I have just finished packing away the Christmas decorations and putting them back in the loft.  Each year we vow to sort out the ever-increasing range of baubles, tinsel and festive figures, but each year they all get bundled back in with a few additions and a promise to sort them next year!  So much of what we do as a family at Christmas is based on tradition -  the turkey for Christmas dinner, the nativity scene made by my daughter’s childminder (she’s 25!); her stocking at the end of the bed.  Traditions make us feel safe, remind us of happy times past and are easily recognised by all who take part, but they can also make us inflexible and leave no room for new ideas and can be irrelevant to the younger people involved. 

We must be careful that traditions that have grown up in our guiding, whether in units or at district, division or county level, aren’t outstaying their welcome and are perceived as ‘old-fashioned’ by girls and young women who are joining as new members.  In a world where time is such a precious commodity, we must be careful to provide activities and run meetings that are relevant to the participants and provide the best use of our time to promote exciting and fulfilling programmes for our young members. 

This year should see the replacement of our beautiful, old headquarters by a brand new fit-for-purpose building in Preston East.  The Region Team will continue to support counties and their leaders with relevant training and events that showcase our strengths and share our good ideas.  We will develop our working with outside partners to enable their professional expertise to support and promote the work we do – I think you will be delighted with some of the things we have planned.

The best news of the New Year so far, is that we have increased our membership by more than 6% over the past twelve months.  Thank you for all you are doing to make sure that Go! reflects our true membership and let’s hope the figures on 22nd February reveal an even greater increase.

In a year which is expected to be a difficult one financially, I am more than convinced that the fun and friendship we provide every week through our range of activities and events give real value for money and will remain popular with girls of all ages.

I hope your year starts well, wherever you are guiding in North West England.

Best wishes

Sue Lomas

Well, what a day!  Way back in January, on a chilly, rainy day the Executive approved the idea of an event to celebrate our Ruby anniversary at Blackpool Pleasure Beach; and on a chilly, rainy day in October we celebrated!!  But weather didn’t daunt us – everywhere I looked the 9,000 members who attended on the day were laughing and screaming with excitement, and that included the leaders and the Trefoil Guild.  The Ice Show, especially produced for us by Amanda Thompson, was a fabulous event which the skaters performed as enthusiastically the sixth time as they did the first!  And who would have thought a road tunnel could have looked just like a disco?  The dance workshop leaders, especially Anthony Johns, were amazing and hopefully, the decision about the World Record will be through soon.  My thanks go to Dawn Neary and her team and Caroline Starkey and all the Region Office staff as well as everyone at the Pleasure Beach, particularly Alison Paterson, who made such an effort to provide us with a unique experience.  But especially I want to thank all the leaders who gave up their Saturday to give our girls and young women such a fantastic day – one which they could only do because they are guides.  It was wonderful to see our flag flying all day over the Park too and to receive so many positive comments from members of the public. 

The day finished with an amazing event at the Sandcastle Water Park for over 300 Senior Section members.  They had exclusive use of the pool and were treated to ghost stories before sleeping on the terraces above the pool.  Many thanks to Jane Kelly and Chris Champion and their teams for making it a memorable event for our young women. 

Sometimes we are concerned that the press and the media don’t pick up our stories and help to promote us.  I think this sort of event, where we are working with partners and have a high profile in the community provide us with just as much important PR.  That is why I have spent a few days recently, attending events that will promote what we do to people outside our organisation – small businesses in the North West, other uniformed organisations and the Lord Lieutenancy, to name a few.  Don’t forget that any positive conversation you have with people outside Girlguiding means they then have information that they can pass on in other circles.  Word of mouth is a very important way to spread our good news!

Sue Lomas

The summer is often the time when we choose to hold big events at District, Division or County level, to bring together girls and leaders so that they can be part of the bigger experience that is Girlguiding UK. I too managed to visit several big events this summer and met a huge number of members not only from Girlguiding UK but also from our sister organisations all over the world.

I was privileged to attend the Commonwealth Chief Commissioners’ Conference, held at Waddow in July. Lead volunteers from over 30 countries in the Commonwealth came together to discuss the issues and challenges that their organisations face and share their ideas for the future. Sue Taylor, County Commissioner for Cheshire Border co-ordinated the event superbly and with the help of volunteers from the local county, Lancashire East, the Commissioners were able to spend one evening visiting units in their meeting places. Another highlight of the conference was the visit of HRH the Countess of Wessex who joined in with some of the activities and stayed for afternoon tea.

We were able to hold our Region Executive Committee meeting at Waddow on the Saturday of the conference and our County Commissioners were able to meet leaders from across the world as well as the new Chief Guide, Gill Slocombe, who was attending the conference.

Immediately following the Commonwealth Chief Commissioners’ Conference, everyone boarded a coach and set off for Edinburgh to attend the World Conference of the World Association of Girl Guide and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). I was lucky enough to attend the opening ceremony which was held at the Edinburgh Indoor Climbing Centre and included an address by Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond. Girls from all over danced and sang and climbed to create a lively event and not being one to miss an opportunity, I followed in their footsteps.

One of the reasons I love this role is because of the huge variety of opportunities it gives me to meet a whole range of volunteers, girls and young women in a wide range of interesting places. A snapshot of my life goes something like this:

SUNDAY – Two Queen’s Guides from Sefton invited me to their presentation at Scarisbrick Campsite near Southport. Leaders and other adults who had supported them through the Award together with a group of proud parents and other family members listened to the range of activities and challenges they had completed to achieve this prestigious award. Then we all had tea prepared by the Queen’s Guides’ Ranger Unit. Yummy!

MONDAY – Called into the Region Office to check that all is going well with our preparations for various Region events. Our GOLD trip to Morocco is leaving shortly and there are a few last minute arrangements to be made with the International Advisers Michelle and Sue. Some cheques need signing for expenses to be paid and there are long service awards to be signed. I check my diary with Caroline, the Region Manager and we finalise the agenda for the Guiding Development Meeting.

Monday evening is a beautiful sunny one and I thoroughly enjoy the scenery on my drive to meet the County Commissioner for Cumbria North at a motorway service station on the M6! Cheryl and I discuss the priorities she has for taking the county forward and we have some of the best fish and chips I have ever tasted!

TUESDAY – First stop is my local country park. My own District are holding an event to unveil a carved heron that they commissioned for the Centenary (they knew they were a bit late!). It also provides me with an opportunity to present Barbara Smith with a Region Chief Commissioner’s Award. Barbara has been my mentor in guiding since I came to the North West 30 years ago and I was delighted to take her by surprise with this award for all her hard work and support for guiding in Warrington. Then it’s hot-foot to Greater Manchester West’s Annual Review to present the long service awards. I am always so impressed to hear about the huge number and range of events our volunteers arrange for our girls and being able to thank so many volunteers personally is really important to me. This is followed by a superb buffet. (Can you see a theme developing here?)

WEDNESDAY – It’s the early train to London for our National Executive meeting followed on

THURSDAY – by a meeting of the Country and Region Chief Commissioners who discuss ways that we can make operating the policy and strategy of Girlguiding UK work for volunteers at all levels. A late train delivers me home where my husband has my tea waiting!

FRIDAY – Time for some work on the day job, visiting a Secure Children’s Home on the other side of the Pennines. Back in time to visit a guide unit in Preston to hear three girls make their Promise. Under Rachel’s guidance this unit has grown so much that it has had to split into two and meet on two separate nights. A group of leaders support the meetings on whichever night they can attend. This is flexible guiding in action. When asked what they thought the best thing about guiding is, the first answer was ‘there aren’t any boys’!! Our girl-only space works for so many of our members.

SATURDAY – It’s the Guiding Development meeting. This is the group, under Jacky’s guidance, that discusses everything to do with what happens in a unit on a particular night. How well are the leaders trained? Is the programme fun and challenging? What events should we put on? What qualifications can we help adults to gain? It’s a key meeting that gives us the chance to share good ideas from counties across the Region.

Not every week is as busy as this, of course, but it gives you a flavour of the sort of variety of work this role entails and I’m really enjoying it!

Keep checking for my next instalment which links a school in India, royalty, abseiling and of course, food!!

Sue Lomas

Well, what an exciting weekend! I have just returned from London where we celebrated the end of Liz Burnley’s term of office and inaugurated the new Chief Guide, Gill Slocombe.

Liz chose to have a ‘pub quiz’ evening with current and past members of Council and the Executive to raise money for a Motor Neurone Disease charity. The event took place at CHQ and we even had beer mats with Liz’s picture on them! There were rounds on events during Liz’s term of office and one called ‘What the Brownies think of the Chief Guide’. Some Brownies thought that Liz lived in a sort of castle, that the term of office of a Chief Guide was about 86 years and that her favourite food was jerk chicken or pizza. In a team that had several North West members, I am pleased to tell you that we won the quiz and I am now the proud owner of a red and sparkly Rainbow purse!

At the beginning of May I had my own exciting trip to Japan. My daughter lives out there and we travelled out to see her for a couple of weeks. I am always fascinated by the completely different cultural experience of Japan, even though this was my fifth visit. We travelled up to the northern island of Hokkaido for a few days this time, which was cold and rainy, but we saw no sign of the recent tragedy. The Japanese in their own way have begun the rebuilding of their lives and towns and are just getting on with it.

Anne Holt and I have been busy visiting county celebrations and annual events. It is always so interesting to find out what everyone has been doing in the Region and I am always amazed by the range of events and activities leaders manage to provide for the girls. You can see how much they enjoy them from the happy faces that smile out of the screen!

I hope you have all heard about the Ruby Celebration event we are holding on October 8th in Blackpool. We have arranged a special day that is only available to Girlguiding North West England members and besides having an hour to ourselves in the Pleasure Beach, we will also be watching a special ice show and participating in dance workshops. An event not to be missed – further details are available at http://www.girlguidingnwe.org.uk/blackpool.php

I hope everyone has an exciting programme planned for the summer. Hopefully the weather will be good enough to get outdoors and take part in new and adventurous activities – and don’t forget to do the Ruby Challenge

http://www.girlguidingnwe.org.uk/docs/NWE_ruby_outdoor_challenge.pdf

Have a great summer everyone and I’ll see you in Blackpool.

Sue Lomas

When I agreed to take on the role, I didn’t realise that it would involve so many varied and enjoyable activities – but it’s not without its challenges either.

I suppose the most exciting event that I have been involved with recently has been the election of the new Chief Guide. I chose to second Gill Slocombe as a candidate for the post and as you will probably know, she was successfully voted into the role in February. I will be sorry to say ‘goodbye’ to Liz Burnley as our Chief Guide in May – she has been an exceptional leader in the period of preparation for the Centenary and during our celebration year. However, Gill brings a different set of experiences and skills to the job, so I am looking forward to working with her too.

Last weekend a team of trainers from the Region put on two Commissioner Conferences in Preston and in Lowton, near Leigh. More than 180 Commissioners attended the two days and they spent their time in sessions to support them in their roles. Commissioners are key people in our structure. They are the local team leaders who ensure that new leaders are made welcome and that established leaders are supported to give our girls and young women a fantastic time!

Our next big event is ‘Forward Focus’ at Waddow. This is an event for young members from across the Region to get together to discuss how they might get more involved in the management and leadership of Girlguiding in North West England and in their counties. (If you are aged 16-26 and fancy joining us, please see the advert elsewhere on this website).

The closing date for our Region Arts Day is fast approaching, so if you haven’t booked your place yet and want to come, please contact the Region Office as soon as possible.

You may be aware that this year is our Region’s 40th birthday! We hope that you have seen our new Ruby Challenge on the website. This is open to everyone so please do get involved. We also hope to see you at our Ruby Celebrations in October – keep your eye on the website for more details which will be coming soon.

The new team at the Region Office will ensure that this new website is kept up to date. We want to offer lots of new opportunities and resources to our members to help make their jobs easier, so keep checking back to see what’s new.

Have a great time in your guiding wherever you are and if you’re one of our volunteers, thanks for everything you do for Girlguiding North West England.

Sue Lomas