BARBADOS Brownie Badge-holder Randicia Kellman of the St David's patch did an excellent job with the Bible reading.

by Yvette Best

A PLEA has gone out for former Girl Guides to give back to the movement which is seeing dwindling numbers.

It came from district commissioner Judy Phillips and divisional commissioner Idaelia Maynard after a service
at St David's Anglican Church yesterday.

Maynard said there was a need for former guides to share what they learnt with the younger girls.

"One of my greatest wishes would be that
a lot of people who went through guiding, would give back to guiding. We have a lot of prominent people out there that
were guides before . . . . Remember what guiding did for them and give back to the association," Maynard said, adding that Opposition Leader Mia Mottley is a former guide.

While the Brownies and Blossoms were attracting large numbers, Phillips said girls seemed to lose interest in guiding when they moved on to secondary school.

Good choices

"Cadets, and so on, are good organisations to join as well, but we're trying
to nurture our girls and mould them to become leaders in the guide movement. We're seeing dwindling numbers
in the guides as well
as in the rangers.

"We need to let them know that guiding is vibrant and you can learn a lot that will take you through your life,"
Phillips added.

Both Maynard and Phillips said that even though they have been doing drives through different activities, they still needed leaders.

Two of the reasons identified were parents not wanting children to stay late after school and an unwillingness by corporate Barbados to give the volunteers time off to assist with guiding.

"I would definitely like corporate Barbados to look at people that are doing guiding and see that they are working towards this nation of ours and give them the time that they can help the children
of this country," Phillips and Maynard said.

About 75 Blossoms
and Brownies from
St Paul's, Arthur Smith, Vauxhall and St David's Primary Schools chose
St David's for their annual family worship. Nine
of them recently
received the Barbados Brownie Badge, which
is the highest honour
a Brownie can achieve.

Rector Canon Noel Burke spoke to the children about the significance of Palm Sunday and Holy Week in language that was easy for them to understand.

Canon Burke made the session interactive and fun for the children by inviting them to make suggestions and help with the Bible story. (YB)