The pioneering girls with a guiding light
For more than a century, the girl guiding movement has been part of British society. Laura Reid looks at its history.
TWO YEARS after 20 boys gathered together for an event that marked the birth of the scouts, a group of girls gatecrashed the first boy scout rally at Crystal Palace.
Their action to demand ‘‘something for the girls’’ in 1909 led to the beginnings of the girl guiding movement and the following year, the Girl Guides Association was formed under the presidency of Agnes BadenPowell, the sister of scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell.
In the early years, young women began developing skills in fields such as sailing, aviation and home electrics and when the First World War broke out in 1914, they contributed to the nationwide effort, growing food and working in hospitals, factories and soup kitchens.
In 1940, during the Second World War, members then raised more than £50,000 to support the contribution.
Today, girl guiding is made up of a range of different sections including Rainbows for those aged five to seven, Brownies for those aged seven to 10, Guides aged 10 to 14 and Rangers aged 14 to 18.
The former is the most recent addition, founded in 1987. Brownies meanwhile, originally called Rosebuds, was established in 1914 and a senior guide group, now known as Rangers, followed two years later.
More than 400,000 girls and young women meet regularly as part of girl guiding, the aim to give them opportunities to learn, thrive and give back to their communities.
Perhaps the most famous advocate of the cause is Her Majesty The Queen, who joined guiding aged 11 in 1937, before becoming a Patron in 1952.
Today, there are guides all over the globe; the UK Girlguiding charity is part of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, which has ten million members across 150 countries.