Dream trip for Guide Charlotte
A GIRL Guide has returned from a lifechanging trip to California.
Charlotte Jefferies, 14, from Poynton, was one of 15 girls selected to be in the Cheshire Border contingent travelling to America for the Guiding summer camp.
The teenager from the 3rd Poynton Guides and Rangers unit was selected to go on the trip, which was part of an project which sends girls from the UK all over the world.
Charlotte raised £2,000 for the trip by bag-packing in shops, babysitting, a sponsored walk, a concert and selling ready-made freezer meals.
The trip included a tour of San Francisco before a camp at Pleasanton, where the year nine pupil spent a week with 400 girls from America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Charlotte said: “Despite the occasional 40 degree heat, we embarked on challenges and travelled around Northern California.
“I learnt how to zipline, how to blow glass and belly dance.
“I have gained a great deal, including friends from all over the world, and experiences that would never have been possible had I not had this opportunity.
“I am so glad I went on this trip because I saw a totally new and different place and different world to what I am used to.
“It was incredibly exciting for all of us and we would all want to go again, and do absolutely nothing differently.”