First massed Guide camp takes place since Covid
Plans for a boomerang-throwing competition had to be rearranged during a Guernsey Girl Guides camp when heavy showers forced some of the planned activities indoors.
Nearly 50 guides aged 10 to 14 took to tents at the Rue Mainguy site for the first massed camp since before Covid.
‘The last time we did this was in 2018. It’s nice to get back to old times,’ said Guides adviser Amy Madden.
The girls arrived on the Friday and were lucky enough to have a day free of rain on the Saturday to enable them to get stuck into outdoor activities.
There were representatives of six of the island’s seven Guides units, with one unable to go because leaders were unavailable.
The weekend gave the girls the opportunity to compete with each other for the annual Randall Cup, which this year saw various competitions based on the seven continents.
While the majority of these were easily moved indoors due to repeated downpours, one had to be rearranged.
‘We were going to have a boomerang competition, but this turned into a quiz,’ said Mrs Madden.
As well as answering questions about Australia, the girls were challenged to draw a map of the country and one of its animals, as well as sing Waltzing Matilda, which proved to be beyond many of them, as did the theme from the hit soap Neighbours.
Girlguiding Guernsey patron Louise Cripwell, wife of Lt-Governor Lt-General Richard Cripwell, went along to watch the girls take on the Randall Cup challenges.
‘What’s fantastic about it is that they have teams of different sizes but the games all work,’ she said.
Each team earned points for its units, with the winner of the trophy being the unit with the highest score.
One of the games was Sapo, which originated in Peru and involved players trying to throw coins into the mouth of a model toad.
The girls had previously painted a toad on cardboard and cut a hole for its mouth and threw plastic bottle caps instead of coins. Empty Pringles tubes were used as well, as easier targets for fewer points.
Teammates from the 20th St Saviour’s unit, Emily Ozanne 11, Samantha Browning, 13 and Emilia Dorrity, 11, had just completed their go and were about to tackle a flags challenge.
‘We did a scavenger hunt yesterday,’ said Emily. ‘We had to find coloured things matching sentences we were given.’
Emilia only joined the Guides a year ago.
‘I like doing all the activities,’ she said.
‘I’ve enjoyed camping and got a good night’s sleep last night. But on Friday we had to change tents because ours was leaking.’
The camp was based around the theme of ‘glow’ – guiding fun, love the environment, outdoor adventure and world – and at the end of it all the girls were awarded a glow badge.
