Girlguiding London and South East England

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Girlguiding London and South East England is one of the nine Regions and Countries of Girlguiding UK. Region HQ is in Wandsworth Common, London. The Chief Commissioner is currently Anne Hudson.

1 Counties
2 Properties
3 1st Buckingham Palace Company
4 Enfield District Scout Band
5 Early Guiding in Sussex
6 See also
7 References

[edit] Counties

Girlguiding London and South East England is subdivided into 19 Girlguiding UK Counties. These do not correspond to the counties defined by the British government.

Surrey West
Surrey East
Sussex West
Sussex Central
Sussex East
Kent West
Kent Weald
Kent East
Middlesex East
Middlesex North West
Middlesex South West
London North West
London North East
London Over The Border
London South East
Greater London Kent
London South West
Greater London West
Croydon

[edit] Properties

[edit] Chigwell Row Guide Campsite

Chigwell Row Guide Campsite is set in 56 acres of grassland near to Hainault Forest Country Park. There are large areas dedicated to camping. There are also three indoor accommodation buildings: Oaklands Lodge, Jubilee House, and The Bungalow.

[edit] The Shaws Guide Camp Site

The Shaws Guide Camp Site in Kent has facilities for both camping and indoor accommodation.

[edit] Paxmead Riverside Base

Paxmead Riverside Base is the Region's boating centre. It is located on the River Thames at Shepperton, Middlesex. Canoeing, kayaking, sailing and rowing equipment is available to youth organisations, but the centre is not open to the general public. Both indoor and camping accommodation is available.

[edit] Jordan Heights

Jordan Heights is a secluded campsite near Reigate. It was once a hillside garden for a member of the Royal Society. During World War II, it was used as an army pigeon loft. The site has been leased to Girlguiding Surrey East from the National Trust for 50 years. The area is an SSSI.

[edit] 1st Buckingham Palace Company

The 1st Buckingham Palace Company was formed to allow the then Princess Elizabeth to be a Girl Guide. It met for the first time on 1937-06-09. At this meeting, Princess Elizabeth was elected second of the Kingfisher Patrol with Patricia Mountbatten as her Patrol Leader. There were twenty Guides who were made up from children of members of the Royal Household and Palace employees. They met a summerhouse in the garden. During World War II, the group went into abeyance for a short time, but was re-opened at Windsor in 1942. The Captain of the Company was Violet Synge.

A Brownie Pack was also opened at the same time for Princess Margaret. It had 14 members.

[edit] Enfield District Scout Band

Enfield Scout District runs a traditional marching band which is open to members of the local Scout and Guide organisations.

The band was formed in 1976, and is a corps of bugles and drums. The band is a member of the Traditional Youth Marching Band Association, and competes regularly in competitions run by the Association across the UK.

Since its formation, the band has continued to lead the District as it marches through Enfield Town for the Remembrance Day and St George's Day parades which are a traditional part of the Scouting calendar.

The band is also available to play at fetes, carnivals and other parades. In recent years the band took part in the 2001 Lord Mayor's Show, a Royal Visit to Enfield by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in 2003, and the London New Year's Day Parade 2007 (celebrating Scouting's Centenary in 2007 - some of the first Scouts in the world to do so!).

[edit] Early Guiding in Sussex

Mrs A. Martley established a Guide company in Crawley in 1911. She also established Guiding in Seaford, with two companies opening in December 1918. These were the 1st Seaford and the 1st Blanchington companies. 1st Seaford was initially lead by Martley herself, but by 1920 the Captain was Miss Croft. The first Brownie pack in Seaford was established in 1919.