Tea-rrific Tea Party

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Carissa

One of the most exciting things about this Guiding year is that we’re allowed to have sleepovers again! Sparks and Brownies in Burnaby Mountain District recently held a Tea-rrific Tea Party sleepover at Richmond Guide House. For all of the girls, it was their first-ever Girl Guide sleepover, and it was a huge success!

It was a full-house, with Sparks and Brownies from the 1st Sparks, 27th Guiding, and 47th Guiding Units coming together for the tea party. The group cooked strawberry jam on a camp stove, made fascinators (headbands) to wear to the tea party, and made tea sandwiches. Of course, dinner was a high-tea with the sandwiches and other treats!

The group also played a rousing game of pass the parcel and ended the evening with a movie night, watching Disney’s Alice in Wonderland.

Thank you to all of the Guiders who worked hard to make this sleepover happen, and to all of the Sparks and Brownies for attending. It was such a fun evening!

Camp SPARKLE

Posted on November 10, 2022 by Carissa

This fall, Guiding in Burnaby Mountain has been in full swing, with Units and members across the District participating in fun adventures and new activities.

Our members are very excited about the fact that we can go camping again! Recently, Spark members in the District had the opportunity to get ready to go camping and practice their camping skills at a District-wide SPARKLE event, held at Robert Burnaby Park this October.

SPARKLE was a Province-wide event held for our BC Sparks! Organized by the BC Camping Committee, members from across the Province had the chance to sign up for a SPARKLE camp kit. Our older youth members, Rangers, developed their leadership skills by helping to plan the activities and run stations. The kits were full of fun activities for Spark members to learn all about camping. Spark members across the Province participated in the same activities throughout the weekend – how cool is that?

At SPARKLE, our Burnaby Mountain Sparks had the chance to learn how to put up a tent (shaped like a unicorn, of course!), practice their First Aid skills, and discuss the hiking essentials that they should bring outdoors. They also learned about Hug a Tree, and what they should do if they are lost in the woods.

All of our Units are planning exciting activities throughout the year. Some of our Units still have spaces for members to join! If you would like to join our adventures, find us on the Girl Guide Unit finder at https://register.girlguides.ca/web/en/unit-search and register now!

Guiding Lights for Thinking Day

Posted on February 22, 2021 by Carissa

Happy Thinking Day everyone! As our Guiding enthusiasts all know, February 22 is the joint birthday of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell and celebrated worldwide as a way to honour Guiding’s past, present, and future here and all around the world.

According to the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, this year’s World Thinking Day theme is Peacebuilding. On that note, did you hear that WAGGGS was nominated this year for a Nobel Peace Prize? You can learn about that here: https://www.wagggs.org/en/news/wagggs-and-wosm-welcome-nobel-peace-prize-nomination/

Closer to home, if you follow our local Guiding bodies (like West Coast Area, or BC Girl Guides) on social media then you probably already know about the Guiding Lights Across BC celebration this year. Due to Covid, we can’t celebrate Thinking Day with the big parties and celebrations that we’re used to, so we’ve invited landmarks from across the province to light up blue to help Girl Guides celebrate our special day.

Sample lights made by Sparks and Brownies in Burnaby Mountain

Many of our units have been busy making their own blue Guiding lanterns so that they can let their Guiding lights shine this evening as well. Are you a Girl Guide? Were you a Girl Guide? Do you simply love the cookies? Whatever your affiliation is with Guiding we encourage you to put a blue light in your window tonight. Eagle-eyed girls around the province will be looking for their sisters and supporters and it would mean a lot to them if you showed the love.

Guides Outside Together at the Lake

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Carissa

Girl Guides of Canada has recently allowed units in our Health Authority to meet in person, outdoors, with some restrictions. While some groups are remaining entirely or mostly online at this time for a variety of reasons (one of the biggest being February weather!) the 56th Guides took advantage of the opportunity to get together this weekend for a mini hike at Burnaby Lake.

Of course the girls were thrilled to be able to finally see each other face to face once again. The lake was a great place to stay distanced from one another and from others using the trails. It was such a welcoming day back that they didn’t even mind that it was a tad wet out.

To round out the happy reunion the group decided to make s’mores.

To make s’mores in a tin can all you need is a clean tin Can , tea light candle , chop stick and of course each girl can bring her own S’more fixings (marshmallow, graham cracker, and chocolate).

No matter how our units are connecting at this time, all of our Guiders are doing their best to keep girls engaged and having a good time during all of this turmoil. Well done everyone. Stay safe!

Pathfinders Speed Drawing

Posted on November 19, 2020 by Carissa

In response to the the most recent provincial health orders, all Guiding in Burnaby Mountain District has moved online, at least for the time being. But that doesn’t mean that Guiding has stopped — our girls are just as busy and engaged as ever, using technology to their advantage to continue meeting and trying new things.

Recently, the 14th Pathfinders invited a guest to lead them through a Speed Drawing workshop. Basically, the facilitator led the exercise which was not about creating beautiful images, but rathe seeing shapes and connecting what you see to what your do with your hands.

The girls worked with the three images above and cycled through four rounds, each one with a shorter time limit. Then there was a debrief where they discussed the exercise and shard their crazy drawings.

It was a bit messy and a little chaotic, but most importantly it was fun! Groups are coming up with a lot of creative ways to keep connected with virtual meetings. Thank you, Guider Marie, for leading this fun activity!

Keeping Traditions Alive

Posted on October 27, 2020 by Carissa

This week the 54th Burnaby Mountain Brownies celebrated their enrollment. This is a special day when the new girls “officially” become Brownies by making their promise and having a celebration. Of course, this year’s celebration looked a little different.

Luckily the school yard’s basketball court provides a bit of light!

The group was outside, and a limited number of guests came (while keeping distance) to witness the special day. Although they couldn’t do some traditions — such as the leader taking each girl by the shoulders to “twist her and turn her and show her an elf” — they introduced others like giving each girl a camp blanket to display their beautiful crests (which will come in handy when they’re meeting outside on chilly autumn nights!).

The camp blankets went over really well.

The leaders did an excellent job making the area special with fairy lights and the thoughtful gifts for the girls. One of the parents even commented that it was kind of cool that all the regular meetings are outside right now because it’s like a little bit of camping at every single meeting. Way to look on the bright side!

New Guiding Year, New Guiding Ways

Posted on October 13, 2020 by Carissa

Same Guiding fun!

Our website has been quiet since the pandemic hit, but Guiding has kept calm and been carrying on — in a safe way, of course! Back in the spring, our units finished out the year online, and now that the new Guiding year has begun, units in Burnaby mountain are meeting in person… but outdoors, physically distanced, and wearing masks! You can learn more about what Guiding is doing to keep girls safe here.

Burnaby Mountain’s units have been enjoying spending time outdoors in our beautiful city. The 22nd Guides spent one meeting talking about what to pack and wear for a hike and then on a sunny Saturday afternoon tried it out by hiking at Burnaby Mountain. They met near Horizon’s Restaurant then walked around the trails. They all had proper clothing, comfortable shoes, and had a fun time!

Hiking was a little tough with the masks, but the girls managed!

The 1st Sparks have spent time learning about how far 2m is to try and help with safe distancing. They took a nature walk around Stoney Creek, doing a fall scavenger hunt, while holding onto a rope with knots 2m apart for them to hold on to. They had a great time noticing signs of the season.

Such beautiful nature right in our backyards!

Many of Burnaby Mountain’s units still have space. It’s not too late to join! Go to http://www.girlguides.ca to learn more.

Happy World Thinking Day

Posted on February 22, 2020 by Carissa

Did you know that today, February 22, is celebrated by Guiding and Scouting members all around the world as World Thinking Day? It is the joint birthday of both of the founders of Guiding and Scouting, Lord Robert Baden-Powell and his wife Olave Baden-Powell. More than 10 Million members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) are celebrating Thinking Day this year with the theme of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

WTD-2020-English_detail_178192

To get involved in this global celebration, our 24th Guides recently had a unit meeting where they completed the 2020 WAGGGS Thinking Day challenge: Living Threads.

In one of the activities they cut out shapes of leaves / flowers and made a note of what they were proud of, showcasing how they all have different (and awesome!) skills and abilities.

In another activity, called “Ties that bind,” the group stood in a circle and whoever held the ball of wool would say something about themselves. Everyone that had the same would put up their hands and the ball of wool would be tossed to one while holding a string. They learned they had lots in common — for instance, lots of hands went up for “Like to Read”!

This challenge, designed to help them explore the theme of diversity and inclusion, involved a lot of fun and stimulating activities and even earned them a cool badge!

Happy World Thinking Day from all of us in Burnaby Mountain District.

Planning for Adventure

Posted on February 10, 2020 by Carissa

Girls in Burnaby Mountain District have some big adventures coming up!

A number of Guides and Pathfinders have formed a patrol to attend SOAR 2020, a week long camp in Sooke, BC, this summer which will have as many as 2500 girls from around BC, Canada, and the world! These girls are working extra hard with their cookie sales and some additional fundraisers to cover the costs of expenses and supplies. Here they are recently selling Purdy’s chocolates to support their trip!

IMG_20200209_104107

Our district also has some girls attending Ireland 2021: A Magical Adventure, a trip that will take a group of girls to Ireland! These girls are also fundraising, so keep an eye out for their endeavors too.

There is no shortage of adventure available in Girl Guides!

Wonderful Winter Camp

Posted on January 26, 2020 by Carissa

Guides from Burnaby Mountain district recently braved the snowy weather for an amazing winter camp experience at Guiding’s own Hollyburn chalet.

20191221_133648

This is a camp that takes lots of preparation. From planning on having the right supplies, knowing what to pack, making sure you have appropriate food… it is a big undertaking and it was fun getting the girls involved in the planning process.

20191220_143549(0)

Hiking into Hollyburn is not an easy trek. But these girls did a great job! It was so exciting to be at camp with friends, especially with SO MUCH snow. Still, it was nice to relax inside with a cozy woodstove fire to keep warm.

The group took advantage of the snowy opportunities with activities like tobogganing, snowball fights, and snowshoe hiking. They also enjoyed camp cooking and skills and adapted camp traditions like making oohy gooey indoor s’mores.

20191221_194925

Winter camping is an experience like no other and a great memory for these girls of their time in Guides. These are experiences that last a lifetime!

20191221_133717(0)

In a few short months camp will involve swimsuits and the beach… it’s funny how different our camps can be here on the wild west coast. One constant though is the company of fantastic friends.