IT'S FOR LIFE GUIDING

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GIRL GUIDES A U S T R A L I A

V I C T O R I A THE NEWSLETTER FOR SUPPORTERS & FRIENDS OF GUIDING September 2008 ISSUE 03/08 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • i H

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> 19 excited girls along with their parents, grandparents, families and Leaders gathered on Saturday 26 July for the annual BP

Presentation. Each girl received her BP Certificate and a Citation Certificate, which gave details of all she had achieved for this Award.

Congratulations girls.

In this Issue:

02 From the State Commissioner

02 From the Chairman

03 Guiding Around

04 Blue & Gold Society 04 Leaders for Life 05 The Importance of Support

f rom the Business Sector

06 From the Archives 06 Gone Home 07 Gone Home 07 Awards

V

From the State Commissioner

As we are well into the first year of our term, I recall how we started the year with enthusiasm to 'make a difference' to Guiding in Victoria. We would like to thank all those members and volunteers who have supported us and invited us to share in local celebrations during the year.

Recently we were privileged to visit Lady Price with whom Alecia was able to share her experiences of the 2008 World Conference in South Africa. Lady Price was delighted to hear about the proceedings as she had participated in World Conferences as a former Chair of WAGGGS and fondly recalled how much she had enjoyed sharing those happy times with Guides from all over the world.

We were also delighted to visit with Mrs Jan de Kretser at Government House. It is always a welcoming experience and our conversation ranged across the breadth of Guiding from world affairs to local interests. Mrs de Kretser is looking forward, as we are, to our Girls Rock Event 2009. This is a celebration of Guiding, an informative opportunity to hear from inspiring experts and a wonderful way to start our Guiding year.

In the past few months we have been involved in a range of activities including appraisals, interviews, attending Region events, annual meetings, reunions and enjoying the various Showtime presentations in and around Melbourne. Our work in the Regions has been an opportunity to listen to our members and share ideas. It has provided a valuable exchange of information across the State.

Communication at all levels of the organisation is a vital component of successfully achieving our goals. These goals are based on our strategic plan and how we manage to achieve specific

outcomes. The focus for our team is building Leaders' confidence and capacity, beginning with our Region Leaders and their 'Pathway Plans'. In this way, Leaders can strategize how they will contribute to Victoria's management plan. Furthermore, we are committed to increasing our membership through developing volunteering. Lastly, we are advocating for women and girls at all levels of society. To raise the profile of Girl Guides and to inform the public that we have much to offer, particularly in terms of building leadership skills for all ages through practical, hands-on experiences.

As we begin to plan for next year, I am reminded that our 2010 Centenary draws closer. The launch in September 2009 will be followed by Victoria's ACE camp in January 2010. The future is exciting and offers opportunities to contribute and 'make a difference'. So join us.

Noella Kershaw State Commissioner

From the Chairman

After the recent final meeting of State Council for 2008,1 reflected on the major decisions already made by Executive Committee and State Council in the first six months of the year.

2008 began with the fabulous "Girls Rock" and the seven day visit of Mary Mc Phail, the CEO of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. This was extremely valuable for Girl Guides Victoria and coincided with the induction of the new State Team and the inaugural Chairman.

The Executive Committee is supported by a number of sub-committees and much of the work emanates from them. Each consists of Executive members with other skilled volunteers. I would like to share with you their current key tasks.

Strategic Planning Committee has produced a new Strategic Plan 2008-2010 for Girl Guides Victoria which has been

agreed to. They also have put in place an Operational Plan to support these strategies. The key Strategies are:

Strategy 1: Revitalise the Movement

Goal 1: Grow the membership of girls, young women and volunteers.

Goal 2: Ensure the sustainable long term viability of Girl Guides Victoria.

Goal 3: Build the profile of Girl Guides Victoria.

Strategy 2: Advocacy

Goal 1: Implement a framework that supports girls and young women to speak up and out on issues that are important to them.

Goal 2: Create opportunities to enable Girl Guides Victoria to advocate on issues of importance to girls and young women.

Finance Committee monitors and manages our finances. This year the difficulties in the investment market have made this a challenging responsibility. In April it was decided to move the strategic planning for our properties to Finance Committee and the Property Advisory Committee was disbanded.

Human Resources Committee have developed publications to assist Leaders

and the organisation. These include booklets supporting Volunteers, about Awards and a Governance Charter for Executive. They conducted a review of the pilot Area Development Manager Project. HR also initiated a review of the composition of Executive Committee. Much discussion by Executive resulted in a number of recommendations including reducing the size and removing the requirement for specific categories of membership.

These changes to Executive require Structure and Procedures Committee to prepare a redraft of the Constitution for voting by State Council on 1 February 2009. This committee's work has also included drafting policies and amendments to the Terms of Reference of our committees.

Margaret Fitzgerald is the new Chair of Awards Committee. They have been busy administering the area of recognising the wonderful work of our volunteers.

With the support of its sub-committees, Executive Committee has made governance decisions to enhance the future directions of Girl Guides Victoria.

Elizabeth Adnams Chairman

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GUIDING AROUND

>Even State Commissioners need to brush up >Snacking friends at HOP training on their skills too!

>A cat for a Letter 'C'Night

> Making a human Trefoil in LEAP training

>Deep concentration at a JUMPS training

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Thanks to Annette Swaffield for providing all Training photos and to Julia Thorn and Coach Approach for photos from Girl Guides Get Going. 03

>Alexandra Amos with Mark Robertson >Bianca Powerski with Claire Messent (Victorian Volleyball Representative) (Australian Hockey Squad)

> Clare Haysom with Justine Smethurst (Australian Bronze Softball Medallist at the Beijing Olympics)

Blue & Gold Society

Mrs Ellen Boyd AM, Patron, The Blue & Gold

Society invites you to attend the annual

Cocktail Party

on Friday 21 November 2008

at The Melbourne Town Hall in the Portico Room

from 6:00pm to 8:00pm

GUEST SPEAKER -Professor Susan (Sue) McDonald I am delighted to welcome one of our Blue & Gold Society members and former Guide as our guest speaker. Professor Sue McDonald is the Professor of Midwifery at La Trobe University and the Mercy Hospital for Women, where she provides professional leadership and heads the Mercy/La Trobe Midwifery Professorial Unit. Her responsibilities cover a wide range of areas including supervision for students, co-ordination of education programs, research and links on a state, national and international basis. Sue combines this with family responsibilities and community activities, which makes a fascinating story.

Cost: (GST inclusive) Blue & Gold Society Members $55.00

Non-members $65.00

For further information please contact Jane Pennington, on 8606 3500 or by email ea@guidesvic.org.au

Please reserve your place now as space is limited.

Leaders for Life

Leaders for Life What will be your

challenge for next year?

Applications are now open to be a part of the Leaders for Life program in 2009.

Increase your skills

Broaden your horizons

Discover more from your leadership

Find a better work-life-Guiding balance!

Nominate yourself, someone you know or come along together!

Participants will benefit personally and professionally from being matched with their own mentor and undertaking workshops in:

Public Speaking

Time Management Goal Setting

Event Management Finances and Budgeting The Importance of Writ ing

Media and Public Relations Networking and Communicat ion

Personal Presentation Resume Writing and Job Interviews

Mentoring Strengths and Opportunit ies

This unique program is offered FREE to female adult members with leadership exper ience and is similar to courses offered for hundreds of dollars outside of Guiding!

For more information complete the Expression of Interest form on the "Leaders for Life" web page at www. guidesvic.org.au or contact Guide Centre.

Go on, do something different and experience |

Leaders for Life yourself... | o

You won't look back! 8 04

The Importance of Support from the Business Sector At our Leader's for Life dinner in 2007 author Maggie Hamilton was the guest speaker and she talked about her book What Men Don't Talk About. Since then Maggie has recently had published a new book entitled What's happening to our girls? In this book she talks about how "our girls have become vulnerable - not just teen girls, but also young girls and baby girls. They are being forced to grow up faster then ever before. What a twelve-year-old girl experienced at seven is not what a seven-year-old is struggling with. Many of the guidelines we offer girls no longer apply."

These are just some of the issues facing girls today and as an organisation which is focused on girls and young women we need to make sure that we maintain this focus and relevance.

In order to maintain focus and relevance this year we has been developing our strategic plan and undertaking a critical review of our operations to look at what will be required to move us forward. In order to undertake this type of review it is often necessary to involve people who are on the outside of the organisation - this enables us to gain a different perspective on issues and to be chal lenged in different ways.

Seek support from other organisations is one way of gaining this perspective. Support can come in a variety of ways (not just in the form of direct f inancial support) and the expert ise found in the business sector is just one area we can pursue.

We have been extremely fortunate to have a number of organisations provide us with assistance in the areas of strategic planning and communicat ions on a pro bono basis this year. These organisations include Mitchell Communicat ion Group.

Strategic Planning

The Executive Commit tee and Strategic Planning Commit tee have been working on the area of strategic planning for some time. A major part of this work was undertaken at the Planning Day held on 12 July 2008. Participants included members of the Executive Committee, staff, volunteers and girls. Ms Mary Woolr idge was the guest speaker on this day. Mary is the current Liberal member for Doncaster and prior to being elected to State parliament Mary was the CEO for the Foundation of Young Australians. Mary spoke about the changes that were introduced at the Foundation which moved the Foundation to being adult-led to youth-led organisation. This presentation provided some challenging and thought-provoking areas for discussion.

The contribution of the participants at the planning day has now been developed into a document for the Executive Committee to consider. In addition members of State Council, at the August meeting, also participated in providing the Executive with their ideas on a number of topics. A special thank you to management consult ing firm, McKinsey & Company, who have assisted us on this important issue of strategic planning.

Communications

In July we sought assistance from Mitchell Communicat ions Group. An initial meeting brought about an undertaking from Mitchell to develop a communicat ions strategy that we might pursue going forward. This plan was presented to us by Tony and Jenna. Their report has been circulated to the Executive Commit tee and Tony will present the findings to the Committee in October.

The information provided in this report is highly relevant and provides some excellent insights into the girls and the parents of today and how they interact with the media and with technology. We are looking forward to continue working with Mitchell.

The strategy and communicat ion plans complement each other and provide us with a strong base that will form a blueprint for the way forward.

We are extremely grateful to our advisers for the work they have done (and are continuing to do). Our strategy and communicat ions development should provide us with the confidence to pursue new initiatives and directions.

We also need to continually ask ourselves such questions as: What do we want Girl Guides Victoria to look like in the next 5 to 10 years?

In order to move forward we must be relevant, forward thinking as well as being flexible and adaptable. And as part of a world-wide Movement, we need to keep moving (as the word 'movement ' implies).

Wendy Lewis Chief Executive Officer

- - - STOP PRESS - - -On-line registration for Girls Rock 2009 is now available

on the Girl Guides Victoria website for members. Non-members can download an application form

from the website.

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From the Archives

»The Victorian Girl Guides Cycling Corps armband

In December 1941 the Girl Guide Association of Victoria announced the Girl Guide Cycle Patrols would be formed throughout Victoria to carry messages in emergencies as well as at other times.

The idea came from a request from the Red Cross Emergency Companies as the members of the Girl Guide Red Cross Emergency Company felt that they could not adequately do this along with their other duties and suggested that the Girl Guide Movement might form a Cycle Corp which would be especially trained in this field and could also help the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Unit by relaying messages for them. It was felt the Girl Guide Cycle Corps could assist not only in emergencies but also by assisting the local Air Raid Precautions Unit (ARP)

The organisation of these Corps were as follows -

1. Any Guide, Ranger or Guider (Leader) holding the Cyclist Badge may enrol in the Cycle Squad.

2. Guides who have not as yet passed their Second Class badge must do the test for the Cyclist badge but will not receive the badge until they are Second Class Guides.

3. All members under 21 years must have written permission from a parent or guardian.

4. An armlet to be worn on the left sleeve above the elbow, will be issued to all who have passed the following tests:

Pass a test equivalent to the First Class "Knowledge of Neighbourhood" section, to include short cuts, Wardens' Posts, First Aid Posts. a) Know the Air-raid signals. b) Know how to stop bleeding.

c) Hold the Home Defence badge or pass the following sections of the syllabus -Know how to behave in an air-raid, Send and receive messages by telephone, Give concise and accurate information (verbally and in writing) about an unusual occurrence. Deliver in person a verbal message 1 mile away.

Tests - Commissioners are asked to make sure all tests are thorough and practical (i.e. no written questions)

Organisation - Central from Headquarters - Organiser, Secretary and Sub-Committee who may inspect the squad at any time.

District - The Unit in the District will be the Squad. The maximum in a Squad will be 20, but may be less. All local organization will be in the hands of the District concerned. Districts may form more than

one Squad. It is suggested that Squads might be formed in age groups e.g. under 14, 14-15, 16 and over. This would facilitate arrangements for helping various organizations which might require the help of cyclists, e.g. Red Cross, Blood Transfusion Organisation, local ARP Centres etc.

Rules - Each Squad must have regular parades not less that once per week and more if possible, especially in the beginning when training is necessary. This will ensure that each Guide is efficient and that there is NO slackness. In a Service of this kind efficiency and discipline are essential.

All members must attend all parades unless they are away from home or ill. The penalty for non-attendance will be the forfeiting of the arm-band until one full month attendance has been attained.

Members aged 16 years and over may be called upon at any time to assist however those under 14 will not be called out at night or during air-raids.

Guide Uniform must be worn on all occasions (nb. It will be realised that in the case of an air-raid alert, Guides may not have time to change before reporting for duty). Guides should be trained to have their uniform in good order ready to put on at a moments notice

It is not intended that the Cycle Squad should take the place of or interfere with the normal Company meetings. Each Squad member is expected to attend the activities of both her Guide Company and the Cycle Squad Parades and training.

Inspection at Parades by Squad Leaders will include bicycles, uniform, equipment - every Guide is to have a triangular tie, 2 pennies for the telephone, a clean handkerchief or rag in a clean envelope, pencil and notebook and a simple first aid kit.

Cycle Corps formed all over Victoria e.g. Portland, Bendigo, Surrey Hills, Burwood, Camberwell, Box Hill, Geelong, Benalla, Brunswick, Coburg, Preston, Melbourne, Ballarat, Northcote, Corryong, Cohuna, Rutherglen, Toorak, Armadale, Cheltenham, Essendon and Wangaratta.

To be continued in December Guiding Matters...

Jenny Mills Guide Arch ives

Gone Home S H A R P (Wright) Laurie Dec 11 1920 - July 1 2008 Laurie's lifetime journey through Guiding began as a Guide gaining her First Class badge before she joined Box Hill Rangers, then at the age of 18, she took on what was to be the first of many Leadership roles:

Tawny Owl - Brownie Leader 1st Box Hill Pack - 23-06-1939 - 1941 only leaving to join the Australian Army in 1942, where she served as a member of 2/5 Australian General Hospital until December 1945, serving in New Guinea and Moratai.

She returned to Guiding in 1948 and between then and 1973 held the following positions: Brownie Leader 2nd Box Hill Pack, Lieutenant Country Cadets, Captain Boroondara Cadets, Victorian Brownie Adviser, Correspondence Trainer Victoria, Member Victorian State Council, Assistant Victorian Training Adviser, Member of State Executive Committee, Region Training Adviser East Metropolitan Region and Region Training Adviser Barwon Region.

She gained the Brownie Training Certificate in 1953 and Brownie Training Diploma in 1960 (Australian Appointment).

Laurie travelled to Nauru and South Africa, appointed by the Girl Guide Association of Australia to assist with their Guide training as well as being responsible for the Papua New Guinea Correspondence Courses.

Laurie's contribution to Guiding both in Australia and internationally was in many ways ground-breaking.

M c Q U E E N , Iris July 2 2008 Sadly Iris died in a car accident just 2 weeks before her 80th birthday. Iris's Guiding included: District Commissioner Noble Park 1962 - 1967, Guide Leader 2nd Noble Park Company - 1972 - 1980

Iris made a difference to Guiding in Noble Park as a kind and dedicated Leader who worked for the good of the girls and to support the Leaders in her District.

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Gone Home LEE-ARCHER, Mary Feb 1 1911 - July 14 2008 Mary has been a long time supporter of Guiding, holding various appointments over a 25 year span and after her retirement, as an active Leader.

During her years of Service, she held the following positions: District Commissioner for Camberwell District, Mordialloc District, Mentone-Parkdale District, Seaford District, Mentone-Parkdale District, Division Commissioner Port Phillip Division, Region Commissioner South Metropolitan Region and a Member State Council.

In 1980 she received her 20 Year Leader Long Service Award and in December 1983, was presented with the Banksia Award as recognition of her Service to Guiding over many years. She was amongst the first to receive this award.

ANGUEY, Joyce July 15 2008 Joyce began her adult Guiding as Guide Leader for 1 st Nathalia Guide Company, 1947 - 1948, then became involved with the Lone Section in 1957 firstly as Assistant Guide Leader at 7th Victorian Lone Guide Company then as Guide Leader of the same Lone Guide Company. Following her retirement from her Unit in 1973, she continued her interest in Guiding.

POLLOCK, Muriel July 28 2008 Muriel was a quiet and gentle lady who added a calming influence to any situation. For many she will be remembered as the Assistant State Commissioner for Girl Guides Victoria. Muriel held many positions in Guiding such as Region Commissioner for South Eastern Region, District Commissioner for Glenhuntly - Ormond and Division Commissioner -Caulfield.

During her term as Assistant State Commissioner to Marjorie West, in the years 1978 - 1983, she chaired many Sub-committee meetings as well as travelling the State of Victoria to represent the State Commissioner at a variety of activities and events, both within and outside of Guiding.

In latter years, Muriel joined Town and Country Trefoil Guild, where she was an active and enthusiastic member.

In December 1985 Muriel was awarded the Emu Award for her excellent Service to the Girl Guide Association.

HOGENDOORN, Sue August 1 2008 Sue was a well respected and loved member of the Ferntree Gully District where she first took on the role of Brownie Leader, 2nd Ferntree Gully Pack, then Leader of Ferntree Gully "Too-Can" Guides and was known to her Guides as 'Possum'. She also held positions within her Region including Public Relations Co-ordinator and Region Outdoor

Activities Co-ordinator.

Her natural ability to get on with people as well as her incredible enthusiasm saw her joining the Victorian Membership Committee, followed by her appointment of State PR Adviser. It is in this role that many will remember Sue and especially over the celebrations Guides were involved in during 2000/2001. Sue's imagination and energy was really tested with the wonderful display the Guides produced in the celebration parade through the City - the twirling coloured umbrellas portraying the four seasons of our State and the Travelling Exhibition. In 2007, despite having chemotherapy, she put what little energy she had and much more into arranging a reunion to celebrate 50 years of Guiding in Ferntree Gully.

Sue was awarded the Wattle Award for her Services to Guiding in 2001.

PHILLIPS, Joan August 14 2008 Joan was Guide Leader at Robinvale for many years and as a keen outdoor person, encouraged her Guides in this aspect of Guiding

When the Go Club was formed, Joan soon became an active member, thoroughly enjoying their many activities. She was also a member of Robinvale Trefoil Guild.

SAYERS, Gloria August 15 2008 Gloria, over the years, has been an active member of South Metropolitan Region, holding a variety of positions.

Gloria's adult Guiding began in 1966 when she took on the role of Assistant Brownie Leader, 5th Moorleigh Pack and since then, her other positions have included Brownie Leader 4th Moorleigh Pack, District Commissioner Moorleigh, Gumnut Guide Leader Moorleigh and more recently, a member of Moorabbin East Trefoil Guild. Earlier this year Gloria was presented with her 50 Years Combined Long Service Award

OLDFIELD, Doug August 24 2008

Over a vast number of years, Doug Oldfield has supported Guiding in a variety of ways. He has encouraged and supported his wife Jean in all her Guiding activities, which have spanned many years, as well as assisting where needed in both the local area and the State of Victoria.

He was an active member of the Victorian Girl Guide State Council in the years 1979 - 1992.

All of these members of our Guiding family will be greatly missed and our thoughts go out to each and every one of their family members and friends.

Our Guiding Friends Gone Home

Awards

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The Grevillea Group Award

The Grevillea Group Award is a new Award established by Girl Guides Victoria in 2008.

It is to recognise a group of Guide supporters as a whole, who have given outstanding and dedicated service to Girl Guides Victoria, over a considerable length of time.

Members of Girl Guides Victoria may nominate Guide supporters to receive this award and it is approved by the Executive Committee.

The group will receive a certificate for display at an appropriate venue and each individual will also receive a certificate.

The first two groups to receive this Award on 2 August were the Cork Project Group (pictured above) and the Britannia Park Thursday Group (pictured below).

Congratulations and very well done.

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Saturday 31 January 2009 at Melbourne Town Hall

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Mission Statement: Helping girls and young women grow into confident, self-respecting, responsible community members

State Commiss ioner

Noel la Kershaw

Ass is tant State Commiss ioners

Jan M c M e n a m i n

Alecia Rathbone

Cha i rman

El izabeth A d n a m s

Girl Gu ides Victor ia

PO Box 827 129 York St reet South Me lbourne V IC 3205

T (03) 8606 3500 F (03) 9699 6277 Egu ides@gu idesv i c . o rg .au Wwww.gu idesv i c . o rg .au

Published by Girl Guides Victoria ABN 59 533 729 847 Print Post Approved - PP 343214/00001

GIRL GUIDES A U S T R A L I A V I C T O R I A