EVERYONE loves a birthday, and when it comes to a 100th birthday the celebrations are all the greater.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Brownie Guides. Brownies all over the country are taking on different challenges throughout the year, and will gain very special badges and awards for this.
The 1st Westbury Brownies are working towards the Big Brownie Birthday Service to the Community badge. One of the tasks they recently undertook and fulfilled was to give the Mayor’s Chair a good old clean and polish, as well as the banisters at the Laverton Hall which of course get very dirty and dusty with all the use they get.
The Mayor of Westbury, Dave Windess said, “I was very pleased with the result of all the polishing – in fact I was rather worried that I might slide off the chair at the next meeting as it had been so well polished!”
Over the last few weeks the Brownies have had several interesting talks and tasks. For example they had a talk about Lady Baden-Powell and how the Brownies came to be founded. They were also shown some of the old Brownie uniforms and even had a chance to try some of them on. The unanimous decision however was that the modern uniform is far more practical and comfortable to wear.
One of the challenges they are hoping to complete in the next few weeks is to go on a train ride, and of course the culmination of the challenges will be the Big Brownie Birthday Party in July. It is understood that a very special mosaic is being made for this.
Sara Button, the Brownie leader, is also hoping to set up an exhibition in the history centre in June, showing how the Brownies have developed over the years. She would be very grateful if anyone who used to be a Brownie would contact her, and if they have any old photos or other exhibits she would love to see them. Sara’s email address is: saz284@hotmail.co.uk