Senior Section members from Gloucestershire took part in a fantastic weekend trip to Alton Towers with Girlguiding South West England region! They had the chance to make new friends with other members from across our Region and celebrated the Senior Section Spectacularin style! They arrived on Saturday and pitched their tents, before taking over the water park in the evening. Sunday was then spent in the theme park, having an amazing time on all the rides. The first members of Coopers Hill Senior Section has an extra memorable day, making their Promise on Oblivion! Gloucestershire's Senior Section Spectacular mascot, Suki, also had an exciting day exploring the park and managed to get her photo taken in lots of interesting places! A big thank you to Girlguiding SWE and the brilliant team at Youth Fundays for organising such a great weekend for us.

Watch the official Girlguiding SWE video here:

In October 2016, a group of Girlguiding Leaders from Gloucestershire are going to India.   We are visiting Sangam to join the celebrations for their 50th birthday.
 
Since 1966, Sangam World Centre has partnered with a variety of non-governmental organizations striving to better the lives of people in Pune. Today, Sangam is affiliated with more than twenty such NGOs, which work in a number of fields: medicine, education, environmental sustainability, women’s empowerment, and more.

During events, participants visit Sangam’s Community Partners, and are given the chance to witness community leadership and advocacy in action, while participating in dialogue with the partner organizations and the children, women, and men they assist. These connections often result in partnerships between event participants and Community Partners, helping to build the capacity of these organizations.  Our group is supporting Tara Mobile Crèche, you can help by buying our badge. Cost £1.50 per badge. Contact Judith James for details.

Tara Mobile Crèche
The construction industry is the second largest employer in the country, but the workers who toil ceaselessly to build modern India are virtually invisible.
They work long hours and have no access to proper housing, sanitation, electricity or even water. While the parents change the skyline of the cities, the children are left to fend for themselves amidst piles of rubble and construction material. By the time they are five or six, they are burdened with a whole range of demanding chores including looking after their younger siblings. They have no access to schooling, health care and above all to a childhood. It is this invisible child of invisible parents whom Mobile Crèches reaches out to with these goals:
• To provide a safe environment on the hazardous construction sites, for children between the ages of 0 to 15
• To provide preventive and curative health care and nutrition
• To encourage the children’s creative skills
• To initiate the children into the mainstream of education and give them joyful learning opportunities
• To prevent child labour.
 
Mobile Crèches came into being on a crowded construction site in Delhi in 1969. Growing from that one original location, the organization today covers 5,000 children in 60 centres in Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune. At each site, a day care centre is built adjacent to the construction site amidst the tin shacks that house the workers and their families. The education curriculum is aimed not only at literacy but also on orienting the child towards basic health habits. Language and concepts are developed through various monthly projects, storytelling, dramatics and games. The childcare workers are health care workers, teachers, animators, friends and substitutes for mothers all rolled into one.

A group of Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Senior Section and Leaders had an early start on Sunday 12th June setting off from Forest South Division at 6am to head down to London for The Queen's Patron's Lunch. Ten of the lucky members had been selected to attend the Patron's Lunch on behalf of Girlguiding South West England. All those invited to The Mall received an individual lunch hamper to keep and a shopping bag of goodies. The rest of the group went to St James' Park to watch the event on the big screens. The wet weather certainly didn't dampen any spirits and a fantastic time was had by all.