

The 54th Brownies and 27th Guiding (Sparks & Brownies) units recently had a fun-filled, fish-filled sleepover in the local Steveston and Richmond communities. The visited the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, ate fish and chips at a local restaurant, and then returned to Richmond Guide House for a fun sleepover with fish-themed crafts and activities.
Did you know the Gulf of Georgia Cannery offers tours specifically catered to Girl Guide programming? The excellent staff at the cannery have developed a program for girls to explore their local cultural and natural heritage through stories, activities, and a guided tour. The cannery was built in 1894 and it is fascinating to learn about the history of the fishing industry, the people who worked there, and the ways that this effected the local communities.
The group then took a lovely stroll through historic Steveston, ending up at the Sockeye City Grill for a delicious meal of fish and chips. The staff was impressed by how well mannered this large group of Sparks and Brownies was, and the girls and leaders all thoroughly enjoyed their meals.
After supper the group enjoyed a ride on local public transit, riding the bus to Richmond Guide House, one of our favourite local spots for Guiding sleepovers. There the group did a variety of fun activities including a bright colourful fish-themed craft before finally getting some sleep.
It was a fish-tastic time. And a great oppor-tuna-ty to learn all about fish and the local community.
The 12th Rangers recently went on an urban adventure in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Vancouver, riding transit, walking around, visiting with seniors, stopping for snacks, and doing some uniquely sustainable shopping.
The group visited Cavell Gardens independent living home for seniors and chatted with some residents during coffee time. It was lovely visiting with the residents, many of whom were previous Girl Guides from different parts of Canada and Ireland as well!
The Rangers and seniors shared stories, sang a few girl guide songs, and the girls even sold plenty of Girl Guide cookies at the residents’ request! The residents loved the visit and they even exchanged thank you cards, hoping the girls will come back soon!
They also walked Main Street, enjoying the vibe of the city. The girls shopped for sustainable fashion and explored Mintage Mall and F as in Frank for vintage, recycled, and upcycled clothes. Our fashion choices make a difference!
Another cool shopping opportunity was when they checked out Urban Source for upcycled goods and got craft supplies. This store gets its materials from over 100 different local industries, diverting safe, useable off-cuts, discards, misprints and over-stock from the land fill. It will be great to see what amazing (and sustainable!) creations the group comes up with.
It was a lovely adventure. As their Guider said, the group “Walked a lot, ate scones, and stayed merry” — what more could you want?
Happy Halloween from Burnaby Mountain District! Lots of units are getting up to festive fun this week, but perhaps none quite so earnestly as the 14th Pathfinders who spread Halloween into a multi-part event!
The group decided to check out the local Burnaby Village Museum, which puts on a great haunted attraction for Halloween.
There can be lots of spookiness in history. Highlights included a spontaneous conga line street party!
But that’s not all. The group also recognized Halloween at regular meetings where they first spent a day making great Halloween decorations for the next week when they had a fun spooky party with snacks and games.
You’ve got to admire this group’s dedication to the season! Looks like a great time was had by all.
Earlier this year the 2nd Sparks and 47th Brownies (our two Saturday units!) teamed up for a fun day of art at the local 4Cats Studio. Appealing to their joy in all things magical, the girls got the chance to design and create their very own unicorn mug!
The 4Cats staff was fantastic at helping the girls through the process. This involved drawing their own unicorns, working with clay, and painting their creations.
Step-by-step instructions helped the group figure out what to do. Though these girls are young, they are great listeners. They worked hard on their mugs.
Finally, after creating the mug and painting it with the special glaze paint for clay, the mugs got left behind at the studio for them to be baked and glazed. A couple of weeks later, girls got their finished products. They were pretty proud of what they created.
4Cats is fun for girls of all ages. A few weeks ago we posted about the 10th Pathfinders visiting a 4Cats studio. Since then, we received this great photo of their final product — how adorable are these?!?
Whether it’s a unicorn mug or a panda planter, 4Cats is always a good time.
Last month Burnaby Mountain District took a day trip to visit our province’s capital for a day of culture, fun, and friendship. Organizing this trip was quite the undertaking as more than 70 girls participated. Girls left Burnaby on a school bus early in the morning and arrived back there late in the evening. In between they participated in their choice of a variety of experiences — all on a day that turned out to be very, very rainy!
Girls had signed up for their experiences ahead of time. Choices included the Royal BC Museum, Miniature World, a tour of the BC Legislature, and more.
Girls who went to the museum got to enjoy amazing artifacts from the Mayan civilization at the featured exhibition called Maya: The Great Jaguar rises. Some of the items were about 3000 years old! They also had time to check out some of the living world exhibits to learn more about the geography and creatures in beautiful British Columbia.
The legislature tour was very informative, telling girls all about the history of how BC’s government was formed and how it functions today. They also got to enjoy the amazing architecture of a very beautiful building. The engaging tour was inspirational for the girls.
The incredibly detailed dioramas at Miniature World were a highlight of the trip for both some of the youngest and also some of the oldest girls on the trip. There’s something about the tiny figurines recreating periods of history and fantasy that really capture the imagination. They’re really cool!
Some girls also spent time at majestic Beacon Hill park, including playing with some incredibly friendly petting zoo goats. What a group of silly kids! (See what I did there?)
At the Victoria Bug Zoo, girls got to learn about, view, and even handle some amazing bugs. It’s a wild world out there.
The rain put a bit of a damper on things, making the planned scavenger hunt a bit of a bust. Pathfinders also had their bike tour cancelled due to the weather — but the girls still had a blast doing some shopping and stopping for tea at Murchies. It turned out to be a bit of a lesson for some girls about being prepared… for much of the day it wasn’t lightly drizzling, it was pouring.
Everyone gathered at the end of the day for a huge group meal at the Old Spaghetti Factory. The staff there did an incredible job feeding our huge group and getting us out in a timely manner so we could get back on the buses and to the ferry terminal in time to get home on schedule.
What a day! Thank you to all the businesses, tour guides, tourist attractions, and friendly strangers who helped out our group all day. Thank you to the planning committee who worked hard to make this trip happen, and thank you to the girls who participated in cookie sales and other fundraising to make this trip (especially its transportation costs) manageable.
Recently the 54th Brownies took a trip to the theatre! They went to the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage in Vancouver to see an Arts Club production of Matilda the Musical!
This trip was special because it represented some of the hard work these girls did selling Girl Guide Cookies this year. The unit was able to heavily subsidize tickets to the professional theatre show by using cookie money. Way to go, girls!
Everyone really enjoyed the showing, saying it was an excellent production. The girls were also very well behaved… unlike the kids in one of the show’s catchiest songs:
We are revolting children
Living in revolting times.
We sing revolting songs
Using revolting rhymes.
We’ll be revolting children
‘Til our revolting’s done,
It is 2-L-8-4-U
WE ARE REVOLTING!
These Brownies are anything but revolting — even if they may have gone home singing this song! They had a wonderful trip to the theatre.
For a recent unit event, our 10th Pathfinders explored Vancouver through art! They found and viewed murals as they traced their way through Main Street with the previous year’s Vancouver Mural Festival map to view different styles of art with various mediums making up beautiful city walls and alleys.
As many of the girls hadn’t spent much time in this vibrant part of the city before, it was a great adventure for them! They were able to deepen their appreciation of local artistry at the same time.
They enjoyed lunch in the park before making their way to a 4CATS art studio to create a panda planter from clay!
On the way home, they checked out some Vancouver history from antique shops to record stores. Learned lots and saw some real west coast gems!
This past weekend was a huge event for BC Girl Guides — more than 1000 members and their guests gathered at Rogers Arena for Girl Guides day at the Canucks. Highlights of the event included the awesome custom crest for all members in uniform, a members-only draw for awesome prizes, plus Girl Guides shout outs, members in the VIP High-Five zone, and an on-ice presence for the national anthems. To make the day even more exciting, the Canucks won the game against the Detroit Red Wings — Yay!
Burnaby Mountain district commissioner, Gerry, started organizing these events with the Canucks a few years ago as part of her role as BC Membership Advisor. Her term in that position has since ended but she has stayed on as special events coordinator for this exciting day. Way to go, Gerry!
Some Burnaby Mountain girl members also got to participate in the colours ceremony, carrying flags for the US and Canadian national anthems. This was a very special experience for the Spark and two Guides who were involved.
Other Burnaby Mountain members were present helping to run the event with jobs at the membership table and selling Girl Guide cookies. Lots of Burnaby Mountain girls and Guiders were also in attendance to enjoy the game. Girl Guides from around the province filled the arena — people came from as far as Prince George, Lillooet, Ucluelet, Nanaimo, and Castlegar. Many Girl Guides (including some of the Burnaby Mountain ones) got the thrill of being featured on the gigantic trinitron in the arena.
What an awesome day! We can hardly wait for next year. Keep your eyes peeled for a save-the-date coming soon for a Guiding “kick-off” event with the Vancouver Whitecaps this coming fall.
The 49th Burnaby Mountain Guides recently journeyed into Coquitlam for a festive outdoor outing. Lafarge lake has the lower mainland’s largest free outdoor lights display! It was a beautiful night.
It was also a fun way to be active together. The lights display around the 1.2 km path and since it was a bit chilly out, the girls were motivated to keep moving to stay warm! Hot chocolate also helped with that.
Lafarge lake is really easy to get to on skytrain and well worth the visit. Learn more about this local event here. Even the unit’s shining star Guiders are all smiles, below.
This is just one of the awesome seasonal outings happening this month. Several groups are also taking in the fun lights and displays at the Burnaby Village Museum. And at least unit is visiting the Aurora winter festival as well. So much fun stuff to do out in our communities!