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.