From Community Correspondent Steve Wicks: Over 600 Wimbledon Division Guides, Brownies and Rainbows and guests celebrated the Centenary of Girlguiding UK with a special Thinking Day service at Sacred Heart Church on Edge Hill in Wimbledon. Among the guests were former Brownies, Guides and Guiders from the Division who have been invited to take a retrospective look at 100 years of Guiding and see what current Division members get up to today.

Every year, members of Guide organisations across the world gather at special services to celebrate Thinking Day, which marks the birthday on 22nd February of Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout and Guide Movements, and also of his wife Lady Olave, who was Chief Guide. However, this service was particularly special as it included a talk by Wimbledon Division President Olave Snelling, goddaughter of Lady Olave, about what Guiding meant to her godmother.

The service also included short films made during the Centenary year capturing memories of girls and women of all ages who have been involved in Guiding in Wimbledon. In addition, Guides past and present were able to join in with well-loved campfire songs and renew their promises.

After the service, former Division members got a chance to reminisce as they swapped memories over tea and cake, and viewed archive photos and a large collection of memorabilia, including old uniforms, badges and annuals.

About 250 current Rainbows, Brownies and Guides from the Division’s 19 units attended. Other guests included the Mayor of Merton, Stephen Hammond MP and Girlguiding County Commissioner Christine Wicks.

The Centenary, launched in September 2009 marked 100 years since the first groups of determined girls ‘gate crashed’ the first Boy Scout Rally at Crystal Palace and demanded ‘something for the girls. Just months later, the Guide movement was formed.

The Centenary is an opportunity to celebrate the impact that the organisation has made on the lives of girls and young women and how modern guiding continues to support over half a million members around the UK to make new friends, develop skills and achieve their full potential in a unique girl only space.

Today, Girlguiding UK is the United Kingdom’s largest voluntary organisation for girls and young women, with over 550,000 members, offering girls and young women aged between 5 and 25 a unique girl-only space where they can fulfil their potential. Their programme is relevant to today’s girls, offering a range of opportunities from adventure to community projects, meeting their ambitions and needs of their members.

World Thinking Day is an opportunity for the ten million Guides and Girl Scouts in 145 countries around the world to remember each other and their commitment to international friendship and understanding.