1st Chellaston Guides Report 2024
We continue to flourish with 32 Guides and a waiting list. We are fortunate in having 3 committed leaders and excellent support from parents. This year we said goodbye to Alex who has been a leader with us for ten years and who leaves us to spend more time with her family and pursue her career. We welcomed Jo back from maternity leave in January 2025, and have enjoyed watching her family grow.
Activities this year have included exploring Chellaston in the dark, a Murder Mystery, and lots of crafts and cooking, including caterpillar cakes and mocktail making. We learnt about our rights and responsibilities. We adopted a planter and by growing our own insect- and bee-friendly flowers contributed to Chellaston in Bloom’s silver-gilt award. We held our usual Christmas and Easter parties organised by the Guides and a BBQ in the summer. We spent an evening designing a new Guide uniform. We celebrated Halloween and Bonfire night, Mother’s Day with high tea for our Mothers, Pancake Day and held our own Olympic Games. This year’s Skills Builders gained included a demanding First Aid course.
Trips out, sometimes held jointly with the Rangers and other local units, have included Thinking Day at the Junior School, with activities from around the world, and a very creative Christmas Craft Day in Sinfin. We enjoyed two visits to Roller World, in January and again in December for this year’s County Party. In the summer we tried snow tubing and tobogganing at Swadlincote. We spent a summer evening getting to know the residents at Bluebell Park Care Home with homemade cakes, a quiz and some singing. We joined the Brownies and led their meeting with some Christmas activities. We returned to camp at Oaks in Charnwood, a familiar site, with Guides from Shelton Lock. We learnt camping skills and enjoyed some challenging activities, including archery, orienteering, Forest School and the Jungle Trail.
We again contributed to the Rotary Club’s Shoebox Appeal, sending several boxes of gifts to children in Eastern Europe, and sold sweets at the Chellaston Pantomime, learning useful marketing skills and making a small profit.
We took part as usual in the Remembrance Day service, with Eleanor carrying the flag and Ruby reading the lesson. The Brownies presented a wreath on behalf of all the Girlguiding groups. The Uniformed Organisations’ Carol Service took place in December as usual and was well attended by most of the Chellaston units and many parents, with each unit contributing to the event. This year we again supported Susanna Wesley House, collecting toiletries and sweets for male refugees in Derby, which were very gratefully received.
Thank you to all parents who continue to support us loyally, by providing lifts and other material support, and by always being there for the girls. We are proud of the Guides for their enthusiasm, and their willingness to work together and share. The leaders find that leading a Guide group is always rewarding and always look forward to seeing them grow and develop.
We are always on the lookout for fresh ideas and experiences for the Guides. If there is anything you can suggest or offer, please let us know. If you know of anyone who would like to take part in the opportunities offered in Guiding, either as a Guide or a Leader, please encourage them.
Jo, Hannah & Alison