Monthly Musing – October 2023 – Our future ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Blogtober 2023 : Day 29

Every now and again, something happens that makes you see things differently.  You might think that I’m talking about the wars and the trouble in the world as that always affects our view, but I’m specifically thinking of something much closer to home.

We’ve been to an International Guiding celebration event this evening.  It was an event where all of the Guides and Rangers in the North West of England who have been abroad on expeditions and adventures this year got together to celebrate what they have seen and learnt.  Not so small daughter was there because of her trip to Japan earlier this year, and she was delighted to meet up with friends who had been to Madagascar, Canada, Korea and Romania – and we were astounded to see how many young women from around the North West who had travelled over the year were in one room.

The celebration involved watching presentations from each of the teams who had travelled, and I was struck by how joyfully each of the groups talked about their trips and the friends that they’d made within the groups, often only meeting each other once or twice before they set off across the world.  You could see the affection they had for each other, and not just through the stories they had to tell and the photos which made memories for us to share, but for them to treasure forever.  Something about their trips will have changed each one of them for the better, and that is something very special.

Most of all, I was proud to see these girls – our future – on the stage, encouraged to travel and discover by an organisation that most people have no idea provides the support that it does to our young women.  Yes, some of these girls may well become politicians, ambassadors, film-makers, women who have an influential voice, but others will choose to stay in the background, maybe within Guiding and maybe not, changed forever by their experiences and through that alone, bringing something different to their lives and the lives of others.

We don’t have to travel abroad to see how Guiding can shape young lives.  Each of the leaders who either went on the trips or were involved in the organisation, the fundraising, the encouragement and the friendship don’t offer that just to girls going abroad – these are volunteers whose desire to empower girls from the youngest Rainbows to the older Rangers takes them out of the house every week to church halls, community centres and meeting spaces to spend time with them, and they are part of a network of women who have been supporting girls in this way for generations.

Thank you.  To every one of you who is or has been part of the Guiding movement and who has been part of shaping an organisation that led to an evening in Bolton, listening to girls who have travelled beyond their wildest dreams.  You do an amazing job.