The 8th Woking Brownies and Guides celebrated their 75th anniversary last month with a party at Trinity Methodist Church.

Current members, past members, leaders and families and friends celebrated with tea and cake, and shared their Guiding memories. Materials and badges from the units’ history were on display. Bringing back memories for a lot of the guests, and the hall was decorated with the hard work of current members. 

Guide leader Claire Draper said: “It was wonderful to see so many people, we had 75 guests, ranging in age from 3 months to over 80 years. We had members from the 1950s onwards and people travelled from as far away as Jersey, Suffolk and Dorset.”

Claire was presented with a long-service award for 20 years of volunteering with Kate Spencer-Grundy and five years of volunteering was awarded to Cassie Pither. 

Guests tried activities like knot-tying and Morse code which, have been part of Guiding throughout its history. There were also more recent additions such as sherbet making and practising British Sign Language. 

“It’s been amazing to hear how much people value their Guiding experiences, both as girls and as volunteers” said Claire. “There have been many changes over the years, but Guiding has always been about showing girls that they can do anything, and that will continue.”

The afternoon ended with a series of campfire songs performed by current members, with past members joining in and doing the actions too. If you’re interested in joining, visit www.girlguiding.org.uk.