Tuesday, Nov. 17th meeting

Well, we cancelled the Nov 10th meeting because 8 girls were either sick or sick siblings. Nov 17th we had 6 girls away - mostly sick! One Guider was away (meeting).

This was the night all the new girls got their Guide Bags and had a chance to decorate them. Returning girls were able to add some new decorations to their bags.

We broke the girls up into 3 even groups, and then rotated among Stations: Heather did the Knot Stations getting girls ready for doing the Flag; Rebecca did a Communication Centre with the girls; and Christine did two Inspirational Videos with the girls. At the end of the meeting we had a Brainstorming Session about what the girls would like to do at the upcoming Christmas party - a note to parents (and reminder to girls) - everyone wanted to do a 'Secret Santa': gifts should be suitable for either a Guide or Guider, preferably no more than $5 (or home-made with $5 or less materials). We are also trying to make arrangements to visit a local Seniors Home.

We're hoping most everyone is at Guides on Nov 24th - another full, busy night with lots to do. Girls who missed last week will get a chance to do their Guide Bags.

Online Girl Guides Film Festival

Check out this online Film Festival launched in September 2009 by Girl Guides of Canada!

http://www.perspectivesonagirl.ca/

ENROLMENT November 3rd 2009

Our 2009/10 1st Chase River Guides Enrolment was really great! We were lucky to have Sally, a Guider from Chemainus, come with some of her collection of 60 historical Guiding uniforms. This formed the core of our Enrolment. Girls arrived as usual at ....(to be finished soon!)

NEWSLETTER #1 - 16SEP09

This Newsletter was given out at Registration. I have deleted any personal information from Newsletters - if you noticed I've missed deleting something, please let me know!

We would like to WELCOME all new and returning Guides and their families! There are a few changes for this year, but we hope everyone has just as much fun as last year!

FORMS etc.
FORMS: If your daughter was in Guiding in this District last year you will just need to check over and sign the A5-R, and do a new Health Form.
If your daughter is new to Guiding OR this District, you will need to complete a Form A5, IR1 (Image Release) and a Health Form. Some time in the next few weeks we will have every girl complete a Code of Conduct form at a meeting and have parents sign after.
The Registration Fee for our District this year is $65. If possible we prefer cheques, but we do accept cash.
UNIFORM
Girls should be in uniform unless we advise it is a ‘no uniform’ meeting. Footwear should be runners or similar. Girls should always come prepared to spend all or part of the meeting outside (jacket, pants etc).
PARENT MEETING
There will be a PARENT MEETING next Tuesday, September 29th, shortly after 6:30, inside meeting place. We will hope for good weather so the girls and a leader can be outside during the meeting. It is very important that at least one parent for each Guide attend this meeting. We will be discussing cookies, expectations, programme, plans, dues, leaders, etc.
COOKIES
Our Fall Mint Cookies have arrived. We have a small number of girls so far, but still have 30 case to sell. At Guide age it is expected that each girl will sell TWO CASES of cookies on her own. The remainder of the cookies will either be sold when we go door-to-door during one or two meetings OR by Guides/parents who want to sell more cookies. Cookies are still $4/box or $48 a case. Parents who would like to pay us right away (cheque or cash) for the two cases of cookies are very welcome to do so. Other parents will ‘sign out’ the cookies and pay as soon as they are sold.
COMMUNICATION
We will keep parents advised of what we are doing in Guides and what our plans are. To save on paper and to ensure everyone gets Newsletters on time we would like to send them out by email. At the Parent Meeting we will get every family’s email address.
Also, both parents and girls are free to contact leaders by whenever you have a question or concern.
Please make sure that we always have your correct phone numbers (home & cell) so if we need to contact you if there is a change/cancellation of a meeting, or a problem with your daughter we can do so.
LEADERS
Right now we have 3 adult Leaders and 1 Jr Leader. However we are actively looking for more Leaders, for two main reasons: it is very likely that all of the current leaders will need to miss meetings either occasionally or frequently, and we need more leaders before we can recruit more girls. If you know of anyone who might be interested in being a Leader, or YOU might be, please tell one of us asap!

Thanks and we look forward to seeing parents for the PARENT MEETING September 29th!!

Your daughter’s Guiders: (NAMES WILL NOT BE ON BLOG)

NEWSLETTER #2 - 29SEP09

1st Chase River Guides
Newsletter #2 / Parent Meeting Info
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

This is going to be a really exciting year – Girl Guides of Canada is 100 years old in 2010, and there are many, many exciting activities being planned at Unit, District, Area, Provincial and National levels. One of the really big events that we already know about is a giant Sleepover for all Guiding members in British Columbia at GM Place in Vancouver in May. We will have more info on this soon, along with fundraising.

We also have some big changes this year – one of the main being there are no longer any Guide Shops in BC – GGC has introduced
e-shopping! If you’ve already gotten your daughter’s uniform etc, great. We will talk tonight about possibilities of putting in a group order to reduce shipping costs.
Key Dates:
(some still being planned!)

October 6th: Cookie Selling. We will need several parent helpers to drive/assist.
October 13th: Prepare for Enrolment
October 20th: Enrolment – Parents invited!!
October 27th: Halloween Meeting at McNab’s Corn Maze in Yellowpoint
November 3rd: Program work
November 10th: Program work/prepare for Remembrance Day
November 11th: Remembrance Day Parade
December 1st: Visit Seniors Centre or Caroling?
December 8th: Guide Christmas Party
January 5th: 1st meeting for 2010


Our FALL COOKIES are here - we are asking that each FAMILY take 2 cases of Cookies to sell. We will also be having a Door-to-Door Cookie selling night next Tuesday. Cookies are still just $4.00 a box…if you want more than 2 cases, please just phone or email Christine…I can get more quite easily!

FINANCES:

G. has volunteered to be our Money Guider again this year (THANKS!) – We prefer cheques if possible, but do take cash!
Girls need to bring ONE DOLLAR each week for DUES..this money goes towards badges and other supplies

CLOTHING

If girls have uniform, they should wear it. Girls should be in uniform for Enrolment, which is October 20th. Girls must always come to activities with good footwear and prepared to be outside (jacket!)

NEWSLETTER #3 - 13OCT09

1st Chase River GuidesNewsletter #3 Tuesday, October 13th 2009
Girls need to have UNIFORMS by Enrolment, which will be Tuesday, November 3rd. For parents who would like to be part of the UNIT UNIFORM ORDER:• Each Guide needs a Guide Book, Badge Sash, Guide Tie, and a Guide T-Shirt.• Please check the size chart very carefully…If the shirt is not the right size, YOU will need to return it and pay shipping charges• Please calculate all applicable taxes• Please make cheques payable to as G will be paying for it on her VISA and needs all the money before placing the order• G hopes to place the order Monday Oct 19, so all orders AND MONEY must be to her by Sunday evening October 18th. If G does not hear from a parent by 9pm Oct 18th she will assume that parent is ordering uniform online themselves.
Don’t forget to bring COOKIE MONEY in to G as soon as you sell a full case of cookies. If you need more and know you can sell them please contact Christine – she can get more within a day or two
Communication
We would like to communicate with Guides and Guide parents via EMAIL as much as possible this year. Every Guide family except one has email, and if we can get information to you without printed newsletters we will save time and money. PLEASE check your Email, especially in the day or so before Guide meetings!
CLOTHING
If girls have uniform, they should wear it. Girls must always come to activities with good footwear and prepared to be outside (jacket!)

NEWSLETTER #4 - 24OCT09

When I remember I will try to post the newsletters - they will be 'plain' but the main info will be here:

1st Chase River Guides
NEWSLETTER #4: 24OCT09

This is an extremely important newsletter! We will be very busy in the next few weeks, and there is a lot of information Guides and parents need to know. I am putting the information in the following order: General, then Events by Date. I apologize for the length, but it is all really important!
General:
MEETINGS If anyone has missed our time-change, our meetings are from 6:15pm to 8pm every Tuesday. Please have girls there ready to start at 6:15!
FORMS etc.
Thanks for getting Registration and Health forms in! There is one more ‘general’ form left for everyone to do – the Image Release Form – We hope to have that form to give to girls to take home on Tuesday (or for parents to sign).
UNIFORM We hope everyone has borrowed or bought uniforms by now. All Guides need a uniform top, a badge sash and a Guide tie. Girls also need the Guide book. We will find out how many girls still need their Guide book and probably put in a unit order for those – we will need money from parents first.
COOKIES If you still have cookies, please get them sold asap – we must pay for our cookies mid-November. If you have cookie money for full cases, please give to Gillian. For the parents who have asked for more cookies, I may have several more cases on Tuesday.
National Rally Day Memories and More 2010 – May 15 Guiding Sleepover at Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver. All members of Guiding in BC are invited! Our Unit hopes to attend with all Guides and Guiders! We MUST register our unit/girls asap. The cost for each Guiding member attending is $36.75. If a girl/Guider pays but cannot attend, there is no refund. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime Guiding event that will give girls and Guiders wonderful experiences and memories! At the bottom of this Newsletter is a yes/no confirmation form that we need all parents to complete for each Guide. Please not that the $36.75 is only the Registration Fee. We expect our Guiding Area will be paying at least part of the transportation costs; and our Unit will also assist with transportation, meal and other costs through cookie money. More details will follow as to other costs when known.
We understand this is relatively short notice, but we must have your YES/NO confirmation for this event on or before November 9th. If you would like your Guide to attend, but finances are a real problem, please place a note to that effect in the envelope when you give us your yes/no form.
Events by Date:
Tuesday, Oct. 27th 6-7:30PM Cost: $3.00
Our Halloween Meeting: http://www.mcnabscornmaze.com/
Carpooling is encouraged!
When: Please have girls there promptly at 6pm and ensure they are signed in. Parents should return at 7:30pm – we may go a bit after 7:30, so please be prepared to wait!
Wear: Girls should be in costume. We talked about what kind of costumes are suitable: they need to dress for the weather, costumes must allow them to run, they must have footwear that can get wet/muddy, they must be able to see easily.
Bring: $3.00 (unit will pay the rest) and Flashlight
If you get lost, please phone Christine on her Cell –

Friday October 30th 6:45 - ?? Cost: free!!
Susan Aglukark Concert: We will be doing the ‘draw’ to see which Guides are the lucky 9 who will attend this Concert at the Corn Maze - Guides will be responsible for telling their parents if they are going. There will be more events like this later in the year!
Where: Port Theatre
When: Concert starts at 7:30. We need to be inside the Theatre with the girls by 7pm. If your Guide is chosen to attend, please meet the Guiders outside the Port Theatre on Front Street to the left of the Ticket Booth. I will attempt to find out approximately how long the Concert is expected to be and will advise parents of that as soon as I can. Parents must wait for us at the same place as you signed the girls in to us. Carpooling is encouraged!
Wear: We will be in the ‘public eye’ at the Concert and everyone must look their very best in full Guide uniform. If your Guide does not have her Guide uniform yet, she may wear her Brownie uniform. If she does not have either, please discuss with a leader and we will help.

Tuesday November 3rd Guide Enrolment Night: All Guides did Invitations for Enrolment this past Tuesday, and should have given them to parents!
Homework: Each Guide has ‘homework’ to do with her partner for our Enrolment – they have written the name/phone number of their partners on the back of the invitations. It is important they do this partner work to make the Enrolment a success. They may be asking parents for some ideas!
When: Guides arrive same time as usual: 6:15pm. Parents please arrive at 7pm. Enrolment should finish at 8pm or close to 8.
Wear: Guides must be in full Guide uniform: Guide top, badge sash, Guide tie. Runners.
Parents: We have an extreme shortage of chairs – most of our chairs are suitable for kindergarten age. We are therefore having a ‘BYOC’ Enrolment – parents, please bring your own chair (folding). If you do not have a folding or camp chair, please see if you can borrow one – or bring a cushion to sit on the floor, or use one of the little chairs. Also, if you have a camera, please bring it..Enrolment is definitely a ‘picture event’!
Goodies: The invitations your Guides brought home should have had the request for 1/2 – 1 dozen ‘goodies’ for our refreshment table. If you would like a drink, please bring a water bottle.

Tuesday November 10th Regular Meeting 6:15-8pm at B&G Club
We will be doing ‘program work’ and some planning of upcoming meetings.

Wednesday November 11th Remembrance Day Parade: Guides traditionally participate in Rembembrance Day Services – We will likely be participating in the Nanaimo parade – but will have the details at the Nov. 10th meeting.

Tuesday November 17th Probably a regular meeting time/location - if not you will be advised! Meetings from this date til Christmas break will include a Craft Night, a Caroling Night (in the immediate area) and other girl-planned nights. In December we will have meetings Dec. 1st and 8th for sure.


Memories and More 2010 - if necessary please ask Christine for this form

Susan Aglukark Concert

No doubt that this is a SPECIAL EVENT! This Friday 3 of the Guiders are taking 9 lucky Guides to the Port Theatre for the Susan Aglukark Concert - for FREE!!! Now how does this happen, you might ask? Well, the non-profit organization where I work was already part of the 'Port Theatre Angels' - where deserving non-profit groups can get approx 10 free tickets for certain performances. I asked if Girl Guides would qualify, was told YES, and registered myself as the contact for Theatre Angels for Girl Guides. When I got info on the 3 events we could get tickets for, there was no problem choosing Susan Aglukark - especially because H & I had already been planning on attending.

At the Corn Maze we drew the names for the 'lucky 9' and just now I emailed everyone with information/directions. I will update after the concert! I'm excited!!

Hallowe'en 2009 Meeting

On Tuesday, October 27th, 14 crazy looking Guides, 1 Jr Leader and 2 Guiders met at McNab's Corn Maze in Yellowpoint. We were very, very lucky with the weather...it was clear, starry, slightly windy...but not raining. However, since it had been raining a lot recently, the ground was very, very, very muddy. And the pathways in the Corn Maze were even muddier. Unfortunately one of the Guiders could not make it as her daughter was sick with the dreaded flu - but everyone else had piles of fun. After everyone arrived, signed in, and paid the $3, Christine paid McNab's while H & R did the 'draw' to see which 9 Guides will go to the Susan Aglukark concert this Friday. Once that was done, we divided the Guides into 3 groups...told them the RULES according to McNab's then we went on the Hay Ride...bumpy but lots of fun...it was just us on the Hay Ride. Shortly after we entered the Maze lots of other Guides and Pathfinders from some other units in Lantzville etc arrived...which added to the fun. I was completely surprised that my group of 4 girls and I were the only one of our 3 groups to punch our cards at any of the posts...we found 3 out of the 4. We also got to the Tower...and actually found our way back out. Tho the other two groups got out before us. But boy were we muddy...I told the girls it would be a good idea to take their boots off when they got into the car! Unfortunately I could not do that because I was driving - so I took an empty GG cookie box and put it on the floor to keep my car clean!
Hey girls - did everyone have fun???

October

Wow, has the month of October ever gone fast! Really briefly:

• October 6th: Cookie Blitz in Cinnabar area - we sold approx 9 cases of cookies in less than 2 hours! Way to go, girls!!!
• October 13th: First 'regular' meeting...we learned about Opening, Closing, the Guide march..
• October 20th: Planning Enrolment
• October 27th..well..see the next post

New GUIDING YEAR!

I'm scrambling to quickly get a post done before the end of September. Hard to believe tomorrow is October - this morning we had the first touch of frost!

We leaders are remembering our very small group of girls at the beginning of last year, and comparing that to our much larger group now. We are thrilled to have 15 Guides so far this year. Our 'ideal' number would be at least 16, to have 4 girls in each Patrol - but we will do our recruiting in a bit more low-key way this year since we definitely do not want to double in size! Our size now is probably a bit big for our space, but just right for activities and the number of leaders we have.

We have about 5 girls who have returned from last year, and the rest are new Guides - Grades 4, 5 and 6.

Last night we had our first Parent Meeting, and we were very lucky that the weather was nice enough for Heather to work outside with the girls. They chose their Patrol names, and did some brainstorming about badges to work on as a unit and individually. After the Parent Meeting the girls came back in (brrrr! outside) - we talked about what we had told the parents, cookies, etc. Then a couple of songs, a game, closing and home.

Next week - October 6th: we meet at the hall, and then with drivers head up to Cinnabar for door-to-door cookie selling. We took 30 cases of cookies to the meeting last night, and I brought 2 cases back into the house. I will be picking up about 10 more cases of cookies this weekend, as we have several girls who sold LOTS of cookies last year in Brownies.

CHEMAINUS THEATRE VISIT: Thursday July 2nd 2009

Four Guides, two Guiders, and two Rangers (one our Jr Leader, the other a friend of hers from Nanaimo) saw the KidzPlayz presentation of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' at the Chemainus Theatre last Thursday. K's mom picked up D, and I picked up A and T - we met at the theatre, and R (our Jr Leader who had made arrangements for the FREE tickets) also met us there. The play was a sort of mini part from the larger story, but by the very quiet of the Guides, we are pretty sure they enjoyed it. When asked everyone said the play was good. We then drove down to the beach park and enjoyed the bag lunches we each had brought. After a relaxing lunch everyone headed back home.

A note: I now have the Crests for the other two (April and June) camps we had, so we might try and get everyone together sometime in August for a quick visit and to hand out the Crests. OR we might wait til or 2nd or so meeting, to give the new Guides an idea of what fun it is getting Crests.

Year-end CAMP!!!

Camp is over, and a GREAT year of Guiding for 1st Chase River Guides has drawn to a close. All 9 Guides were at Camp, 2 Guiders and 1 Jr Leader were at Camp all weekend, and one Guider were at Camp for Saturday.

Everyone had lots of fun, and the leaders have decided we will probably have our FALL CAMP here also. We will try to have our Fall Camp within 3 weeks or so of the beginning of our Guiding year, to take advantage of nice weater. And we will want it to be a 2 night camp so it can qualify for Camp badges/crests.

So - what did we do at Camp?
FRIDAY: Arrival 6pm, Tent set up, Rules & Boundaries, Outdoor Games, Walk-around-the-Block (1 mile!), Mug-up (lots of fruit!, crackers & cheese), Bed
SATURDAY:
SUNDAY:
more to be added in the next few days = along with photos when I upload them.

June 9th FAMILY POTLUCK

We were blessed with perfect weather for our Yearend Family Potluck last night - June 9th. We reserved the Shelter in the Tent Site at Living Forest Campground, and when I stopped at the office to 'check in' and ask if they could direct any lost guest down to us, I found out that we did not have to pay! Very, very pleased..a BIG THANK YOU TO LIVING FOREST CAMPGROUND to giving back to the local community in this way! We mentioned this 'donation' to the families, and all were impressed!

All Guides were there except K., who had a Baseball conflict - she will get here 'stuff' at the Camp. Families varied from small to large - I never did a count of total number of people, but we did all fit in the shelter. Plenty of food - no one went hungry!

Once everyone was there, we enjoyed eating and visiting. We then called everyone 'to order' and the first 'item' on the Agenda after Introductions was the Skits that the girls practiced last week. The leaders then got 'organized' and we handed out the girls' 'stuff': Each Guide got a baggie with the Beyond You programme badge and the Gold Thanks Badge for Service work (from Christine), the Compass gift from Area (from Karen, District Commissioner), the Certificate (from Gillian), an extra Guide Handshake (from Rebecca) and our Yearend Gift (from Heather).

After the Presentations to the Guides, Gillian presented a Hanging Basket the girls made at our Gardening Night to Karen, and then Karen presented a Thanks gift to N. after talking about our spring cooking selling for District. We then closed our evening with a few final words about our Camp at Christine's on the June 19/21st weekend, then singing of On My Honour, and finally ended with Taps. An excellent 'formal' finish to the Guiding year - tho we still have a very important and very fun Camp in 10 days!

Hallowe'en Bring a Friend Party Oct 28/08

Everyone had lots of fun at our Hallowe'en Party...food, games, singing, crafts...!

First few Meetings

This photo was taken Oct 7th - 2nd meeting of the 08/09 Guiding year for us. We grew to 10 over the year, then settled at 9 consistently after Valentine's.