01/06/2026
💙 HAPPY VOLUNTEERS’ WEEK! 💙
A tribute to the Girlguiding volunteers who regularly perform miracles that would concern medical science.
To the leaders who can:
🎒 Pack a minibus.
🏕️ Build a campsite.
🔥 Light a fire.
🎨 Run a craft.
🩹 Administer first aid.
💰 Manage a budget.
📋 Complete seventeen forms.
📞 Contact thirty parents.
🎵 Lead a campfire.
😴 Function on four hours of sleep.
…all before their first cup of tea.
To the volunteers who have spent an entire evening preparing an activity, only to be greeted with:
“Do we have to?”
And then twenty minutes later:
“That was the best thing ever!”
To those who have developed the supernatural ability to hear:
“Leader…”
from over 300 metres away.
Usually at a volume that could be heard from space. 🚀
To the volunteers who have somehow become:
Part-time teachers.
Part-time counsellors.
Part-time event planners.
Part-time chauffeurs.
Part-time detectives.
And full-time experts in locating items that were “definitely in my bag a minute ago.”
To the leaders who have crawled under bunk beds, untangled necklaces, comforted homesick girls, rescued burnt marshmallows, fixed broken costumes, sewn on badges at midnight and explained - yet again - that no, sleeping bags do not count as clean clothes.
To the people who have willingly spent their free time covered in mud, glitter, paint, sun cream, campfire smoke and mystery substances that nobody can identify.
To the volunteers who know that a successful evening meeting is approximately:
10% planning.
20% organisation.
70% controlled chaos.
And somehow still turn it into magic.
Because while the girls remember the adventures, the laughter, the friendships, the camps, the challenges and the memories…
They rarely see the late-night emails.
The risk assessments.
The endless spreadsheets.
The emergency runs to buy more biscuits.
The 11pm panic that you’ve forgotten something important.
Or the fact that someone, somewhere, is currently laminating.
For no obvious reason.
Because that’s what Guide leaders do.
So this Volunteers’ Week, thank you to every single volunteer who gives their time, energy, patience, weekends, annual leave, car boot space, sanity and occasionally their voice.
You are the reason girls believe they can do anything.
Even when you’re not entirely convinced you know what you’re doing yourself. 💙
Now if someone could tell us where the scissors are, that would be great. ✂️
