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Any ex-Girl Guides on here?

(80 Posts)
TriciaF Mon 09-Jan-17 16:54:30

Trying to get our log fire going today, I remembered my introduction to fire-lighting in the Girl guides. Make a pyramid, kindling first etc.
I think I got my fire-lighter's badge, but looked it up and it doesn't exist now, thought the Guides are still going strong, all around the world.
I do remember getting the thrift badge, by using only 2 matches to light the fire in our kitchen at home. It was in a black-leaded range with an oven at the side.
Any other ex- Guides here?

TriciaF Mon 09-Jan-17 17:03:05

ps I see the thrift badge still exists.

kezia Mon 09-Jan-17 17:07:12

I was a Brownie. I failed my cookery badge because I forgot to take the letter saying that I'd helped with Sunday lunch and the 6d to make a phone call. No idea why we might need to make a phone call!

Anniebach Mon 09-Jan-17 17:08:31

I was a Brown Owl

Christinefrance Mon 09-Jan-17 17:08:54

Sadly I did not last long with the Guides as I was thrown out with a friend for inviting boys back to the hut.
What a sinner shock

whitewave Mon 09-Jan-17 17:11:30

There are loads of us on GN tricia I went on to sea something - can't remember what they were called. Used to go rowing in Shoreham.

merlotgran Mon 09-Jan-17 17:18:05

I was a Brownie but the GG did not appeal so I joined the Red Cross cadets instead.

nanaK54 Mon 09-Jan-17 17:21:54

Oh yes I was a guide!

Re fire lighting have you come across 'fire logs' (we chop them in half because we are tight/careful)

mcem Mon 09-Jan-17 17:27:16

I was too. I think the fire-lighting test was part of the camping badge and not a stand-alone badge. We had to light the fire and boil half a pint of water in 20 minutes!

baubles Mon 09-Jan-17 17:29:34

Yep I was a Brownie and flew up to Guides. Can't for the life of me remember anything about fire starting though smile.

Jalima Mon 09-Jan-17 17:38:07

Yes, I was a Brownie (a sixer) then a Guide too but left when I was about 14 as the group folded.

I remember when DD did the firelighting - then they had to cook sausages on the fire (in a pan) to get a badge.

tiggypiro Mon 09-Jan-17 18:49:52

Ging gang goolie, goolie, goolie, goolie
What shall ging gang goo?
Ging gang goo

etc and apologies if my spelling is incorrect.

Lighting fires and cooking over them completely put me off smoking cigarettes because I was so naive that I thought all smoke was the same and just couldn't understand why I would want to breathe it in.
Loved the Guides especially Kingfisher patrol and camping. The tents we used were ex army canvas bell tents and we had to take our own groundsheets. We once had to dig a trench through the tent to let the water out after a heavy storm. Collecting wood, carrying water and digging latrines - I can't imagine them having to do that now.
Happy days!

MargaretX Mon 09-Jan-17 19:08:21

Yes I was a guide until they suggested I leave, as I spent most of the evening watching the Scouts who met in the adjoining room. That was when I was already a patrol leader but in the beginning I really loved it. I got a gymnasts badge which was supervised from school and then I had to make my own bed for a week. I can still do hospital corners but of course with fitted sheets its a skill gone to waste.
I remember the fire lighting with 2 matches on a damp evening in the woods. Somehow we all passed.
Those were innocent days. How lucky we were!

Antonia Mon 09-Jan-17 19:09:34

I was an obsessive girl guide, patrol leader of the Poppies and very proud of it. On my 60th birthday my dear sister collected souvenirs of each decade of my life, including a guide badge of the right era which she bought on Ebay. It was the trefoil kind, the type that you were supposed to polish the front and also the back, to 'keep your honour bright!'

tiggypiro Mon 09-Jan-17 19:19:55

I've just remembered all the stuff we had to keep in the breast pockets of our uniform. I know it was a lot and included 4 old pennies in case we had to make a phone call. If we didn't have boobs before we put the uniform on we certainly did after! Don't tell on me but we never used the pennies as we knew how to 'tap' the phones.

Gagagran Mon 09-Jan-17 19:40:49

I was a Brownie and a Guide and then a Guider and eventually formed a Ranger group. Loved it - campfire songs, cooking over wood fires, camping in general,making gadgets for the tents. Some of the happiest days of my life. smile

annodomini Mon 09-Jan-17 19:52:52

As a Brownie I was sixer of the Kelpies and as a Guide, leader of the Honesty Patrol. It was a pretty poor company that didn't do very interesting things! I failed my laundress badge twice but the teacher who tested me relented on my third attempt. Teaching for two years in Scotland, I was a Guider in the school Guides. When I taught in Kenya, started a Rangers unit in the school, while a colleague led the Guides. We had some good fun - I remember them cooking a local dish for hours in my kitchen. It smelt awful but was really quite tasty.

Jalima Mon 09-Jan-17 19:57:27

MargaretX
grin

tiggypiro I wish I had known how to 'tap' the phones as I could have saved a fortune in 4d over the years!

annodomini Mon 09-Jan-17 20:02:58

Our 4d was enough for a bag of chips on the way home! Sometimes we would go to the phone box and 'press button B' to see if someone had forgotten to get their money back. Sometimes we were lucky!

Luckygirl Mon 09-Jan-17 20:18:33

I was thrown out of the guides!!!!

Marieeliz Mon 09-Jan-17 20:49:31

Yes I was a Brownie Guide and Ranger. Went to Norway with the Rangers hitch hiking in 1955. It cost me £25. Did not have the money but a few weeks prior to going won £21 in work they did a weekly draw with lollipop sticks with no on. Also camped in pouring rain in Parbold. Camp was moved into Village Hall.

Lyndylou Mon 09-Jan-17 20:58:12

Really glad I'm not the only one who was asked to leave the Girl Guides. I used to put my uniform on, tell my mum I was going to Guides, then take my subs money to the chip shop and hang around chatting to lads.

madcatlady Mon 09-Jan-17 21:11:19

Oh the memories ... even as a brownie we were encouraged to chop our own wood for the campfire as well as use matches to light it and cook on it .. oh the elf and safety horror of today eek.

I remember as a guide going on a county camp for silver jubilee... storm so bad we had to be roused to take down the huuuuge marquee as it was threatening to be blown away / down.

Rangers disbanded sadly as lost leader but I went on to become a tawny owl and then the first rainbow glider in our county... and before some of the rules and guidelines made. We paraded in cathedral for thinking day and rainbows enthused.. loved it.

Claudiaclaws Mon 09-Jan-17 22:26:40

I was in Guides. I absolutely loved it. Went on to be a guider.
Many of us from our old Guide company still go to Waddow for a reunion every year. We have a great time.

thatbags Mon 09-Jan-17 22:32:14

I was a brownie and a guide, a ranger guide, a brownie leader (snowy owl and tawny owl), and a guide leader. And, most recently, a cub scout leader. What I most remember about being a guide is that I was the only one who could make satisfactory custard on a camp fire and as a guider, the only one whose porridge the guides would eat.