A big 'Well Done' to Bishops Cleeve District Rangers (Senior Section)!

A fantastic celebration took place on Friday for all the hard work they have been doing to achieve awards and badges - from the Chief Guide award and Baden Powell Challenge to Look wider Octants and camping badges!

Carole Pennington, our South West Region Chief Commissioner, was invited to the event and handed out the Chief Guide Award to the Rangers who had completed it. She also surprised us all and the Rangers received a special Region commissioner badge too!
Thank you for spending the evening with us.

Three new members of our Ranger Guide unit (Senior Section) were welcomed and they made there promise at the event.
We hope that more girls aged 14+ will join the unit - plan your own programs, go on camps, international opportunities, work towards awards such as Chief Guide, Queens Guide and Duke of Edinburgh Awards and just have a space to socialize and chill out from school work or exams. If you are interested please let us know!

Cheltenham Rangers had a great end of term BBQ (thanks to the National Star College students for organising not just the food but their College chef to cook for us) then we enrolled 7 new girls. It was lovely to have Anne Cadbury - a supporter of both Guiding and Star College and Karen McFarlane along to join in the evening. First time I have had a promise made to me using a voice synthesizer - great job Zoe! A video may follow. We also awarded lots of Octant badges and certificates to Emma and Millie who are both well on their way to getting their Chief Guide's Award.

Guides, Senior Section and their Leaders from across the County attended the Big Gig, a pop concert solely for Girlguiding members. 20,000 girls from across the Country watched a mix of musical talent at the SSE Arena at Wembley, London.

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:

Meet Suki (left) and Sian (right). They, along with more than 20 Senior Section members from across the County, have headed off on the Celtic Cities Challenge. Watch the blog post unfold over the next few days as some head to Edinburgh, the others head to Cardiff and they all meet up once again at our County Headquarters, Deer Park, near Cheltenham for the final part of their adventure.

Day one #TeamSuki: The great train ride
Team Suki are heading to Edinburgh by train. They met up at Cheltenham Station and boarded for the long four and a half hour journey ahead. They have puzzle packs to keep them entertained plus a camera and a mascot, what else would you need?! Friendship bracelet making proves a great distraction from the long journey and Suki gets up to all sorts of shenanigans!
They arrive safely at Edinburgh station, posing long enough for a photo before heading for the youth yostel that is to be home for the next couple of nights. Suki hunts down fish and chips for everyone for tea before leading the way to The Edinburgh Ceilidh Club. There the girls soak up the atmosphere and dance the night away to some fantastic music.

Day two #TeamSuki: Edinburgh
Team Suki are up and leaving the Youth Hostel. They off to explore Edinburgh - the challenge has begun! They spend the day completing the various challenges, including squeezing into a phone box, hugging a tree and seeking out a Van Gogh. Sightseeing is also on the agenda and the team manage to spot Edinburgh Cathedral, Edinburgh Castle and Edniburgh's Jenners department store. They also manage to follow in Her Majesty The Queen's footsteps and jump on board the Royal Yacht Britannia. Belinda Bear, who had also come along for the ride, popped into the Girlguiding Scotland Scottish Headquarter's and Shop and bought the girls all a souvenir of their adventures - a badge of course! Dinner tonight consisted of the trandition haggis with neeps

Day three #TeamSuki: Heading to Cowley
This morning the team have a bit of a lie in but are still up, beds stripped, breakfasted and out to see a little bit more of this amazing city before boarding the train for the long ride back to Cheltenham. Suki is looking forward to meeting Sian.

Day one #TeamSian: A drive to the seaside
Team Sian are heading to Cardiff by car. Someone accidentally packs Sian in the boot, she is not amused!! However they have made it to the great Barry Island near Cardiff and are sunning themselves on the beach! They enjoy a bit of crazy golf and building sand art before have a fish and chip supper on the beach in the sun.
Back at Caeglas, the group enjoy a quiz night with the Soup Dragons claiming victory. Before long though, they have their first casualty of the adventure. Sian lost her welly, leg and all!

Day two #TeamSian: Cardiff
Team Sian are up and ready for the day! Today they head into Cardiff itself. They are catching the bus and keep the locals amused whilst keeping themselves warm at the bus stop by making the word Cardiff using only their bodies. Once in Cardiff, they start n the challenge. They visit Techniquest, the local science museum, where some of the tasks prove a litte complex, but much fun was had with the light box and the thermal imaging camera. They also took a ride on a boat around the harbour which everyone enjoyed.

Day three #TeamSian: Sightseeing before heading to Cowley
Team Sian have had a more leisurely start this morning, cleaning up the holiday home before they can set out for the day's fun. A quick selfie in the car before the head to St Fagan's National History Museum, a wonderful museum feature the history of Welsh life through the ages. Before leaving Cardiff behind the team take a tour of the Principality Stadium, the iconic venue for sports, concerts, exhibitions and conferences. They then start the journey back to Gloucestershire, eager to find out what Team Suki have been up to.

Day three #TeamSuki & #TeamSian reunited at Deer Park
Team Suki have returned on the train and team Sian via car and everyone taking part in the Celtic Capitals Challenge have been reunited at our County Headquarters at Deer Park, near Cheltenham. They finish the evening with a good old fashioned campfire around the wood burning stove. Thanks to Christine for leading the singing.

Day four #TeamSuki & #TeamSian A final fling!
It's the last day of our adventures together but there's still time to queeze in a little more fun! We make memory frames to remind us of our time together and get messy with finger painting to create a Senior Section Spectacular logo. But soon the times comes for us to disperse back to the corners of the County from whence we came. Thank you to the organising team for helping us create these amazing memories.

We will continue to update this post sharing the goings on of the Senior Section throughout their trip.

Girls from the Senior Section in the County headed to Alexandra Palace in London for Spark, the spectacular national event to mark the 100th anniversary of the Senior Section. Here are a few photos of what they got up to.

On our Italian themed Baden Powell Adventure Weekend, we covered a wide range of activities, including pasta making. The pasta was very enjoyable, but unfortunately our pasta carrying skills were not as good as our pasta making skills and some ended-up on the floor! We got to discover the many different ways of booking a holiday by planning a virtual trip to Venice. As patrols we got to experience the responsibility of handling our own money and ordering our own food at a restaurant, which was very enjoyable and was a great chance to get to know one another. One of our outdoor activities was geocaching in which we were let loose in the countryside on our own to find boxes of treasure. We then spent our final hours making Venetian masks which showed us a snapshot of the culture of Italy as well as letting our creativity flourish. All in all the weekend was a great success and a lovely way to celebrate our achievements and get to know others who have done the same.

Written by Daniella and Josie, two of the Guides who attended the weekend

Bright and early on a Saturday morning 38 girls and leaders from around Gloucestershire embarked on a mission in the capital. Tasked with getting photographed with as many different methods of transport as possible, we roamed around London for the day, with bonus challenges to complete.

The eight different teams came up with some imaginative ideas including handstands, gravity, sedan chairs and a racing mono-ski, as well as the more conventional buses, trains and Boris bikes! For the bonus challenges teams took photographs outside tourist attractions such as Downing Street and Trafalgar square as well as guiding locations like Baden-Powell House, Pax Lodge and Girlguiding CHQ.

It was lovely to see the wide variety of ages and roles taking part; from rangers to young leaders and a couple of adult leaders too! Some teams met on the day and had the extra fun of meeting new Senior Section members to complete the challenge together. The winning team managed to get photographs of a whopping 78 different forms of transport and completed six of the eight bonus challenges! It was a fabulous event to prepare Gloucestershire for the Senior Section Spectacular and we hope to see many more of you there next time! A massive thank you goes to Sarah Jones (Youth Participation Team Leader) for organising the event!!

Check out the Senior Section Facebook group for the highlights of the trip from the teams
themselves and to keep up to date with our future events!!

Charlotte Moore and Belinda Murphy (Senior Section Exec and 2nd place team members!)

What are you doing this weekend? Is it as fun as holding a Senior Section only camp at Deer Park, Cowley? Maybe not...but if you're aged 14-25 you can work for your Senior Section Camp Permit that enables you to take your group away without adults! How exciting! Hannah and friends spent last weekend sleeping in the bird hide (it sleeps 7!) trying out archery, low ropes, making tie dye neckers and having a great campfire. Adult leaders are involved in the planning and training process and check in on the girls periodically during the camp. What a wonderful way to gain independence in a safe environment. Well done, Hannah!