Standing strong
Throughout history, and across the world, Girlguiding has played a pivotal role in responding to all kinds of crisis. Here’s how our amazing members have lived our values of caring and inspiring – and continue to do so right now
1914-1918
The Girlguiding movement was just four years old when the First World War broke out in 1914. But girls were soon supporting the war effort in many different ways – including working undercover for MI5. Some 90 Guides were recruited to the security service between 1914 and 1918, mainly acting as messengers, including passing on highly classified information verbally. A secret MI5 document from the time reveals: ‘A messenger should be between the ages of 14 and 16, a Guide of good standing, quick, cheerful and willing. The initial rate of pay is ten shillings a week [50p] with dinner and tea included.’
1918-1920
The global Spanish flu pandemic affected an estimated 500 million people – a third of the world’s population at the time. In the US, the city of Washington DC was particularly badly hit – and local Girl Scouts were soon doing their bit, establishing an ‘influenza diet kitchen’ in a high school to feed the sick. Girls at the time could earn an Invalid Cook badge, mastering the art of making basic but nourishing foods such as soups, broths and custards, and put their skills to good use feeding thousands of people in need.
1939-1945
Brownies and Guides made a huge, varied and vital contribution to the Second World War. Janie Hampton, author of How the Girl Guides Won the War, reveals one of the many fascinating examples: ‘In 1941, Brownies collected 15,000 empty cotton reels ‘for a secret RAF job’. Recently declassified files show that the cotton reels were for MI9, the War Office department set up to help prisoners-of-war escape. Tightly rolled silk maps of Europe, microfilm of contacts and paper German money were carefully inserted inside the reels, which were then sent by MI9 in parcels of games and equipment to prisoners-of-war. We shall probably never know how many of these cotton reels helped prisoners of war escape.’
1940s-1950s
When the Second World War ended, hundreds of thousands of people had been forced from their homes and were residing in displaced persons camps in Europe. Brownies in the UK sent equipment and gifts to fellow Brownies who were living in these camps. Within the camps themselves, Guides and Scouts were very active, providing essential services such as delivering post. Later, in 1954, Guides and Brownies even raised money to invite two Latvian girls from the camps for a holiday.
1980s
Girlguiding’s contributions extend far beyond the World Wars. The organisation has been instrumental in tackling the issues affecting children in need around the world. In 1985 – The United Nations International Year of Youth – Guides were involved in a UNICEF care project to help provide immunisation for children in Sri Lanka. Rangers and Venture Scouts also visited the country to build wells and toilet blocks. That same year, Brownies sold tea at 10p per cup – the cost of a meal for a child in a developing nation – to raise £179,000 for Save the Children. In 1988, Guides raised funds to help control polio and other diseases.
1990s-2010s
In 1997, the Soufrière Hills volcano erupted in Montserrat, causing devastating damage to homes and businesses. One of the buildings destroyed in the blast was the country’s Guide headquarters, which had only been open for a few years. The Guides and Brownies of North East England raised money to help rebuild it, and thanks to their efforts, a new HQ was officially opened in 2015. Elsewhere, when Joanie Yestin’s home was destroyed in the Haiti earthquake, she managed to salvage one precious item: her Girl Guide uniform. Despite losing her father in the disaster, which left an estimated 1.5 million Haitians homeless, Joanie was soon contributing to the relief effort. Along with her fellow Guides and Scouts in Léogane, many of whom had also lost homes and family members, she volunteered her services to the humanitarian group CARE, distributing essentials such as mattresses, blankets and hygiene supplies, and offering much-needed emotional support to those affected by the disaster.
2019
Girl Guides all over Australia – and the world – contributed towards the relief effort in the wake of last summer’s devastating bushfires, raising money, collecting and packing essential supplies for those in need, and sewing pouches, wraps and mittens for injured animals. Guiding properties were used as refuges for people evacuated from fire zones – and for animals: Girl Guides South Australia offered its Douglas Scrub Campsite near Adelaide as a sanctuary for koalas rescued from the bushfires. The first two, Timmy and Victor, were released in January, with more due to join them soon.
2020
In the months since the UK – and much of the world – went into lockdown due to coronavirus, volunteers have been supporting their local communities, the NHS and key workers in a whole host of generous and innovative ways, from sewing scrubs to shopping for vulnerable people in isolation. Amy Widdowson, of 25th Colchester Guides in Essex, decided she wanted to mark her birthday in April by cheering up neighbours who were feeling lonely and missing loved ones. She used her birthday money to buy sunflower seeds, and walked around on her daily exercise route delivering envelopes of them to local streets. She delivered to more than 1,000 people in total, many of whom have promised to plant them in their front gardens to help brighten up the village.
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