Over two weeks, 400 Brownies, Cubs and their Leaders have spent time at the Manx Museum trying to solve the Mystery of the stolen Ruby.
All children (and their Leaders) had a wonderful time, making loads of discoveries. Check out the gallery!
Last year St Thomas’ Rainbows applied to the Manx Telecom 2022 ‘It’s Our Community’ awards which invite charities and good causes to apply for funding if they have an idea that can make a positive difference to our community.
We were lucky enough to be awarded a grant to go towards our annual membership fees and recently attended a presentation night at Manx Telecom Headquarters. His Excellency, Lieutenant Governor Sir John Lorimer, attended as a special guest, having helped Manx Telecom CEO Gary Lamb, with the judging.
It was an inspirational night hearing from all the community organisations. In all, 21 different initiatives received funding as part of Manx Telecom’s annual It’s Our Community Scheme. Alice’s Guides we’re there too!
Worth considering if you are looking for funding – applications are now open for this year’s grants.
by Vicky Mackie
Girlguiding Isle of Man and Scouts Isle of Man recently held a Sleep Out to raise awareness of homelessness on the island, whilst raising money for Graih and Housing Matters Isle of Man.
The event started with the Guides, Rangers, Scouts and Explorers setting up cardboard shelters ready for the night ahead, before heading off to the Soup kitchen for some warming soup, and then back to their shelters thinking they were then going to settle down for the night, only to be disturbed by the police moving them on, requiring them to move to a nearby hall and set up their shelters again. Most got a few hours’ sleep, waking around 5.30am in the morning.
Well done to everyone involved – what an amazing act for such an important cause!
Fantastic day for St George’s Day parade 🙂
The It’s About You Evening of 2022 will be remembered as the night that saw our wonderful Commissioner, Karen Walker, receiving the prestigious Laurel Award: For the quality of her performance in the multiple senior roles she has held in guiding; the positive impact that she has had on the girls, leaders and volunteers; and for being an excellent role model.
Here is the speech that Julie Walton, Girlguiding North West Region’s Chief Commissioner, at the ceremony:
“I am immensely proud to present this award to Karen – and to be here in person makes it even more special. Karen was appointed as Assistant Island Commissioner in 2015 and Island (County) Commissioner in 2016. The role should have ceased in October 2021 but Karen kindly offered to extend her appointment due to the pandemic. Prior to (and alongside) her Island Commissioner role, she has held several other roles in Guiding since becoming an adult leader in 1988, all whilst continuing with her commitment as Guider in charge of not one, but two Rainbow units (St Thomas Rainbows). She is hugely loved and massively respected by all members of Girlguiding Isle of Man – from the age of 4 upwards – and I cannot think of anyone more worthy of this award. I thank Karen for her endless dedication, hard work and enthusiasm and for everything she has given to Girlguiding over the years.”
Last November, Girlguiding Isle of Man launched a campaign to collect bras in support of the charity Against Breast Cancer. For two months, we had collection points in Corinthians Football Club, Keystone Law, the Bowl at the IOM Football Association HQ and FC IOM home games and the Douglas Library.
Here we have our Commissioner, Karen Walker, with all the boxes before they left to the Against Breast Cancer Head Office.
Thanks to Manx Independent Carrier’s generosity, the boxes travelled for free to the charity’s Head Office in the UK where they will wait before a final trip to Africa.
We kindly received the pictures of the boxes safe and sound at the Head Office.
At Girlguiding Isle of Man, we want to join this international campaign to promote engineering roles among women. What better way to bring this exciting topic to the girls and young ladies than with our STEM Challenge?
Download the activities pack here and share the pictures of the super engineering work on social media tagging us using @girlguidingIOM (Twitter) or @girlguiding_iom (Instagram)… and don’t forget to follow us!
This year, the annual celebration of Scouting on St. Georges Day was cancelled due to the lockdown. Units from across the island reunited at St. Andrew’s Church a month later, on 23 May, to hold a service with His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor and his wife Lady Gozney. Sadly, there was no parade due to heavy rain.
Here are some pictures from the event!
Girlguiding Isle of Man has launched a new challenge this summer:
Open to Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Ranges, there are six badges for completing 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 miles. What are you waiting for?
All the details and downloadable content can be found here on the website.
Finally after being delayed by storms, airline collapses and global pandemics we managed to present the final awards from our Presentation Evening in February. Many thanks to the Windsor Coffee Shop for allowing us to use their shop and for the scrummy coffee and cake. A big well done and thank you to everyone who received an award and especially to those who could not attend in person, Steph, Laine, James, Sharon, Jane and Caitlin-we will get them to you.
