We are a small group, about 16 girls at the moment, mainly due to the fact that I have to rely on a parent rota to keep the unit open. If you feel this is your calling please contact me, as it is tiring working alone with 7- to10-year-old girls - but such a rewarding experience. They are keen to learn and are more than enthusiastic.
I am just starting out on my third year of Brownie leadership and during this time I have experimented with them disappearing at the Science Museum, offering Port Lympne Zoo the unique chance to adopt a Brownie and more feebly sending them on obscure errands round the church yard and nearby Queen's Park. In all this I have failed miserably to lose any Brownies and at times these activities have had the opposite effect - they seem to want to bring their friends along.
We have come fairly close to demolishing our hall as we worked on our Science Investigator badge or burning it down when we did our Cook's Badge. But with this in mind we are looking at doing something more constructive in the future. Our big plan at the moment is to put on a concert on Friday June 17th to raise money, with the hall fund being the beneficiary of our efforts: if anyone can help us with this please get in touch with me.
On April 2nd (2011), the older girls went to London for what is becoming their annual treat. They went on the London Eye, and visited a buffet restaurant (eat as much as you can). Fortunately stocks had recently been replenished and so we were unable to eat them out of business.
We then had a pleasant walk over Westminster Bridge, down Whitehall and into St. James Park, where the sensible wildlife fled to the safety of the land behind the fence, while we went on to Buckingham Palace and Green Park. Here a Pug Picnic provided us with the highlight of a very pleasant day: hundreds of pug dogs had managed to tweet and twitter and get their owners to congregate with food and drink at this very pleasant venue. We finished the day at the Guide shop in Buckingham Palace Road before heading back to the station and home.
So we try to keep busy doing fun things and making life fun. Brownies are part of Girl Guiding UK, and our Unit has been meeting at St Mary's for many years now. We are grateful for the facilities offered and will try to keep you updated on our activites - but we cannot promise that they will always be as exciting as those we have recently engaged in.
Brown Owl
from The Beacon, May 2011
