CENTENARY ACTIVITIES

CENTENARY ACTIVITIES APRIL 10TH 2010
2010 THEME- PLANT

Why are we celebrating?
In 1909, a number of girls appeared at a Boy Scout Rally in the UK declaring themselves to be Girl Scouts. Robert
Baden-Powell decided that they should have their own Movement. By November 1909 a scheme had been formed to suit the specific needs of girls and young women. Groups of Guides soon started in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and South Africa.
In 1910 the Girl Guide Association was officially established in the United Kingdom under the leadership of Agnes Baden-Powell, Robert’s sister, and we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the first official Guide association.

By 1912 there were also groups in Ireland, Portugal, Norway and Juliette Low founded Girl Scouting in the USA in 1912

Why Plant?
The first year of celebration, 2010, focuses on the theme of Plant. In this year we will plant the first ideas and activities for the centenary celebrations and we will also reflect on how Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting plants the opportunities, the training and the experience for young women to develop as leaders and decision makers. Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting has achieved 100 years of changing lives by planting the seeds of change in the lives of girls and young women.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
•Recruit 100 new members each year- Bring a friend to a centenary celebration day party and use this as an opportunity to promote Girl Guiding
•Talent shows- Celebrate your talents and invite members to come up with creative ways to celebrate the centenary theme of Plant through song, dance, poetry, mime etc. Post your photos, poems and songs on the WAGGGS’ website or by sending them to the centenary coordinator
•Send messages and greetings- Send 100 messages to 100 different groups around the world. The WAGGGS website will facilitate the sending and receiving of messages to and from different groups around the world. Send WAGGGS a message about what 100 years of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting means to you and what you would like the Movement to look like in 100 years. You will be able to send these messages via the website or by writing to us. Leave a message on WAGGGS’ facebook page. On 10 April, send a centenary message to your friends on facebook or on other social networking sites.
•Collect badges- Collect 100 virtual badges from around the world on the WAGGGS’ website. Virtual badges are images or pictures of badges that can be uploaded and downloaded from the website.
•Planting party- Hold a planting party where everyone in the group plants seeds together – you could join a local park and help them with their seed planting; you could plant vegetables for a local school or an old people’s residence. Why not plant your seeds around World Thinking Day which has the theme of “poverty and hunger” and watch them grow between 22 February and 10 April? Perhaps you can hold a celebratory meal on 10 April 2011 using some of the food that you have grown yourselves the year before? Perhaps we could join in a Landcare group?
•Wear your scarf with pride- Wear your scarf all day on 10 April – in school, at work, with friends and family. If someone asks about it, tell them that you are celebrating 100 years of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting. Try to do one good deed at the same time. Swap scarves- Swap your scarf or a badge virtually with another member through the WAGGGS’ website. You can do this by taking a photograph of your scarf or badge and posting it on the website. In exchange you can download an image or photograph of another member’s scarf or badge from another part of the world.
•Take a photograph- Take a photo of members from different groups formed in a figure of 100. Send it to WAGGGS or upload it onto the WAGGGS’ website. Invite members to spend a week taking photographs of what Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting means to them. Display the photographs in a montage. Scan the photos and place them on the WAGGGS’ website. Or invite members to take a photograph of the good deeds that they have done during the week. Try to get 100 photographs of good deeds from your unit in a week.
•Have a party- Each member can invite a former Girl Guide and a potential new member to a celebration party. Why not learn about a different culture at the same time and provide the food and entertainment from that culture? Find out more about different cultures on the WAGGGS’ website
•Share your recipes- Use the WAGGGS’ website to share 100 international recipes
•Time capsule with a difference- Hide or find some hidden centenary treasure by geocaching. The basic idea is to hide containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share the map coordinates of the container online. Anyone can then find the geocache by following the map coordinates through a Global Positioning System (GPS). Successful finders can then take an item from the geocache and leave one of their own for the next visitor. The directions to the centenary treasure, or cache, should be given in map co-ordinates. If you have a Global Positioning System (GPS) you can tap in the co-ordinates and the GPS will point you in the right direction for you to go off and discover your cache. Caches should always contain a logbook. It contains notes left by previous cache visitors and the founder of the cache and possibly a few clues to lead you to other caches nearby. Why not leave a note about a good deed which you did that day or which the next visitor might do? Use the WAGGGS’ website to log the global map coordinates of your cache. Alternatively you can plant or bury a more traditional time capsule to be opened in 50 years time or even in 100 years time. Write messages, take photographs, add items that represent 2010 for you so that members can open them up in the future. Remember to focus on the theme of Plant for this year’s time capsule.
•Share your memories- Invite former members in your community to plant a photograph, a memory or a story about Girl Guiding/Girl Scouting in a commemorative book. Post it on the WAGGGS’ website to be shared with others
•Visit the four World Centres- Even if you can’t take a trip to the four World Centres, you will be able to take part in games and activities about the centres on the theme of Plant as part of the Centenary Celebrations. These activities will be available on the WAGGGS website or by contacting the Centenary Coordinator
•Send greetings to other groups- Post your greeting cards on the WAGGGS website for other groups of younger members to see.
•Explore the world- Research and draw 100 flags from around the world. Each member in your group can find out about a different Member Organization and produce a poster on the country. In time for the centenary celebrations, the WAGGGS website will feature information about each Member Organization. Can you find ways to support either a Member Organization or another organization in one of the countries you have focused on? WAGGGS’ network on the website offers lots of ways to support members. www.wagggsworld.org
•Hold a sports day- Hold a sports day with activities based on the number 100 – 100m swimming or running races or 100m relay races. A Member Organization may wish to organize 100 km relays around the country. Invite members of the local community or your school to the event.
•Celebrate at school- Make a centenary celebration poster and ask your school if you can put it in your classroom
•Write our future- Write the story of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting for the next 100 years… Take turns to write a sentence on a piece of paper, fold the paper over where you have written, and pass it on… Or you could draw our future, and draw pictures of what you think Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting will look like in the next 100 years… Once each member has written or drawn their piece of story, open up the paper and read it out to the group. Keep the story and revisit it at the next Centenary
•Sew 100 patches- Sew 100 patches on a quilt and auction it to raise money for your local unit or for WAGGGS.
•Celebrate your community- Draw a map of your area and celebrate all the things that you know and like about your community
•Connect- Organize for 100 members from different groups to hold hands or to make the shape of 100 on 10 April. Invite the local media and don’t forget to send photos to WAGGGS
•Share your games- Use the WAGGGS’ website to swap games and activity ideas with other groups around the world. Why not play a game from a different region and learn about that region at the same time? Later in the year the WAGGGS’ website will contain quizzes about the Movement which you can turn into games for your unit. Why not play one of the games suggested in the Global Action Theme Badge Curriculum (available on the WAGGGS website www.wagggsworld.org)?
•Change your community- Find out what volunteer activities are taking place in your community. As a group commit to 100 hours of service over a period of time. Do 100 good deeds over a period of time. Log them on a “ladder” Clean 100 km of beach, fill 100 sacks with rubbish- combine with Clean up Australia day
•Speak out- What do you think needs to change in the world? Speak up and change your world… Speak out about issues which affect girls and young women at your school. Ask your teacher if you can talk about how the Movement has changed lives for 100 years. Find out about the WAGGGS’ Global Action Theme and the Millennium Development Goals and what you can do to achieve them. Plant the seeds of change in your school friends and help to change lives. Why not speak about the centenary of Girl Guiding at a local Guide event or at your school? Use the presentation that will shortly be available on the WAGGGS’ website, and tell WAGGGS about your experience. If you need a hard copy of the presentation contact the centenary coordinator.
•Debate the changing lives of women- Hold a discussion on the centenary message of 100 years of changing lives. Research how the lives of girls and young women have changed over the past 100 years in your country. Celebrate the changes over the past 100 years. Talk about what more needs to change for girls and young women. How can Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting bring about that change? What can you do? Make a pledge to help change the lives of girls and young women in your community in the next year. On Centenary Celebration Day 2011 revisit your pledges and what changes you have made. Invite speakers from the community as well as using your own Girl Guides/Girl Scouts Why not invite former Girl Guides and Girl Scouts to debate with current Girl Guides and Girl Scouts? Invite the media.
•Be inspired- Why not invite a local role model to come and speak to your group? A role model can plant the seeds of change in a young woman – she can inspire a Guide to make a difference. If she hasn’t been a Girl Guide or Girl Scout herself, why not invite your guest to become an honorary member in celebration of the centenary? She could talk on the theme of changing lives, following the centenary message. Invite the local media… Speak to a local role model about how Girl Guiding/Girl Scouting planted the seeds of change in her – send her story to your local media as part of your centenary publicity
•Explore the changes- Explore the changes in the Movement in your country by doing some research and talking to former members. Produce a record book of what you have found – with photographs, interviews and newspaper clippings from the past. Research what the world, your country, your community was like 100 years ago and how it has changed. Document your findings in a record book.
•Plant your dreams- Write down your dreams for the future. Make a commitment to change the world in one small way. Revisit these dreams in 2012 on the final Centenary Celebration Day.
•World Food Day celebrations- World Food Day is on October 16 but the World Food Day website includes activities that can take place throughout the year. Why not take up one of the suggested activities? Check out the WAGGGS’ Global Calls to Action for ideas for World Food Day activities.