100 Years of Guiding

On Sunday 21st February a special parade service was held at St. John's to celebrate 100 years of guiding.

2010 marks the Centenary of Guiding. Each year members of the movement meet to renew their promise on or near Thinking Day which is celebrated on February 22nd, the birthday of the founder, Robert Baden-Powell and his wife Olave.

Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers and Guiders all renewed their promise during the service.

The Promise is:
I promise that I will do my best:
To love my God,
To serve the Queen and my country,
To help other people
and
To keep the (Brownie) Guide Law.

The Rainbow Guide Promise is:
I promise that I will do my best to love my God and to be kind and helpful.

Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers from St John’s invited other units from Birkdale District to join them for a District parade at our service. There were Rainbows and Brownies from Birkdale United Reformed Church and Brownies from Liverpool Road Methodist church, as well as friends who have supported Guiding in Birkdale and members of the Trefoil Guild and Friends of Guiding.

The focus of the service was "promises" - the promise God made to his people and the promises we make to him and each other. Rainbows, Brownies and Guides participated. In addition one of the guides spoke very movingly about what Guiding meant to her.

A retiring collection was taken which, together with donations and the proceeds of coffee and the Guides’ cake stall, enabled us to send £150 to the Global Girls’ Fund, which is the Centenary Appeal of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

To find out more about Guiding
http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/about/guiding

To find out more about Guiding in the UK
http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/home.aspx

To find out more about the Global Girls’ Fund
http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/support_us/globalgirlsfund

Thank you to Sheila and Rachel for information and a photo and to Joyce for dicretely taking photos during the service.