Party at the Palace

On Saturday 15^th May 3,800 Guides, Brownies and Rainbows arrived at Blenheim Palace for what was going to be a great time. Everyone turned up between 2pm and 2:30pm to start the fun activities that included a zip wire, tug-of-war cooking, handling owls and science investigations. Our groups favourites were the tug-of-war and the science investigations. The activities ended at 5pm and we all started munching on our picnic tea brought from home. We all ate in one area of the grounds and had a group photo taken which was great. It was then that the entertainment started which was held in a marquee and had some great music playing. This went on for a few hours while certain divisions were called out to go and get a hog roast or their vegetarian option. Most people ate theirs quite quickly which meant then it was time to get out our bedding and get to sleep, this was quite a fiddly job as it was getting very dark, but we all managed and were soon realising how tired we were. I personally believed that falling asleep under the stars has been one of most amazing things I have ever done. We woke up at about 5am and some people went to remake their promise at 5:07am. Breakfast was served at 7:15am and we left at 8:30am. Going on the campout was one of the best things I have done!

Lucy Evans 1^st Hook Norton Guides

PS This event was part of our Centenary Celebrations and was an Oxfordshire Girlguiding event. Thankfully, the weather was extremely kind to us and we were greeted with a lovely sunny day on the Saturday for our open air event. Other activities the Guides took part in included sitting in an RAF helicopter, circus skills and craft. At 6pm the Rainbows and Brownies left 1,000 Guides at Blenheim Palace for the sleepover and evening entertainment, which included circus skills in the open air. We didnt take tents; they literally slept in the field sandwiched between groundsheets! When we woke at 5am on Sunday, there was a thick layer of ice all over our bedding and bags! The Hook Norton Guides were a pleasure to take on this event, as usual very polite, well behaved and a joy to be with. Thank you also to the extra helpers who came to the event: Di, Katie and Michelle.

Julie Wood & Sarah Gardner 1^st Hook Norton Guides

MEMBERS OF GIRLGUIDING CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF GUIDING WITH 100 MILE CANOE RELAY

Over the Easter weekend, Julie, Katie (age 20) and Megan (age 17) Wood, Irene and Vicky (age 19) Hills and 4 other members from Banbury & District Canoe Club took part in a 100 mile all female canoe relay along the Kennett and Avon canal from Hungerford in Berkshire to Westminster, London to mark the Centenary of Girlguiding UK. The baton passed between all paddlers was a parchment which contained a celebratory message.

In celebration of 100 years of Guiding, 200 years of the Kennet and Avon Canal and women in sport, a Brownie, Guides and Guiders from all over the country (aged 8 to 81 years) carried this parchment 100 miles in relay by canoes and kayaks from Hungerford to Westminster over the Easter weekend 2010.

With this parchment comes the message of celebration and thanks for the last 100 years of Guiding along with our best wishes and hopes that the next 100 years will continue to provide women and girls with the opportunity for personal challenges, development, fun and lasting friendships.

The 40 participants came from around the UK from as far Kirkcaldy and Chester to Banbury and Reading and ranged in age from an 8 year old Brownie to an 81 year old Trefoil Guild member. Not only was the challenge an opportunity to celebrate the Centenary of Girlguiding UK but it was also a chance to encourage more women to get involved in sport. In fact it gave many mothersthe opportunity to canoe alongside or with their daughter in the same canoe.

Katie and I went along to the start on Friday and supported the paddlers from Hungerford to Newbury where we saw Irene & Vicky Hills off on their way to Aldermaston. On Saturday, Katie and I paddled all 30 miles from Wokingham to Old Windsor, along the Thames, which was a beautiful stretch of water. We were joined by other paddlers for different distances, including Megan Wood and Grace Bell (a brownie aged 8 and member of BDCC) who paddled 7 miles (the furthest Grace had ever paddled!). The parchment was passed onto team mates who continued on the next leg of the journey. Our support crews followed us by car fed and watered us along the way.

The best bit of the whole weekend was the last day (Easter Monday) where we paddled from Richmond Canoe Club at 8am all the way to Westminster, which was 17 miles on the tideway. There were 16 of us paddling (Katie and me, Irene and Vicky and Megan and Alice another friend from BDCC). There were 8 boats going down the Thames in a big group the river is so wide in places. It was a Centenary mountain-top moment, especially when Big Ben struck 10 as we paddled past it at the end.

Tamsin Phipps, who organised the adventure and is the Boating Advisor for Girlguiding Berkshire said, “It was a tremendous weekend. Canoeing has been very much part of Guiding for decades and is such a super sport to be involved in as families can all take part together which was very much the case in this 100 mile Canoe Relay.”

Richard Benyon, MP for Newbury handed over the parchment for the start of the relay at 10.00am on Friday 2nd April and Paul Owen, Chief Executive of the British Canoe Union was on hand at Festival Pier in Westminster at 10am on Monday 5th April to receive the parchment after its 100 mile journey.