Girlguiding members light beacons to celebrate Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
Guides, Rangers, Young Leaders and Girlguiding volunteers in the local area joined hundreds of Girlguiding members across the UK and beyond in lighting beacons to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on Thursday, 2 June.
The Beacon lighting event held in Worthing at The Compound saw 13+ Guides, Rangers, Young Leaders and Leaders come together to enjoy a special evening of Jubilee celebrations.
The event which included an obstacle course, ‘Can Cooker’ Ranger activities, ‘Growing Up Wild by the Seashore’ activities, The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Beacon Tart, The Queen’s Jubilee Pudding and a royal BBQ banquet before the beacon lighting ceremony, was a huge success with over 30 people in attendance.
Girlguiding members lit an impressive 70 community beacons in total on the night, marking each year The Queen has been on the throne. Girlguiding was one of several charities to take part in the event, with a total of 3,500 Platinum Jubilee Beacons lit across the UK and Commonwealth, with a Principal Beacon lit at Buckingham Palace.
Over 30, 13+ Guides, Rangers, Young Leaders and Girlguiding Volunteer,
Ella Jones, 13, Guide said: “I enjoyed the beacon lighting event as I was able to hang out with my friends and have a laugh”
Louisa Sharp, 15, Young Leader said: “I had fun doing the various activities such as cooking”
Angela Pickett, Former Highdown Division Commissioner and Pam Lovegrove, Former Cissbury Division Commissioner said: “I loved celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee at The Compound with all the Guides, Rangers and Young Leaders from Worthing Cissbury Division. We both had the pleasure of lighting the beacon and it was an honour to light it in celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee at the only recognised beacon event in the whole of West Sussex! All those that attended were given the commemorative badges, quiche, trifle and will receive a certificate of attendance after the event”
Karen Hopper, Worthing Cissbury Division Ranger Adviser, said: “It was amazing to come together with fellow Girlguiding members to be a part of the Jubilee beacon celebrations and be the only official Girlguiding event in Sussex West. I would like to give a shout out to all the volunteers who helped to organise the event and the Worthing Community Chest who gave us a grant to make the event possible. The Queen has a long history with Girlguiding – as a Guide herself and as our Patron, making this historic celebration feel that extra bit special.”
Girlguiding is offering its members lots of ways to join in the fun and celebrate the special anniversary throughout the year. Many were involved in the first wave of tree planting as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative, and others looking forward to getting involved in the upcoming season.
The charity also boasts a number of specially created Jubilee activity toppers girls can do in their unit meetings, including building an edible campfire for Rainbows, a crown challenge for Brownies, a Buckingham Palace obstacle course for Guides and Rangers.
In true Girlguiding style there are also three new commemorative badges on offer.
Girlguiding and Scouts joined forces to create a specially designed woven commemorative badge – boasting seven-sides to represent the seven decades of the Queen’s reign and 70 dots in Girlguiding iconic blue and Scout’s purple to represent the linked history of the two organisations. The badge also features the Queen’s official Jubilee emblem, the Girlguiding trefoil and Scouts’ fleur de lis.
In addition, the charity has launched a metal commemorative pin badge featuring seven diamonds alongside 63 individual spokes to represent the Queen’s time on the throne, in the colours of the four Girlguiding sections. And a colourful woven fun badge to help capture Jubilee memories forever, however members choose to celebrate this historic year.
The Queen has a long-standing personal history with Girlguiding first joining as a Guide in 1937, at 11 years old alongside her 7-year-old sister, Princess Margaret as a Brownie.
At the direct request of the Queen Mother, then Queen, a new Guide company, The 1st Buckingham Palace Brownie Pack and Guide Company was set up to include Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret with 14 Guides and Brownies recruited from cousins, friends and children of the staff at the Palace. The unit met in the summerhouse in the Buckingham Palace Garden.
In 1952, the same year she succeeded to the throne, HM The Queen became Joint Patron for Girlguiding with Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother).
Worthing Cissbury Division Girlguiding 