Girlguiding is the leading charity for girls and young women in the UK, empowering nearly half a million girls across the UK to be their best and face the challenges of growing up today. They’ve been doing this through adventure, friendship and fun for over 100 years.
In the Soar Valley Life area, Girlguiding has almost 2,400 active members. To keep these members safe while enjoying fantastic Girlguiding experiences there are over 550 trained adult volunteers who lead or support nearly 120 units locally. Rainbows are 5Â7 years old, Brownies are 7Â10, Guides are 10Â14 and Rangers are 14Â18 years old. With units for all sections situated throughout the Soar Valley Life area then wherever you live we should be able to welcome you/your daughter to join us. There are a range of different types of units which meet locally including:
Weekday units where meetings are held in the evenings on a weekly basis, usually during term time only.
Weekend units where meetings are held during the weekend on a weekly basis, usually during term time.
Monthly units where meetings are held once per month but for longer periods of time.
Holiday units where meetings take place during the school holidays only, in full day sessions.
With the total time over the year being roughly equal to meeting once a week.
Girlguiding has moved with the times and has undergone the biggest ever overhaul in the charity’s history, revamping its iconic badges and activities to create a programme for every girl. Girls can choose to work towards interest badges such as Construction, Vlogging, Media Critic, Inventing, Navigator, Animation, Craftivism, Mindfulness and Women’s Rights with other traditional activities including First Aid, Survival skills, DIY, Money Management plus Campaigning skills. In total more than 800 new badges and activities have been designed to equip girls and young women with the skills and experiences they will need in order to thrive, succeed, make change and be happy in the modern world. As well as being great fun for our younger members Girlguiding is also awesome for adult volunteers. Volunteering with Girlguiding is not just about campfires and helping girls to get their next badge  it’s about empowering them and giving them new experiences whilst being a role model and helping them to realise their full potential. Volunteers share and develop their skills as well as meeting new friends living near them while they take a refreshing break from their everyday routine. Our volunteers choose the role that matches their skills and how much time they feel able to offer. In return Girlguiding builds upon these skills with training opportunities, suited to a volunteer’s role, that also make their CV stand out at work.
Volunteering with Girlguiding locally can be by offering your professional and personal skills or simply your enthusiasm and whether you’ve been involved in Girlguiding before or you are completely new to us there are a range of roles which may appeal to you:
Leader – the core volunteer for a unit and responsible for the running of the unit as well as planning and delivering a highÂquality programme of activities and events. You will lead a team and share out the tasks to play to everyone’s strengths.
Assistant Leader – gives essential support to the unit leader in running the unit and has plenty of fun at the same time. You’ll share
responsibility for delivering an engaging programme to your unit by helping to plan and deliver meetings events and activities.
Unit Helper – provides valuable support to the unit leadership team. There’s no responsibility for planning or carrying out the programme in this role but you’ll be key in providing the extra help needed to make unit meetings and events happen.
Occasional Helper – helps at a unit from time to time or on a temporary basis depending upon your availability.
Whether you’ve been involved in Girlguiding before or you are completely new to us visit www.girlguidingleicestershire.org or contact Lisa.Bouskill@girlguiding.org.uk for details of how to volunteer with units locally.
