Harriet Townsend from Newport, Leader of 11th Newport Guides, has gained the top award within Girlguiding – The Queen’s Guide Award.
Returning to the Island after university and travelling abroad, Harriet stepped right back into Girlguiding and was welcomed back by not only Newport Guides, but the other units she acts as an assistant leader for.
Harriet said:
“This welcome back was amazing. However, I felt a bit low and lost with what to do with myself. Someone had mentioned about doing my Queen’s Guide Award and after looking into the criteria and speaking with Shirley and Lesley the Commissioners for Girlguiding IW about how to start, I set off.
“My first consideration was my age as then aged 23 I knew I would have to be quick in starting and completion because of the deadline for this year’s 26th birthday. Looking back, I am so proud and glad I decided to give it a go. When handing my completed booklet in, three days before my 26th birthday, I was so happy.”
To achieve the Queen’s Guide Award those taking part carry out 5 main challenges, each with different elements. Harriet undertook the following:
Service in Girlguiding
Part 1 local Guiding – Assistant Brownie Leader + Gaining module 4 Leadership and running Yarmouth Guides for a year. Helping at Guide Camps and Brownie Pack Holidays.
Part 2 New responsibility – Gained licence and was leader in charge for a Brownie Pack Holiday including taking girls swimming.
Part 3 Working with other units -Joined GIW County Events Team assisting with planning and running of County Carnival Day at Sandown.
Part 4 World wider Guiding – Travelled on ‘ICE’ project to Amsterdam-first aider and an assistant leader of community project which took 24 Guides to Amsterdam for 5 days.
Outdoor Challenge
Part 1 Planning an expedition involving over 18’s no dangerous equipment and all paperwork in place.
Part 2 Challenge – Two other girls and Harriet took part in a challenge to walk the length of Hadrian’s Wall whilst camping over 5 days. Sadly, they only made it 56 out of the 72 miles.
Part 3 Presentation – Speaking about this Expedition to a Guide Unit and Rangers and offering this as a great Girlguiding opportunity.
Personal Skill development
For this section Harriet learnt to Knit choosing knitting as a skill useful to learn for later in life. Within the 12- month time Harriett completed a snood and tried to make a chunky knit jumper.
Community Action
Part 1 Practical – Assisting Age UK – volunteering with the good- neighbour scheme and visiting an elderly lady once a week for 6 months
Part 2 – A Research project carried out to identify if Island residents were aware of the services offered by Age UK and if they could be improved. The overall response was that elderly people were unaware of the services and thought the service needed more marketing. Harriet also found out that the younger the person the more likely they were to help or volunteer in the future.
Residential
“The final Challenge was to take part in a Girlguiding 2-night residential event where I knew none of the other participants. For this I chose to attend an Adult INTOPS selection weekend at Foxlease, I knew no one out of the 60 participants. We were put into teams to carry out tasks which included, an egg drop, dream holiday task, ready steady cook challenge and campfire. I had a lovely weekend with other leaders, learnt some new songs and games and did make some new friends.
Speaking about her Queen’s Guide Award overall, Harriet concludes:
“I loved every minute of my Queen’s Guide experience even when stressed with family, job and moving but it was defiantly worth it. I am so happy to have completed it. A huge thank you to everyone who supported and helped with this award. It is not just for me but everyone”.
Harriet was presented with her award by Girlguiding IW Commissioners Lesley Clifford and Shirley Saunders.
Well done very impressive so nice to hear of some nice decent people out there. That was alot of work you should be so proud of yourself