Happy New Year Everyone! I know this is a bit late, but we’ve been really busy making last minute adjustments to our new building; it is now almost ready for occupation and we are hoping to move in at the end of the month! Nora’s Blog gives you an update and there are pictures on the Flickr site. It will be really exciting to have our own headquarters; the building will provide state of the art offices so that staff can respond to all your requests and keep the business of the Region going. There will also be two big meeting rooms so that we can get together for meetings and trainings, and there will be a depot providing Girlguiding UK and North West England merchandise for everyone’s needs.
The interior decoration reflects the intricate Siberian larch framework on the outside. Unfortunately, it is whilst we were finalising this that we heard the sad news that Muriel Cunningham had died. Many of you will remember Muriel as one of the founders of the links between our Region and guiding in Siberia; she was often to be seen with her stall of Russian delights, urging us to buy things to help support Siberia’s emerging guiding movement, and no one was more proud than her when the Siberian Association gained full WAGGGS membership. Muriel worked unstintingly for all the areas of guiding where she was associated and will be sadly missed by her friends across North West England and particularly in her guiding County of Stockport.
I do hope you have all completed the Promise Consultation online. As a member of the Executive, I realise that I shall be contributing to a major decision about our future when I take part in the review of the words which form the heart of our organisation. It will help immensely if I know that lots of you have responded with your thoughts and those of your girls.
This month we shall say ‘goodbye’ to Jo Barclay from our Region Office. Jo has made an outstanding contribution to the growth of the Region and its identity. All those flyers, badges and challenges which have our distinctive look were designed by her and she had a real flair for promoting our work with partners and members across the North West. Jo is going to develop her career in London and we wish her every success.
Julie Bentley, our new Chief Executive, is visiting the Region Office soon to find out how we support guiding across the Region. Caroline and I will be telling her about all of the day to day activities we carry out to ensure quality guiding throughout North West England. We shall show her our challenges and reports of our events, but most importantly we shall tell her how successfully our volunteers deliver the highest quality programmes to ensure that all our girls and young women have a fantastic time, and how this means our numbers are growing and have been for the past two years!
Thanks everyone – let’s make 2013 just as good!
Sue Lomas



challenge, but once on my way across the Manchester Ship Canal on a zip wire, it really was like flying! The worst part, to be honest, was having to step onto the weighing scales in front of everyone in the kitting up area so that they could fit you with the right sized equipment! Many congratulations to everyone who successfully completed the Region Zip Wire Challenge – I think everyone enjoyed themselves in spite of the weather. Thanks to Sarah Barnes and her team, and the Region Office staff for their efficient organisation of the day. We received excellent TV, radio and newspaper coverage and found a new Ambassador for Girlguiding North West England in the process.