This is an exciting Christmas activity that I saw Sandy Breitmeier, aka sandymakessense, do a month or two ago and the moment I saw it, I knew I had to give it a go. It’s a lampworking workshop, where you use a blowtorch to melt and twist glass to make a Christmas tree ornament. I … More Lampworking: making a Christmas tree using a blowtorch
On Monday/today, Girlguiding launched its new interest badges. Let me backtrack a little so you understand the significance. It’s been the messiest roll-out that was supposed to be a massive PR show – the BBC put out their news article somewhere around 2am, CBBC, Wales Online and the Telegraph somewhere around 6am, which is about … More Brownie leader reacts to the new Girlguiding interest badges
This is an accountability post. I’m writing a book, theoretically. I’m also logging the time I’m spending on it, which means I can see things like “just over an hour and a half of writing in all of 2025 so far”. The trouble is that it’s for fun, which means when I’m busy, it just … More I’m writing a book about baths
OK, when I say “camp”, I mean what my previous Guides called “indoor camp” and current Brownies calls “a sleepover”: a Brownie residential of one night at a Scout-owned campsite in indoor accommodation with bunk beds. “Brownie camp” is more succinct though. It’s 9.30pm on Sunday night, we sent our little angels home eight and … More 11 things I learned on Brownie camp
On Saturday morning, we’re taking twelve of our Brownies away for a sleepover – a mini-camp, indoors and just one night. On Monday, if I’m not too exhausted, I’ll tell you all about how it went but today let’s talk about how it was planned. First up was Tawny Owl, our licence holder, deciding it … More How to plan a Brownie sleepover
There are some camps that go down in legend, to be talked over ten or twenty years later. The one with the storm that knocked the Ranger tent over so that they were scared to go and alert the leaders and everyone ended up getting sent home for two days so we could clean up … More Back to Basics Guide camp was definitely type 2 fun
Being both a keen Guide and a keener traveller, you’d think I’d be an INTOPS regular- that is, Girlguiding’s shorthand for International Opportunities, or trips abroad. But no, I’ve only in the last two years really come across INTOPS and I’d never thought about going for it myself. But now I have and this intersection … More What happens at INTOPS (International Opportunities) adult selection?
The second part of the Switzerland 2014 post to get rewritten, because the photos had broken, is our day trip to Our Chalet. Quick recap: this is a Girlguiding trip; it’s a county adults trip with no selection process other than being the first twelve or so to send a deposit and we went to … More Switzerland 2014: Our Chalet
For reasons that might become clearer later in the month, I was looking at my old Switzerland posts the other day and discovered that all the photos had broken in the first two posts from our county trip in 2014. So rather than just repair the photos, I thought I’d rewrite them altogether because it’s … More Switzerland 2014: Anita’s B&B
When I was at school, I did the Bronze level of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. It was introduced at my school in my last year so we were the guinea pigs for it. I didn’t know I could continue it at uni or through Girlguiding or through local groups, otherwise I would at least … More I did the Bronze level of four award schemes. How do they compare?
I Am A Polar Bear 