A trip to the archive: our extension section
Today, making Girlguiding a home for all girls is at the heart of everything we do. But this is nothing new. We’ve welcomed disabled girls since guiding began – making us pioneers of the time...
In this latest article in our series looking at Girlguiding’s history and pioneering stories, we explore our extension section. Do you have a pioneering story from our history you’d like to share? Get in touch via the form at the end of the article.
Let’s take a trip back to the early 20th century.
Life could be tough and sometimes limited for disabled girls. They were often isolated from others and lived in a hospital, institution or stayed at home. Most had no formal education. Any they did get often focused on training for low-skilled work rather than academic subjects. But most people thought they would never find a job.
Society could be a harsh place for disabled children. But Girlguiding was different. We embraced disabled girls in guiding from our movement’s very beginning.
‘The aim of the extension section has always been to help the [disabled] girl take her rightful place amongst those of her own age.’
Extension section: Guiding for [disabled girls] leaflet, 1955
Launching the extension section
The first company of D/deaf and nonverbal Guides was formed at Royal Cross School in Preston in 1910, around the same time the Girl Guides movement began. In the very early days, we were known as the Girl Guides, before becoming The Guide Association in 1915. Over the next decade and into the 1920s, units for disabled girls grew throughout the country.
In 1919, these units officially became Girlguiding’s ‘extension’ section. The name came from the section ‘extending’ guiding into institutions and to girls most other units didn’t reach.
Today our thinking about disability has moved on, and we don’t have a separate Girlguiding section for disabled girls. We focus instead on making sure all parts of guiding are accessible to everyone, and on making all units a home for all girls.
However, over 100 years ago, creating units where disabled girls could learn skills, have fun and build confidence, no matter what their needs, was nothing short of groundbreaking.
A note on language
Over Girlguiding’s history a lot has been written about the different parts of the extension section, including guidance and support for leaders, extension section handbooks, committee meeting minutes and more. Many of these contain descriptions of disabled people that we no longer use because they are harmful and discriminatory.
We haven’t used any of this original language in this article, and instead have replaced terms with updated wording in between brackets. [Here is an example].
As society’s attitudes towards disabled people have evolved, so too has language, and it’s very important that we choose our language carefully so that Girlguiding can be a place where everyone is welcome, is free to be themselves, and has an equal sense of belonging.
Extension units everywhere
By 1924 there were 229 Guide units and 59 Brownie units in hospitals where girls stayed for long periods of time, orphanages, schools for blind and visually impaired children, D/deaf children and those with learning disabilities and other conditions, and many other institutions.
And what did girls in these units do? Throughout the history of the extension section, following the regular programme as closely as possible was strongly encouraged. Giving girls a sense of belonging and opportunities unavailable to them elsewhere was fundamental.
'Blind children can join in most of the activities of [a sighted person]… country dancing, for example, is a very popular activity as, once they have learned a dance, they can join in dances with sighted Guides.’
Extension section: Guiding for [disabled people] leaflet, 1955
‘She is encouraged to take as many of the Guide tests as her disability will allow. Some of the tests may have to be adapted to suit a girl’s particular capabilities, but they are not made easier and she is encouraged to attain a high standard,’ recommended a 1955 guide for leaders.
For example, girls in hospital units could learn Morse code using signalling buzzers to send messages from bed to bed. Or a Guide with a visual impairment could follow appropriately placed ground signs and arrows to track an object.
Girls could also take part in guiding in the specialist schools they attended. One of the first units like this was the 1st Wimbledon Company, which began in a home for young girls, Miss Maynard’s Home, in 1909. ‘It took the home by storm and everyone was enrolled including the Matron and Cook. Guiding was the one topic of conversation,’ said a source at the home.
Guiding by post
Disabled girls who stayed at home most of the time, or who were in hospitals or schools with no guiding units, could take part in guiding via ‘post’ units, where you’d get your activities delivered straight to you in the post!
The leader of each post unit would write a letter with activities like quizzes and puzzles for her Brownies, Guides or Rangers. She’d then send it to patrol leaders, who would do the challenges and add in their news, before sending the package through their whole patrol to do the same.
The last girl would send the letter back to the leader, who could track progress, and prepare the next letter for sending out. Where possible, local units were encouraged to ‘adopt’ any ‘post Guides’ living in their area and invite them along to visit occasional meetings and join in with outings. In 1928, The Guider magazine reported on post Guides for blind girls, where letters, competitions and stories were written in Braille letters.
Image of Post Guide from Guiding, August 1983, p46-47. She uses 2 walking sticks.
'More important... is the sense of comradeship, a live and vivid interest in what others are doing and thinking. Here Guiding can help enormously, for we can, and should, take part as far as possible in normal Guide activities, helping as well as being helped... We thus find that Guiding is one of the big forces that make for a normal outlook among us who cannot see...'
Jean Robinson (a blind leader), The Guider magazine, August 1929
Making camp possible for disabled girls
Camping and trips away from home are such a core part of Girlguiding, and this was no different for the extension section. ‘A camp can be a thrilling and never to be forgotten experience to all Extensions,’ said a 1930s guide to extension camps and holidays for leaders.
Health and safety was at the heart of guiding even back then, with detailed guidance published on running successful and safe camps for disabled girls, no matter what their access needs might be.
This included everything from making sure camps were held on firm ground with short grass to allow wheelchairs to move easily, to suggesting ‘adequate rest and early hours’ for post Guides who weren’t used to living in a crowd.
‘We are the [disabled] Brownies! And we are rather proud of it! And we don’t want to be pitied; we just want to be as much like [other] Brownies as is possible.’
Brown Owl, 17th Bournemouth West pack, 1926
Extension Camps and holidays leaflet, 1930s
Badges and awards
While girls in the extension section were encouraged to work towards regular guiding badges, some special badges were available to them.
Badges specifically for the extension section in 1934 included Ambulance, Collector, Gardener, Handicraft, Hostess, Language (for D/deaf girls), Observer, Sick Nurse, Sportswoman and Thrift. These initially had mauve stitching and later blue, rather than the green of regular badges. Uniforms had mauve cords, and before 1968, extension members also had a special mauve promise badge.
Throughout its history, girls in the extension section also had special awards including the Badge of Fortitude (formerly Nurse Cavell award), which could be given a young member who ‘behaved with great pluck when in pain, show endurance under return of suffering, that she has been cheerful... and has helped others through her behaviour and general outlook on life.’
A note on the mauve stitching on our old badges
As The Extension Section Book (1926) notes, badges with mauve stitches were given to girls who couldn’t complete the ‘ordinary’ badge syllabus. These girls were given alternative tests and a badge that looked different, setting them apart from other girls in guiding at the time.
In Girlguiding today, we follow the social model of disability and make adjustments to remove the barriers that disabled people can face. That means we adapt activities so that all girls can take part, and so that everyone can share the achievements, fun and adventure of our entire programme.
A note on the mauve stitching on our old badges
As The Extension Section Book (1926) notes, badges with mauve stitches were given to girls who couldn’t complete the ‘ordinary’ badge syllabus. These girls were given alternative tests and a badge that looked different, setting them apart from other girls in guiding at the time.
In Girlguiding today, we follow the social model of disability and make adjustments to remove the barriers that disabled people can face. That means we adapt activities so that all girls can take part, and so that everyone can share the achievements, fun and adventure of our entire programme.
Helping girls make a living
For disabled people in the 1920s and 1930s, finding work was difficult. Girlguiding’s Handcraft Depot was there to help. The Depot began as the Post Guide Handicraft Guild before being centralised in 1927, and it allowed extension section members with good crafting skills an outlet to sell items, giving them an income.
Members of the Extension Section often spent long periods practising and developing their craft skills, so they were able to produce work to a very high standard. Being talented needlewomen, toy makers, and leather workers, members produced a huge variety of items and even included repairs. A Handcraft Depot price list from 1950 includes leather gloves, ankle socks, woollen cardigans, and embroidered handkerchiefs.
The Depot operated for many decades until employment opportunities became better for disabled people and the numbers taking part dropped to single figures.
Extension Guides Handicraft leaflet, c1937. It features 3 owls, and more about Handicraft in an acrostic poem, where the first letter of every line spells 'Extension Handicrafts'
Allyship
Non-disabled Guides have long shown their support for and a desire to help disabled people. A great example of this is what became the Trefoil School.
A group of Guides from St Abbs in the Scottish Borders set up the school during the second world war to help around 20 physically disabled children aged 6-16 who had been evacuated from Edinburgh.
The Guides supported the children and taught them practical skills. A trained teacher was eventually appointed to support the Guides.
The Beginnings and Early History of the Trefoil School, edited by Mary A Crawford, sheds light on some of the things Trefoil School students got up to: ‘Was this the year that some Edinburgh Rangers took a select party to the top of the Black Hill, undeterred by the difficulty of mountaineering in calipers [leg braces to help mobility]? It certainly must have been this year that the first of our dramatic performances took place… None of the performers in ‘The Pied Piper’ will, I am sure, forget acting to two packed houses in the schoolroom on a day of scorching heat.’
By 1944, most of the children who had come to the school had gone back home, but the school remained open to support disabled children. In 1945 it was named the ‘Trefoil School’ to honour the Guides who started it and kept supporting it. A young HRH Princess Elizabeth officially opened the Trefoil School in September that year.
‘Princess Elizabeth, by so graciously sparing the time to come, had not only opened a school when she turned that remarkable key, but had opened a door of opportunity to [the] children[who went there].’
The Guider magazine, November 1945
Photo of Princess Elizabeth at opening of Trefoil School from The Guider, Nov 1945
Moving on
In 1978, we stopped using the name ‘extension section’ and by 1983, 4,000 of Girlguiding’s 6,500 disabled members were part of regular local units.
Today, we work hard to make every unit welcoming to all girls. We even have hospital units for children and young people, whether they are staying for a short time or have to spend longer in a hospital setting.
We’ve done a lot to make Girlguiding more inclusive, but there’s always more to be done. We’ll never forget that our journey began with the pioneering spirit of the extension section.
Photo of guides with their leader from Guiding, August 1983, p46-47. One of the girls is wearing a hearing device, with a wired microphone the leader is speaking into.
Help us unearth more history
We hope to cover more stories from our history in the future – and we need your help. We’re delving into our national archive and looking for real life stories from the members who helped us be pioneering. Is that you or someone you know? Get in touch using our online form.
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