Summer Fun – from elephants, camps to volunteering at a big event

Such a variety of things done by members of Wraxall Division during the summer holidays, both by girls and adults. Rainbow, Brownie and Guide units from Nailsea had their elephants on display in the Elephant House at Noah’s Ark in August. They designed them as part of the children’s competition for the elephant trail there – two of our designs got highly commended. Well done, some lovely elephants for visitors to see.

1st Nailsea Guides and 6th Nailsea Guides went on Guide camp at Woodhouse Park whilst 1st Nailsea Brownies joined them for one day. The theme of the camp was ‘I’m a survivor, guide, get me out of here’ and the Guides took part in bushtucker trails collecting gold stars for their teams. The girls all enjoyed lots of outdoor activities such as the climbing wall, archery, mud cups and tie-dying. The Guides also shared a campfire with Worle Guides who were also having their Guide camp at Woodhouse Park too. 10th Nailsea Brownies also ran another successful summer school for their Brownies at Long Ashton Guide HQ for 3 days in August. The theme this year was cruise ship discovery. Each Brownies had her own passport and, over 3 days, they visited the Bahamas, Lapland and Hawaii. On the first day at the Bahamas, they made place mats and decorated drink mats in the flag of the country, decorated t-shirts in bright colours, made colourful jute bags and added flipflops with bead straps on for decoration like the bags sold in markets and finally coloured surfboard keyrings and enjoyed a drumming session… all whilst having the challenge of finding hidden flip flop pictures. On the second day in Lapland, the Brownies had to find some very shy elves and all girls made stockings, dens, sock snowmen filled with rice, Christmas decorations and played games to win points for their teams. They also did a scavenger hunt and played some Christmas themed games. The day at Lapland ended with eating bananas cooked in their skins with chocolate buttons and hot chocolate and getting their stockings filled with gifts. On the last day of the summer school, the Brownies visited Hawaii when they made polystyrene wreaths decorated with items found on beaches and dancer pencil potholders. They all also took part in a quiz hunt and a golf challenge whilst later on, everybody got to wear a Hawaiian costume and got ready to greet their parents for tea and biscuits. They used the opportunity to show their parents all the crafts and activities they had done over the three days. What an exciting time the Brownies and Guides of Nailsea have had in August.

It’s not just the girls who have been busy with Girlguiding – Tess Thyer, a Rainbow leader from Clevedon West, and her daughter volunteered at the Girlguiding event, Wellies and Wristbands. Tess writes ‘Wellies and Writstbands is Girlguiding’s very own Glastonbury, where Guides and Rangers from all over the South of England camp at Foxlease to experience live music on the stage, inflatable slides and obstacle courses, hot tubs, climbing, abseiling and other adventurous activities, talent competitions and can even relax in the pamper zone and even get a henna tattoo.  Foxlease is the Girlguiding activity centre in the New Forest which is celebrating its centenary this year, 2022. This year was the biggest ever event with over 3,200 Guides, Rangers and their leaders attending over the August Bank holiday.  These events are not possible without the volunteers that make it happen and this year was my second year volunteering on the Catering Team.  As a team of about 22 we helped feed approximately 3,500 in two hours each meal time, thankfully there were a team of professional cooks but there was still plenty for us to do. As part of the Catering Team we served breakfast and dinner, supervised queues, greeted everyone, made sure that we got everyone fed and back to their activities as quickly as possible and made sure the marque was ready for the next meal at the end.  After breakfast we also prepared for the collection of the packed lunch and made sure there was plenty of choice for everyone to pick from.  Some of us, after dinner, even went to help out in the night café to serve warm treats and goodies. The role was hard work but, as always in Guiding, hard work is made a lot easier with fun, laughter and friendship.  Most of our team were there by themselves and we came from all over but we soon got to know one another and got the job done.  Volunteers have the chance to take part in the activities when they’re not on duty and we had a team turn on the Ferris Wheel and competed against one another in the escape tents, I think our team came second with 19 minutes. I’m already looking forward to working with both old and new friends next year (and wearing the high-vis)!’

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Such a variety of things done by members of Wraxall Division during the summer holidays, both by girls and adults. Rainbow, Brownie and Guide units from Nailsea had their elephants on display in the Elephant House at Noah’s Ark in August. They designed them as part of the children’s competition for the elephant trail there – two of our designs got highly commended. Well done, some lovely elephants for visitors to see.

1st Nailsea Guides and 6th Nailsea Guides went on Guide camp at Woodhouse Park whilst 1st Nailsea Brownies joined them for one day. The theme of the camp was ‘I’m a survivor, guide, get me out of here’ and the Guides took part in bushtucker trails collecting gold stars for their teams. The girls all enjoyed lots of outdoor activities such as the climbing wall, archery, mud cups and tie-dying. The Guides also shared a campfire with Worle Guides who were also having their Guide camp at Woodhouse Park too. 10th Nailsea Brownies also ran another successful summer school for their Brownies at Long Ashton Guide HQ for 3 days in August. The theme this year was cruise ship discovery. Each Brownies had her own passport and, over 3 days, they visited the Bahamas, Lapland and Hawaii. On the first day at the Bahamas, they made place mats and decorated drink mats in the flag of the country, decorated t-shirts in bright colours, made colourful jute bags and added flipflops with bead straps on for decoration like the bags sold in markets and finally coloured surfboard keyrings and enjoyed a drumming session… all whilst having the challenge of finding hidden flip flop pictures. On the second day in Lapland, the Brownies had to find some very shy elves and all girls made stockings, dens, sock snowmen filled with rice, Christmas decorations and played games to win points for their teams. They also did a scavenger hunt and played some Christmas themed games. The day at Lapland ended with eating bananas cooked in their skins with chocolate buttons and hot chocolate and getting their stockings filled with gifts. On the last day of the summer school, the Brownies visited Hawaii when they made polystyrene wreaths decorated with items found on beaches and dancer pencil potholders. They all also took part in a quiz hunt and a golf challenge whilst later on, everybody got to wear a Hawaiian costume and got ready to greet their parents for tea and biscuits. They used the opportunity to show their parents all the crafts and activities they had done over the three days. What an exciting time the Brownies and Guides of Nailsea have had in August.

It’s not just the girls who have been busy with Girlguiding – Tess Thyer, a Rainbow leader from Clevedon West, and her daughter volunteered at the Girlguiding event, Wellies and Wristbands. Tess writes ‘Wellies and Writstbands is Girlguiding’s very own Glastonbury, where Guides and Rangers from all over the South of England camp at Foxlease to experience live music on the stage, inflatable slides and obstacle courses, hot tubs, climbing, abseiling and other adventurous activities, talent competitions and can even relax in the pamper zone and even get a henna tattoo.  Foxlease is the Girlguiding activity centre in the New Forest which is celebrating its centenary this year, 2022. This year was the biggest ever event with over 3,200 Guides, Rangers and their leaders attending over the August Bank holiday.  These events are not possible without the volunteers that make it happen and this year was my second year volunteering on the Catering Team.  As a team of about 22 we helped feed approximately 3,500 in two hours each meal time, thankfully there were a team of professional cooks but there was still plenty for us to do. As part of the Catering Team we served breakfast and dinner, supervised queues, greeted everyone, made sure that we got everyone fed and back to their activities as quickly as possible and made sure the marque was ready for the next meal at the end.  After breakfast we also prepared for the collection of the packed lunch and made sure there was plenty of choice for everyone to pick from.  Some of us, after dinner, even went to help out in the night café to serve warm treats and goodies. The role was hard work but, as always in Guiding, hard work is made a lot easier with fun, laughter and friendship.  Most of our team were there by themselves and we came from all over but we soon got to know one another and got the job done.  Volunteers have the chance to take part in the activities when they’re not on duty and we had a team turn on the Ferris Wheel and competed against one another in the escape tents, I think our team came second with 19 minutes. I’m already looking forward to working with both old and new friends next year (and wearing the high-vis)!’

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