportunities in Guiding are a key reason for girls and young women staying in Guiding. International is a great retainer. If a girl has an international opportunity in Guiding, she is more likely to stay involved in Guiding, for longer.  International Guiding opportunities open minds, present totally unique experiences and enable girls to learn about themselves and the broader world.
 
As a member of Girlguiding, one is part of a giant family, which exists in 146 countries across the world.  Not only is a Girlguiding member in a unit, she is also in a District, a Division (depending on the size of the area – some areas don’t have Districts), a County, a Region, a Member Organisation, WAGGGS (the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts).  How many members does WAGGGS have? 10 million! Guess what percentage of the eligible worldwide population are involved in WAGGGS – less than 1% globally.  That said, Girlguiding has about 500,000 members in the UK, representing a significant chunk of the 1 million.  

Why am I telling you this? Because there is always scope for growth.  Leaders in Girlguiding have a responsibility to grow Guiding, in line with the national agenda.  The Chief Guide launched a #MakeARainbow campaign recently, to encourage Leaders to open up Rainbow units to address that need.  Increasingly, girls are sitting on waiting-to-join lists for Rainbows and not actually getting in!

Have you ever thought about running a Rainbow unit? We really need more, across the UK.  Maybe you don’t know anything about Rainbows – read more about the programme here.  Rainbows is where the journey through Girlguiding begins.  I would have been a Rainbow, but they had not been invented at that time.  

Part of the national Growing Guiding agenda is about flexibility, about fitting around the time commitments of the leaders.  There are all sorts of ways of doing things in an alternative way, to accommodate this.  Some units meet on Saturday mornings.  Some units have enlarged, then split into two and meet on alternate weeks.  If you’re not already in Guiding and want to do something really useful for the future of girls and young women, get involved! You will be welcomed with open arms! Have a look here and read about the amazing things Girlguiding does – opportunities, advocacy, international, residentials, growth, development, learning, independence.  Watch this to see a recent Channel 4 piece about what Girlguiding does for girls and young women.

I hope that those that are coming on this Iceland trip will be inspired to stay involved in Guiding, as Guides, Senior Section, then hopefully volunteers, in whatever capacity suits them.

But to now.  In 24 hours, we will be en route to the airport.  The months of preparation will be over and we will be embarking on the trip of a lifetime.  The itinerary is complete, everything is in place.  We now just need it to happen!

You’ll be pleased to hear that the patrols (small groups of Guides) are going to write sections of the blog as the trip progresses.

More soon.  Why not tell a friend about this blog? Use it as a tool to grow Guiding!

Friday 24 October 2014

Not the one in Plumstead High Street

It was January 2014.  We were spending the Guide meeting coming up with programme ideas for the year, in true 'girl-led Guiding' fashion, the critical component which makes Girlguiding what it is - that which the girls want to do.

'Think broadly - think about what you would really like to do', came the instruction.

'I'd love to see the Northern Lights', suggested a little voice.  

It was these few words which led to 1st Chislehurst Guides deciding to go to... Iceland (and I don't mean the one in Plumstead High Street).  I mean the island in the North Sea; yes, the one with that troublesome volcano they call Eyjafjallajokull that wreaked havoc in 2010, and yes, that major financial crisis in 2008 - 2011, but let's not worry about these things.  This is why we have travel insurance.  This is why the first thing one does, once a trip is approved, is to purchase travel insurance, from those lovely people at Unity (Girlguiding's recommended insurer).  Yes indeed.

So what have we been doing to prepare for this trip? All sorts! We have incorporated the fundraising into our Guide programme, by doing constant fundraising, alongside the weekly meetings.  What does that mean in practice?

The Guides were encouraged to:
- fill up tubes of Smarties with 20p pieces; this raised £256.60
- bring in unwanted CDs, DVDs, books; I sold these online through Music Magpie, Ziffit and We Buy Books; the money is still coming in, but this has raised £660.17 (you'd be amazed at how many people want to get rid of their CD collections)
- bring in unwanted stuff which we could sell on eBay.  I hadn't used eBay before and was wary of the time it takes; but once you understand the basics, items can be uploaded quite quickly.  We are still actively selling stuff here so have a look! So far, we have raised £573
- bring in used postage stamps.  This has raised £21.50
- bring in unwanted foreign currency, which has raised £45.70
- bring in unwanted clothes, soft toys, bric-a-brac, which has raised £131.46
- bring in unwanted mobile phones; this has raised £9.41 (every little helps)

We have also applied to and received grants from:
- Region Chief's Discretionary Fund
- Pat Tiley Memorial Fund
- Leslie Sell Charitable Trust
- Centenary Dream Fund
for which we are truly grateful.

We've also had stalls at local events, been bag-packing - having a local presence at events is great as it raises awareness of local Guiding and promotes 'Growing Guiding' too.  We've  done sponsored events, made over £200 from Easyfundraising (if you're a Leader in LaSER, every unit in the Region is set up on Easyfundraising, so have a look; effortless funds for your units).  Easysearch is good too and you don't even need to register.  Online research, consumer testing, big events, like a Variety Show; it has all contributed to us raising the £10,000 we needed for this trip.

Each participant has paid £250 and we have fundraised the rest.  Why am I telling you this? If my unit can do it, your unit can do it too! What are you waiting for?!