ATC - July 18 - By the Right of my Brownie Wings!

Yesterday I was trying to tidy up the living room which in recent days had seen a lot of 'crafty type' projects going on.
I had been meaning to get to that large shoebox of photos and go through them.
Which I did.
And guess what I found?
2 shots of me, one as a Brownie the night of my Flying Up ceremony (1964) and the other of me as a Land Ranger cutting my Bon Voyage cake, as I was leaving soon to go to Europe for the Summer (1967) singing with the Elgar Choir of BC.
So when Ms D's ATC was opened for today

I just had to respond with something 'girl guidey' in kind.

I really had not expected it to take me all day to do it nor to be this complex!

However once I got into it, it just grew 'like topsy'. (kindly click on it to enlarge it)

So here t'is, a brief foray into my Girl Guiding History.
It is laid out  'camp blanket style' and done in a sort of backward S curve - just follow it around.

* Brown ribbons: The Challenge and Response:
By what right etc are on two brown ribbons, representing my sixer stripes or leader for my Brownie 'six'  - the Gnomes (here we are the helpful gnomes, helping mother in our homes)
Blech! not likely. I really really wanted to be a Sprite: Brave and Helpful Like a Knight!.
Below the Brownie saluting photo is my
* Brownie pin.
* Gnome badge (no, that black thing being waved about is not some sort of weapon, but a broom)
* Brownie Singer's Badge (even then my Guiding Career was set (g),
* Golden Hand, (one of the requirements to getting your Wings)
 *Brownie Wings! which allowed me to 'Fly Up' to Guides
If you look closely on the left hand side of the photo, at my waist, is a white dangley blob.
That my dear readers is a white pearl handled jack-knife!
All of us were given one along with a Genuine Girl Guide Whistle (from England!)
I don't think giving a jack-knife to a 12 year old would be allowed now!
(Funny how times have changed - . I still have them by the way - They are among my most prized possessions.)

On to Guides:
* Guide Oriole Troop Badge
* Holly Troop (note different colour - I was a Holly in Boarding School and their badges came from England)

: Interesting Significance: Holly seems to have always been part of my Guiding History; my Sister Adult Trainer and Co Pathfinder Leader's name is Holly and if you hunt back to February 2010 posts, you can read all about her.
Guide Singer's Badge
(there are no pictures of me as a Guide as I ripped them all up. I had terrible acne as a teen and there was no way I was going to have those photos stay in my mother's photo album)

In 1966 I was invited to help form a Seniors Guide Group, soon to be known as Land Rangers.
* Red Land Ranger's Pin (when we formed our group, we chose Land Rangers as we thought the 'wedge' hats were pretty cool and there was NO WAY we were going to wear those silly Sea Ranger sailor's hats!)

 * an 18 year hiatus now ensues *

I became an Adult Guider and Trainer:
* Green Adult Pathfinder Guider pin
* First International Camp with our Pathfinder group: SOAR 2001 - Trail BC (aka SILT for the mud and dust)
*My SOARVIVOR shirt showing my subcamp: Porcupine Creek Mine. (we were all divided into sub-camps with 'cute' mine names)
* Second International Camp (Overseas): Arden, Warwickshire UK 2002: red polo shirt badge - Staff member

The two 'neckers' which lie underneath all that paraphenalia (aka neckerchiefs):
* Yellow necker: for my Girl Guide tie (take the brownie tie in photo and make it yellow, same windsor knot)
* Maple Leaf International Scarf which we were allowed to wear Only when overseas in uniform and not to be worn when you came home.
(I gave mine to a Sister UK Guide who in turn gave me hers :D )

Blessings to all my Sisters in Guiding/Scouting (that's you Ms D!)  past and present!