Local Girlguiding volunteer Katie Charlton has been recognised for her role in empowering girls and young women who are members of Girlguiding IW.
Katie, from Newport, has been honoured for her work supporting girls and young women for over 20 years with a Region Compass Award. She was proposed for this prestigious discretionary honour by fellow members of Girlguiding IW.
The award was recently presented by Racheal Tattum, Deputy Chief Commissioner Girlguiding South-West England, at a ceremony in Salisbury.
Katie first became involved in Guiding when she joined 11th Newport Brownies, when she was just 7 years old. At this time the Unit was under the leadership of Marion O’Nions. Later Katie joined 10th Newport Guides and, after training, became an assistant leader with Marion.
Over the years Katie has assisted or led a number of Island units including Carisbrooke Rainbows, Carisbrooke Brownies and East Cowes Brownies, where she arranged the 90th and 100th year celebrations for the unit. As well as providing amazing opportunities for girls, watching them grow in confidence and making life-long friends, Katie showed additional leadership skills when she was appointed Section Commissioner for Brownies.
Katie’s highlights during her time as Section Commissioner included organising a World Thinking Day event at Ryde and an all Island/all Section event at Sandown.
On receiving her Compass Award, Katie said:
“Volunteering with Girlguiding has given me such confidence. I now have self-belief that ‘I can do it’. It has given me a ‘Can Do’ attitude”.
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Linda Stone, Island Commissioner, said:
“I can’t thank Katie enough for her hard work with so many Units over the years. She has helped hundreds of girls discover new things, make great friends and experience things for the first time. She has endless energy and enthusiasm and is committed to helping each girl. Recently she has started new Units at Northwood where she is looking forward to welcoming new members”.
