Introducing... Clare

Hi,

My name is Clare, and I am 25. I work for Atkins in Epsom, Surrey, as a Hydrologist and Flood Risk Consultant. My day-to-day work is really varied, but includes analysis of rainfall and river flow data, assessment of the risk of flooding to new development sites and consideration of flood risk management options.

Guiding has always been a very significant part of my life, and I first went away with the Brownies when I was a few months old! Many pack holidays later and I am a Brownie Leader with 3^rd Cuddington Brownies and really enjoy taking them away, along with all the other meeting activities. I am currently working towards my Girlguiding Trainers Qualification and am looking forward to the training opportunities that I will have while in Guyana.

I have a love of outdoor adventurous activities, camping and campfires that has been fostered through Guiding over many years. I have been lucky enough to travel internationally with both Guiding and Scouting in the past, most recently as part of the Japanese Cultural Exchange Programme in 2010.  The previous year I also spent three fabulous, though exhausting months as a Spring Volunteer at Our Chalet in Switzerland, cooking and cleaning for up to 100 guests while watching the surroundings transform from snow-covered mountains to fields of wild flowers.

I am very excited about being part of the GOLD project to Guyana. I am the team secretary and will be keeping records of all our meetings and phone conferences, as well as compiling a team scrapbook, training session template and project report. I’ll also be helping to keep Team Guyana 2013 super organised!

You can find my fundraising page at: http://www.justgiving.com/Clare-Grout

LOGL

Clare

Intoducing... Jess

Hi, I'm Jess, I'm 21, from Newcastle upon Tyne and I study Chemistry at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. This year I have been doing an industrial placement year at a chemical company near York so I have moved there! When I'm not working or studying I enjoy dance, bellringing and playing music.

I've been involved in Girlguiding since I was 5 and became a Rainbow. Since then I've been a part of all the sections until I became assistant leader of my Senior Section group. Whilst doing that I became a Guiding Advocate and helped present the airbrushing petition to parliament! I also went on the Centenary Stampede which was an amazing experience, and gained my Senior Section Holiday Permit. Now I'm a leader with 31st York Guides, and I've just finished as a member of the Girls in Action Task and Finish Group, as well as just finishing my Queen's Guide.

This year I am leading the team, and I'm very excited to return to Guyana with such a lovely team! I'm sure we're going to have a great project :)

LOGL

Jess

Introducing... Deborah

Hi, I’m Deborah and I’ve been involved in Guiding since I was a Brownie aged 7.  I was very proud to be the first one in my Pack wearing the new uniform when I made my promise!  That was 23 years ago and since then I’ve been a Guide, Senior Section, and Brownie leader myself for seven years.  I have my Holiday Licence to take Brownies away (<<see photo!) and got my Queen’s Guide award in 2007.  I went to Iceland with North West region in 1999 and I’m delighted to be travelling abroad again with Girlguiding, this time to Guyana!  I’m currently our division International Advisor which fits in around my work…

I’m now a hospital doctor in Manchester working in the medicine department, which means I look after adults who have health problems which can’t be solved by surgery.  At the moment, I’m working in cardiology and respiratory medicine.  In my spare time I’m doing a part time Masters degree in Public Health, and last year my boyfriend and I did the Coast to Coast cycle ride from Whitehaven to Sunderland in County Durham raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

For our GOLD project I’m the team first aider which means I’m responsible for the physical and mental health of our team whilst on project.  I also put together and maintain our team first aid kit and make sure I make a record of any medical issues whilst we’re away.  I’m going to be encouraging the girls to drink plenty and take their anti-malarials!  I’m really looking forward to my first adventure in South America and absorbing some of that Caribbean atmosphere! 

Check out my fundraising progress on www.justgiving.com/DeborahKirkhamGOLD

LOGL

Deborah

Introducing... Amelia

Hi all,

My name is Amelia, I am 22 and an adult leader with 4th Redhill Brownies. I work at a college as a science technician, which I really enjoy because every day is different.

In my spare time, as well as Guiding, I am a badminton coach and also enjoy playing locally. Currently I have been very busy fundraising for Guyana, which has included running short tennis sessions, charity meals, and shortly, bag packing.

I am MEGA excited to have been chosen to go to Guyana in the summer, I am the team treasurer. which is a bit scary being in charge of all the money, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

LOGL

Amelia 

Hello? Hello! This is a bit weird...

So, we’ve had our first GOLD Guyana 2013 phone conference (hence the confusing title- this was my introduction to the conference) and I now have lots of exciting news to tell you all!

As we were waiting for everyone in the team to ring the special number to join the conference we enjoyed stories of Clare’s skiing trip- which sounded amazing! But finally we were all ready, and so we got down to the serious business- PLANNING and ORGANISING.

Jess had produced an agenda- which we stuck to in the most part- so we went through each item very thoroughly. We discussed flights, onward travel, group uniform, 3rd briefing plans and our to-do lists from 1st briefing (amazingly, every member of the team has either done, or is the process of doing all their actions from these). Our lovely badge and Challenge Pack were also fairly important topics of chat. However, we had the most fun talking about plans for our 2nd briefing country presentation and evening entertainment. A lot of ideas were shared but the ones we have decided on are going to be truly amazing!!! This information is top secret at the moment, but to keep you hooked to the blog, I will divulge that Team Guyana GOLD 2013 will be dressing up for the occasion... 

:D

All too quickly it was over (after only 2 hours!). Rebecca's tea was ready and Deborah and Jess had job applications/ assignments in for the next day, so we checked our new to-do lists, confirmed the date of our next phone conference and said our goodbyes.

I think that is everything...

I will be updating very soon with personal profiles of each team member, so keep a look out.

LOGL

Miriam x

GOLD Guyana 2013 Challenge Badge

Our Challenge Pack is finished- very exciting! Thanks to the lovely Clare for designing our amazing team badge (see the side bar >>>) .

This blog post is particularly aimed at Leaders who are thinking about planning summer term meetings (fingers crossed you are like my unit and have not done it already!). Why not take a look at our GOLD Guyana 2013 Challenge Badge syllabus (it's very good- promise!)

Here is the link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6z1E0Z0q1HuODdNblVxcFBlOTQ/edit?usp=sharing 

There are five sections: International Guiding, Guyana The Rainforest, Guyana The Ocean, Guyana Culture and Traditions and Guiding in Guyana. Each contains loads of great ideas suitable for every age and ability. Once you (and your unit) have finished the required number of activities- one activity from each section, as well as: Rainbows +1 other; Brownies +2 others; and Guides, Senior Section and Trefoil Guild +3 others- fill in the Badge Order form included in the Pack, send it off with the appropriate money, and as quickly as we possibly can we will send you the badges so that you can get busy sewing. :D

Alternatively, you can just order a single badge (by the same process described above).

I will leave you with a picture of the Badge Pack (which I went to great lengths to take- the photo involved standing on a chair!).

Lots of GOLD love

Miriam x

ps. Please, please share this blog and the Badge Pack with as many people as possible- it would really help out our team! Thank you.

pps. You can now subscribe to this blog- I know, very exciting! Just type your email address into the little box on the right hand side bar >>>. This will mean that every time I update, you get sent an email
with the appropriate link. Amazing!

First Briefing

A couple of weeks ago Team Guyana GOLD 2013 came together with all of the other 2013 GOLDies at first briefing. We travelled from the around the country to meet up for the first time since INTOPS (the selection weekend for GOLD; find out more at http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/seniorsection/whatcanido/international/intops.html )

I think it is safe to say that we were all pretty nervous! However, nerves were quickly lost when we sat down and had a really yummy meal together prepared by two ex Guyana GOLDies (because obviously Guyana is the best project country!!). Jess told us that Clare was ill and would not be joining us until Saturday morning :( , so we had to eat her dinner too- tough times :D Then it was on to an evening full of ice breaker games to bond as a team. The highlight was Rebecca attempting to mime "Girlguiding CHQ" and "Brownies" whilst being under a duvet!!! She was successful (although "VERY HOT") and team Guyana came second overall- pretty good for a team with one man down. It was a great evening- I have not laughed that hard in a long time!!!! (Sorry for the lack of photos- note to self, always have camera near by.)

After a fairly good nights sleep we were ready to learn lots and lots and lots about GOLD and Guyana. But before that, we were fairly pre-occupied with welcoming Clare, who must have been up very early in the morning to get to Tolmers for breakfast- we were all seriously impressed with her efforts! We had a full  team and could not wait to begin our GOLD journey together :D.

We spent all day Saturday doing various sessions, from how to look after our lovely leader Jess, to fundraising and PR advice. We took on a lot of information, but this was interspersed with some really fun energisers outside in the snow and sweets provided by Jess and Amelia! I quickly learnt that note taking and "to-do" lists are a must for GOLD. I even had "to-do" list envy with Deborah- hers were just incredible! Jess had this sorted though and gave us lovely note books, post-its and a folder to keep everything organised- mine had pink ladybirds on it :)

Hard at work planning.

We also had lots of group time where we discussed team roles, kit and uniform, project dates, badges and a challenge pack (more on all of these very exciting things in future blog posts- keep a look out!!!!).

After a very busy day we were all summoned to our team rooms and left in them for what felt like an absolute age whilst the GOLD team leaders were preparing for our evening's entertainment. And oh my goodness, it was very entertaining! The theme- 150 years of the tube. Confused?!?! We were too, until... well just look at the picture below.

Which tube stations can you spot?

We enjoyed games, quizzes and a bit of random dancing.Team Guyana's (or rather Victoria line's) favourite game- the alternative bus route game (basically crossing the room by only standing on two carpet tiles). We were very creative in our method of getting across London (the floor), but we were accused of cheating (wrongly) which made us all very sad :(.

I would just like to say a big thank you to all of the GOLD team leaders, Anna and Carrie, and the lovely cooks for putting so much time and effort into the evening- it was truly incredible! Also, Jess- aka Victoria- your costume was amazing!

A vision in light blue and Queen Victoria.

Sunday morning brought more energisers, happy plans, health and wellbeing talks, a culture shock presentation and lots of reminders to share the GOLD love. All too quickly it was time to travel home. After lots of hugs and checking of diaries that we all have the right dates for our up and coming phone conferences, we left feeling tired but super excited for GOLD Guyana 2013. Bring it on.

Lots of GOLD love

Miriam x