Guides

Guides build brilliant friendships

Girls at Guides won’t be your average friends. They’ll be the girls who want to go on adventures with you, who encourage you to try new things and who celebrate when you’ve pushed yourself to achieve something special.

As you progress through Guides you’ll have a chance to lead small groups and support younger girls to have fun and make friends. You could even get involved in our leadership opportunities

Guides get to have their say

You and the girls in your group will decide together what to do in your meetings, choosing from the wide range of badges, skills and activities covered by our six programme themes. So whether you want to try a new sport, have a go at performing, run a debate or brush up on your first aid skills – you can.

If there’s an issue you really care about, Guides is a chance to make a difference. You’ll be encouraged to speak out about what matters to you and to do something about it.

Your Guide programme, awards and badges

You’ll never be stuck for something to do in Guides. Whether you want to dedicate your time to exploring the outdoors, really focus on your hobbies, or challenge yourself with something new, you’ll find something at Guides that suits you.

You can work towards interest badges  – about photography, geocaching, human rights and more, develop life skills with skills builders and work hard to earn unique awards like the Commonwealth award, the Guide Gold award and the six Theme awards, which will really help you at school and later in life.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions, or ‘subs’, cover the costs of equipment, activities and hiring the meeting place. These can be paid weekly, monthly or each term. There is also an annual subscription paid by all members that covers the day-to-day running of the charity and your local guiding area. This is sometimes included in subs.

There is usually an extra charge for special activities, days out, residential events and holidays. We are proud to offer a huge range of great value opportunities for girls to try new things.

Costs of our uniform

Girls can choose to wear Girlguiding uniform to meetings however no girl is excluded because she does not have the right clothing. In some areas, you can borrow or buy second-hand uniforms. Ask your unit leader for details.

How we can help with costs

We don’t want girls to miss out on guiding for any reason. If you’re concerned about any of these costs preventing your daughter from taking part, please speak to your unit leader. She can tell you about ways we can help, including our grants.

Gift Aid

If you pay income tax, leaders can use Gift Aid to claim back the tax paid at basic rate. This means guiding gets an extra 25p for every £1 you give in subs or donations. Ask your unit leader to find out more.