Any Girlguiding member can tell you that 22 February is Thinking Day. It was the first Chief Guide’s birthday.
Today, over 2,000 Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers along with volunteers all took part on line. Girls in Girlguiding are expected to discuss what it means to them to be part of guiding, speak out about important issues and learn about others. Thinking Day has been celebrated since 1926 with over 10 million girls in both Girl Guide and Girl Scout groups all over the world taking part.
Girlguiding members from Scotland took part in virtual activities all concentrated on the themes of International Adventure, Skills for My Future and #IBelong. The day was packed with arts and crafts on the #IBelong theme, including an activity to spell out ‘IBelong’ in items from around the home.
The Kilted Chef led a cook-a-long. There was laughter yoga and a CSI-style forensic science workshop. Upcycling and Bollywood dancing also featured
Rhiyanna, a Guide, aged 14, said: “My favourite activity of the day was the #IBelong activity because Guides is the one place I do feel I belong. My autism and other special needs mean it is difficult for me to fit in, but not in Guides, its awesome. I liked using different things to make up the word.”
Nicole and Amber, age 10 and age 8, from the 20th East Kilbride Guides and 20th East Kilbride Brownies, said: “Thank you Girlguiding Scotland for an amazing day! Our favourite thing was all the arts and crafts sessions, especially the upcycling one, we are going to use our creations as pencil pots! We also loved the sock challenge, we had great fun doing that.”
Moira McKenna, Girlguiding Scotland’s Chief Guide, said: “Girlguiding is for every girl and it’s been absolutely fantastic to get together virtually with thousands of guiding members across Scotland, the UK and the world to celebrate World Thinking Day – a very special time in the guiding calendar. This Thinking Day we’re proud to celebrate our global guiding community and our resilience throughout the Coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to our dedicated volunteers we’re seeing guiding be delivered in new and innovative ways and it’s inspiring to hear just how much guiding means to our young members.”
In 1926, delegates from guide and girl scout organisations across the world met in the USA for the 4th world conference. They decided to create a day for Guides and Girl Scouts to celebrate being part of an international movement. Delegates chose to hold the first celebration on the joint birthday of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout and Guide movement, and his wife Olave, who served as World Chief Guide. And so Thinking Day was born.
https://www.girlguidingscotland.org.uk/
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
