Ribble Valley Girlguides paint colourful rainbows to spread message of hope and love

Members of Girlguiding are embracing finding new ways of being able to deliver activities to Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers throughout the Ribble Valley and beyond.
Isobel (13) keen to spread joy and hopeIsobel (13) keen to spread joy and hope
Isobel (13) keen to spread joy and hope

With all the current restrictions, adult volunteers throughout the area, who run groups for over 600 girls and young women, are very keen to keep all members connected as a group. Girlguiding as an organization is of course also supporting this with extra online activities made available as part of their #AdventuresAtHome programme.

As one would imagine, young members of Girlguiding Ribble Valley are very active in taking part in “The Rainbow Trail” – a now global activity of children displaying rainbows in their windows as a sign of happiness and hope in these testing times. Lucy, a Clitheroe leader, has designed three fantastic “print and colour” pictures that members have been using to decorate their windows. These are based on a traditional Girlguiding song, whose words are all about keeping a Guiding light shining and after sharing the first activity, a poster, it reached more than 20,000 people via Facebook in less than 48 hours!

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Lucy said: "I am in the extremely vulnerable group as I had a kidney transplant in 2017 and that means I am shielding at home for 12 weeks. But that doesn’t mean I have stopped Guiding! "I have been doing virtual meetings with 1st Waddington Rainbows, doing activities via Facebook live videos. It is really nice being able to keep in touch and I enjoy it just as much as the Rainbows do! Lots of our young members have been colouring our ‘Guiding Light’ and rainbow posters and my family have really enjoyed spotting them in Clitheroe! I can’t believe that a chance comment in a leader meeting about doing a poster has now been seen by 29, 951 people and shared 415 times!”

Seven-year-old Ellie shows off her impressive artworkSeven-year-old Ellie shows off her impressive artwork
Seven-year-old Ellie shows off her impressive artwork

She added: "Our adult members are, as ever, working as volunteers to continue a link to all our young members and support them through this difficult time. This support is not just to remind them that they are part of our groups and wider community, but also to provide activities that they can do at home whilst we are not able to meet in person. Some groups, including 1st Waddington Rainbows, have been meeting by video link, which has been a wonderful way for the 5-7 year old members to 'see' and interact with their friends. Groups are also able to share activities from online resources that are available from Girlguiding webpages and social media. All our members are able to complete badges at home and our leaders are very happy to see that girls are completing these while they are not able to live lives as normal. In particular, the Brownie badge for 'Mindfulness' and Guide badge for 'Meditation' may be helpful for girls and young women worried about our current situation, but there are a whole range of activities available. Some of our leaders have been able to hand deliver information about activities on their daily exercise walks, whilst others are embracing technological solutions and social media to keep in touch with their members and pass on activities."

Girlguiding Division commissioner, Harriet Smith, commented: “We are very proud of all our young members taking part in activities to support their communities, families and helping themselves. Girlguiding has been giving opportunities to girls and young women in the Ribble Valley for over 100 years that help them develop skills and resilience, and we hope we can continue this through the current pandemic. Our adult volunteers include a lot of key workers with jobs in the NHS, care, education, emergency services and other related industry, and typically are people supporting the community in a number of ways. I would like to particularly thank all our leaders for continuing to support our members at this time when they may be under significant extra pressures and strains related to work, home or family."