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Friday 13 August 2010

 What a couple of weeks I have had. The final outcome of my last four years of planning was the Centenary Camp and I think it lived up to my bold statements from the beginning of “camp like you never camped before”. It certainly looked a different camp with all the matching tents and no one has ever eaten at a camp restaurant like the ones we provided and the efficiency of the showers will become a legend I’m sure but the most important thing was that the girls had a fantastic time and the mid week diversion of fusion was another huge first for Girlguiding UK.

In and out of region more than most of you probably know all this as the press response was fantastic but if you really want to know about international guiding you should watch the Bangladeshi TV report on U tube. Even without the language you will see fantastic guiding PR. and girls having a great time.

I had so many mountain top moments I think it was a whole mountain range and I really hope that others felt the same.

I have been quite mad to try to do so much and North East England has not had as much time as it should but now my brain is rapidly emptying of camp thoughts I’m beginning to think of things we should do to make us the best region ever. If you have any thoughts please share them with me.

But first I’m off to Scotland in a camper van to learn how to relax and read a rubbishy book – a luxury I haven’t had for a little while.

Enjoy your summer!

Hilary

Sunday 11 July 2010

Last week was really exciting.

I went straight from the NEE Exec Meeting to the media team week-end at Bramhope. There is a strong Senior Section Media Team for Centenary Camp and they are very enthusiastic. This was the first time they have actually put together a dummy camp newspaper and radio broadcast. Some unsuspecting scouts camping alongside found themselves photographed and interviewed as subjects. The first showing of the output was for Liz Burnley and I and it was truly impressive.  The Centenary Camp will be well recorded whether you watch it on site on the big screen or on the web you will be able to see what is going on.

On Monday I was at Tynemouth Lifeboat Station while the Lord Nelson, our expected tall ship was still a smudge on the horizon. The lifeboat crew were waiting to whisk me out to the boat with Jill Heyes and persuaded Pat Bennett and Dorothy Minns to come along too. We whizzed out to the boat, passing the gathering crowd of Trefoil Guild on the headland, and Jill, Pat and I stepped across to the Lord Nelson and were made very welcome by the incoming crew.

I was impressed by the boat and almost felt I could take on climbing the rigging after seeing the girls in action. We made a stately entry to the Tyne with more Trefoil Guild and local Guiders to wave at before berthing at Spillers Wharf.

Tuesday and the local counties had organised an event based on Baltic Square. 3000 girls watched as Liz Burnley pressed the button to open the Millennium Bridge.  Ferries full of members sailed under the bridge and back again before going to look at the ship. I took Liz down to the ship so we could meet the sleep over girls who were clearly very excited as were our guides who had just come off their sailing adventure. It was Liz’s first sight of our ship and she was clearly impressed by the first view as it sat there with a huge banner and Girlguiding badge.

A really exciting week and a great privilege.

Hilary

Sunday 27th June 2010

Another busy week with a day in London midweek for a Chief Commissioners’ Meeting and a day on the tracks on Saturday.

I should have been in London for two days; for an Executive meeting and a Chiefs’ Meeting but the day job got in the way and I could only attend on one day. Contrary to popular belief the Chief Commissioners are almost all still working women and so the commitment to midweek meetings is less than it used to be and will get even less in the future. The fact is we just don’t have many volunteers who are ladies of leisure and as long as we aspire to the age range of senior volunteers dropping, the individuals in these roles have to balance volunteering with a job that pays the mortgage.

Anyway the meeting on Thursday was very interesting, full of good information and lots of good humour. There is no doubt that the Region and Country Chief’s are a bunch of “characters” so there is never a dull moment.

Saturday saw me racing down to the North York Moors to join the Brownies in taking over the tracks. It was a beautiful day both for weather and for the Brownies.  The public using the North Yorkshire Moors Railway were very impressed by the Brownies and their behaviour. There is something very magical about steam trains even if wearing a white polo shirt might not have been the best plan!

And today I better get on with some camp planning – the big one is getting awfully close!

Hilary

Sunday 13th June 2010

Definitely into the camping season now and although the weather last week seemed to suggest that the weekends camps would be blessed with warm sunny weather I can definitely confirm that this was not the case in Northumberland,

I visited Medieval Marrer, a Scout organised camp which has always welcomed Guides. I came a very poor second as a visitor to Bear Grylls who had quite literally dropped in by helicopter on Saturday for an hour. Anyway it was a good camp on one of my favorite sites, Powburn, in north Northumberland but it was cold, a biting north wind and a rather damp. Did the Scouts and Guides notice? I think not but some adults were looking a bit chilly.

Preparations for the Centenary Camp and Fusion are moving along very swiftly and obviously the former is taking up a lot of my time so I haven’t managed to do quite as many region things as I would like but I’m looking forward to joining the Rainbows on the river at York this weekend. Let’s hope they at least get some warmer weather!

Had a really great weekend on June 5 and 6.  North Yorkshire South had the awesome venue of a real palace – the Archbishop’s Palace to be precise, as a venue for a stunning Princess party. Arriving by boat from York centre with 200 little girls dressed as Princesses was just lovely and they had a great time even though it did rain very heavily in the middle of the day – but it was warm rain!

What a difference a day makes.  The next day was very chilly in Gosforth Park for Northumberland’s special day with a fantastic array of activities for all ages. It started to rain heavily at the end but this didn’t seem to detract from the event.

Finally in my trio of events I went down to East Yorks for a Laurel Award presentation to Caroline Selwyn Jones.  The weather was simply foul and as the cover story was that she would be leading a pioneering session it was surprising she hadn’t cancelled her own party.  Anyway, for those of you who know Carol, you will be well entertained to hear she really was quite stuck for words and another totally unsuspecting recipient.  I am getting seriously concerned by our ability to lie!

This weekend is Queens Birthday Honours time and we have two recipients in the region. Jackie Postgate from Durham has been awarded an MBE for services to Guiding and congratulations go to her.

Liz Burnley has been awarded a CBE for her work as Chief Guide and as you all appreciate this is a very demanding role which Liz is fulfilling with great style and energy. We are of course very fortunate to have Liz as a resident of our region which means we get more than our fair share of Chief Guide time as she visits events all over the area.  Congratulations to Liz and I hope she enjoys a moment of praise for herself as she spends plenty time celebrating other peoples efforts.

Hilary

Sunday 18th April 2010

Had a very busy but lovely week-end.

Saturday to Hull for the Trefoil Guild AGM. I’ve never been to this event but had heard they get a good turn out – too true, over 400 ladies all delighted to see each other. Obviously  not a quiet event!

The real treat for me was hearing John Godber speak very entertainingly of his life. I feel I need to get myself organised to see some of his plays now. I think what was most amusing was finding he had spent some of his youthful wanderings at Whitley Bay and more precisely at Feathers Holiday camp which just happened to be where, at about the same time, I was spending my summers as a supermarket assistant. (Rather a bored looking assistant at that!)

Sunday was a hectic day as I rushed over to Swinsty Reservoir, near Harrogate, from York to do a short sponsored walk for MND and then rushed back to smarten up for the Presidents Lunch which also included fundraising for MND. Another occasion of many ladies delighted to see each other – in fact nobody noticed there was any background music until we were called to order to sing grace! It was a delight to see so many long serving and dedicated adults together. In fact the shocking truth was that we represented about 3000 years of guiding service – and that is a conservative estimate!  A charity auction after the event was very entertaining and raised over £1000 – quite unbelievable but fantastic.

I’ll probably say it many times but one year into the job what still amazes me is that I am the Chief Commissioner – but after a day like today what an honour!

Hilary

Thinking Day 21st February 2010

A whole new idea of how to celebrate at One World One Beat and all things considered Saturday went swimmingly. I had arrived back early from my skiing holiday to get to York before the end of day 1. Bit of a high risk strategy you might say but the only casualty was my luggage, left in Amsterdam during a flight transfer.

Anyway to York and a fantastic atmosphere at Askham Bryan where 1100 members were enjoying a really exciting variety of performance workshops.  I didn’t know there were so many kinds of drumming and the noise in some rooms was just extraordinary.

So it was all going great and Sunday to look forward to ……………. And then the snow came!

The hardest decision an organiser has to take is when to cancel and when to continue. The way that snow was falling in York between 8 and 11 left no choice for Alison Povey but to cancel – how disappointing! So no doubt there were 1000 disappointed girls but it was the right decision.

Badges, leaflets and stickers will be sent out to Leaders.

Hilary

Chief Commissioner

Caught Out

Well I may have been referred to as Hawk eye on more than one occasion but I certainly didn’t see the surprise party coming my way last Friday.

What an amazing surprise as I realised a county event at home wasn’t quite all I thought. I did begin to suspect something was awry when met at he door by two rangers looking smarter than  I have ever seen them before. I did wonder vaguely at the number of extra seats in the room. I was puzzled by lack of correct information coming my way but didn’t even start to put two and two together until just before the assembled  and assorted friends came into the room. Well done to everyone who kept the secret and kept a straight face on the many occasions over the last few months when I have been pontificating  on the whole awards process.

I cannot deny that a bit of thanks and recognition of the work we do goes a long way so thank you to all who were involved in saying nice things on citations, those who travelled the length of the region to be there  and those who threw such a special party.

Hilary

Chief Commissioner

Wednesday 20 January

Had a very busy guiding week-end and now into a busy guiding week.

The best bit of the week-end was Friday night when we had arranged a surprise party for Jo Taylor to be presented with her Laurel Award by the Chief Guide Liz Burnley. As with all surprises you worry first that she won’t appreciate it and secondly that it won’t be a surprise and we will all be pretending. Anyway never trust a friend! Elaine King had told such a pack of fibs that even when Jo was walking into Alpha court she didn’t twig that the big ”meeting”  unusually held on a Friday night was just for her.

Jo did such a lot for the Region while she was Chief Commissioner that it was right that this should be recognised and doubly right that it was at Alpha Court which is surely her legacy  - and perfectly designed for social gatherings as well as work!

The rest of the week-end was in London for a camp meeting. It is getting to the very exciting and somewhat feverish level for the camp as delivery of this particular baby is due very soon. Bookings are good for Fusion which is held during camp and there are still some spaces for Brownie sleepovers before and after Fusion but we pretty much know what we have for camp and the ordering of 45 flagpoles to cover all the visiting nations sums up the international interest.

Now I am back in London for exec meeting. I used to hate being in London but now having walked it many times both as a “moonwalker” and as exercise en route to meetings I am coming to appreciate its beauty and fascination, which isn’t to say I won’t be glad to go home tomorrow evening.

There is always a bit if a buzz about being involved with CHQ and feeling that you are at the heart of Guiding. Mid week it is a very busy office and those who work there sometimes forget that it is a bit special for some of us.

Hilary

Chief Commissioner

Saturday 2 January 2010

Happy New Year!

Very scary that: writing 2010 I mean. Not only because I have my own personal camp challenge to achieve this year and I can’t deny that the Centenary Camp is very close with, as is always the case in these situations, much to do; but also because I can’t work out where the last ten years went.

It seems only a moment ago that I was standing on the Tyne Bridge watching Millennium fireworks and here we are entering the second decade. Where will Guiding be in ten years time, the centenary will seem like a distant memory but hopefully a marvellous one. So how has the holiday season been for you? I have enjoyed the break but never like it so much when all the holiday is taken up with Christmas and New Year leaving no down time at the end to do mundane jobs.

Suddenly this week-end the emails have started to flow from other Leaders waking up from a festive hibernation and only the snow has spared me my first trip to York thus allowing an afternoon with the laptop in front of the fire.

I did manage a trip to the Lakes and planned some walking around Coniston Old Man. I don’t have a great history on this particular mountain having on a previous occasion of rain and fog come down the wrong ridge with a group of Leaders (and you know who you are) and had to retrace my steps ending up walking into the night and crossing a stream in the dark. This time the leader took a very direct route up a valley side in deep snow and I had visions of being a headline on a mountain rescue story as the snow slipped out from under my feet. Always a good reminder of why we do try to make sure in all we do we are well trained.

As 2009 faded out I did manage to get my GO details sorted for my Ranger unit and felt quite sorry for those of you with a big Guide Unit or Brownie Pack as it was quite time consuming – not difficult, just slow.  I am looking forward to using the information and being able to print out contact lists and registers. I have experimented with sending emails to all the girls who had given an address on their details sheet. Not one person has replied which gives me three choices, either they don’t read emails, the system doesn’t work or no one tells me they have changed to yet another provider. I favour the latter as the reason but it does demonstrate that even a wonderful system is only as good as the humans allow it to be.

Time I think to tear myself away from this cosy seat and have a New Year spring clean of the room I laughingly call an office but which would be better labelled “Dump”. Better go and find a black bag - there is plenty to recycle.

Hilary

Chief Commissioner

Sunday 6 December

Seems like a good day to start a blog because yesterday was quite special and I shared it with many of you.

I had been looking forward to the Minster Service for ages because I’ve always loved it and found it to be a very good way to start Christmas but  I have usually been on the organising side – mostly as a steward. I’ve usually referred to myself as chief door monitor and as such knew we usually had spare seats so when I found myself in this new role I was determined to do away with tickets and see how many people turned up. Then I worried no one would turn up. I didn’t need to worry because 1000 people did come and although we still had room for many more there was certainly a good crowd for the delightful service Helen and Bronia had put together. The music and the carols in that setting are like no others and Kirsten’s solo for Once In Royal David’s City was simply beautiful. A few of us, including myself and the Chief Guide had our own little mountain top moment by reading a lesson in such a setting.

One of the aspects of the Service I always love is the procession of the Standards – not many buildings do them justice but The Minster is perfect. There is a school of thought that flags and standards are old fashioned, seriously not cool and we perhaps shouldn’t use them but I would love to hear your opinions and certainly those of your girls.

Anyway as a bit of background to the blog I thought you might just like an insight into the sorts of things a Chief Commissioner gets up to and as a space where I might throw out random questions and opinions. Do please feel free to comment back.

I’m having a busy week-end having travelled straight from York to Sheffield for their show 100 Not Out. What a great afternoon’s entertainment – so much enthusiasm from the girls and an awful lot of memories triggered for those in the audience who have been around guiding for a few years.

When I get back to work the Christmas theme continues with that old tradition of the school nativity. Ours is yet another new spin on the old story and so far it is looking as if Joseph is going to arrive in Bethlehem long before Mary as he seems to see the route across the hall as a race track. I really must get him to slow down tomorrow!

I hope all your festive preparations are going well.

Hilary

Chief Commissioner