The History of Girlguiding in Rushden

The first recorded picture of the Guides in Rushden was of girls from St Mary's Guides in 1915 selling flowers for the Forget-Me-Not Appeal day and it was obvious right from the beginning that giving service and helping the community were to play a big part in the Guide Movement.

At that time there were two Guide groups in the town- one connected to St Mary's Church and one to St Peter's Church. It would appear that even then there was rivalry between the two groups and there was a race to see which group would be registered with Guide Headquarters first. As can be seen by the fact that St Peter's are the first and St Mary's the second the St Peter's group won the race being registered on 20/07/22 under the captaincy of a Miss Hurst. St Mary's followed in 01/01/23 but it is not clear who the Captain was at that time.

Of course being Guides they were also happy to share times as the entry from the St Peter's Parish Magazine of 1926 shows. It is interesting to note that the profit from 80 people playing Whist was £3.

There are numerous lovely old photos but putting names to the faces after such a long time is difficult. It is clear however that a Miss Mabel Wills started Rangers at St Peter's at the beginning of 1925 and the Miss Florence White started the Rangers at St Mary's at the end of 1927. Miss Florence White later married Mr Don Winters, who was very involved in Scouting for many years, and in 1941, as Mrs Winters, started a third Guide Group at Alfred Street School. This was an open unit that any girl in the town could join.

Throughout the 20s and 30s Girlguiding flourished and numbers remained steady. Girls were learning first aid, knotting, house wife skills and of course giving service to the community whenever they could. They took badges, went to camp, attended church parades and were incredibly proud to wear their uniforms on any occasion

Although St Mary's were first to register a Brownie Pack in 1927 they were still called the 2^nd to tie them into the Guides. St Peter's Brownies were registered in 1930 but from photographs it is clear there were Brownies in the town before that time.

A Warrant Certificate dated 15^th May 1929 was issued to Nora Whiting (later Nora Hagger) as Lieutenant of 2^nd Rushden St Mary's Guides. After this was cancelled she went on to be a Brown Owl in 1932.

It is interesting to note that during the war years the number of girls joining Guides increased dramatically from 1939 to 1943. The census returns are interesting because they show 18 evacuees and 21 on active service.

Jacky Bright recalls stories that her mother Kitty Wadsworth (later Houghton) told her about being a Guide in the war years and helping with the evacuees. Later they moved to Irthlingborough where her mother continued in Guiding until she retired in 1979. She also goes on to tell about her own experiences of being a Guide in the 1960s.

From 1923 to 1944 the Division Commissioner visited the units regularly and always kept a log of the happenings. One such entry is from 1942 but there is no way now of knowing who the Commissioner was at the time.

No new units opened for many years but the existing ones continued to flourish throughout the 1930s and 40s. Mrs Elisabeth Guest recalls her time as a Guide and remembers some of the leaders.

In 1936 Jubilee campsite was opened at Castle Ashby and many girls camped there before and during the war and of course continue to camp there to this day. The Commissioner's log book entry shows some of these camps in the early years.

Kathleen White (later Knight) remembers her time as a guide with St Mary's in the 40s. Kathleen went on to become a leader herself and was involved with the unit for many years. Her book on the History of the Guide Movement, which was written when she was about 15, is retained in the County Archives along with other log books and photographs.

Kathleen went on several camps throughout her guiding days and a sample of one of her log books shows not only her beautiful writing but her joy in telling about her experiences. On another camp at Foxlease, in the New Forest, she tells of her journey to the camp which involved changing trains in London and getting a bus from Southampton. Quite an exciting expedition to undertake for a young girl on her own......

Attending the Flower Service and St George's Day Parade and helping with the Garden Party were regular events as was putting on plays to entertain parents.

St Peter's in particular put on lavish productions of such plays as Puss in Boots in 1946 and Little Red Riding Hood in 1947. Brownies and Guides took part and there were several performances. Programmes were produced and were sold for 2d each (tuppence in old money).

During the 1950s and 1960s the Brownies and Guides continued to meet and Kathleen White recalls her time as Captain of St Mary's Guides.

Camping was extremely popular and camps were held much further afield in Blacklands in 1955, Somerset in 1958 and Malvern in 1959. The girls always had a wonderful time even though duties needed to be carried out as the duty rota for Blacklands camp showed. There was always a lot of fun with silly sports, fancy dress parades and outings to the seaside or other interesting places.

In 1956 there was great excitement because Lady Baden Powell visited Northampton and many girls from Rushden attended. Joy Clayson recalled in her log book the events of the day.

Joy was in the line up to greet Lady Baden Powell and later Mary Chisholm was presented with her Queen's Guide Award by Lady Baden Powell. Mary has donated her certificate to the Guide County Archives so it will not be lost. Joy was a helper for a time as her Warrant shows.

From stories told there were annual sports days and swimming galas when units across the District competed for the shield. It would appear that for many years St Peter's Guides always came out the winners but it did not stop the others from competing.

By 1950 Margaret Shelton had been Brown Owl of the St Peter's Brownies for seven years as she started at 18. She was a most wonderful lady and continued to serve Guiding all her life. She became County Registrations Secretary and of course a leading member of the Trefoil Guild. She encouraged her Brownies to look to the wider community and sent a parcel for the displaced persons in Germany. She also entered a Magic Carpet for the Brownie Exhibition Week and had it accepted. One of her Brownies wrote to The Guide Magazine telling about her outing to London.

It was not until 1960 that a new Brownie Pack (5^th) was opened by Judy Austin (nee Gell - previously seen in a camp photograph of 1956). They met in Moor Road Youth Club and were open to anyone in the town. Later Judy started 3^rd Rangers but sadly both these units are now closed. The 5^th Guides were also a town unit and met at the Scout Hut with Gill Burridge taking over from Lily Anderson who was the leader for some years.

During all this time the Salvation Army had been running Troups called Sunbeams for the girls aged 7-11 and Life Saving Guards for the girls 11-15. In 1964 these were affiliated to the B. P. Sections and they became Brownies and Guides.

In 1968 6th Roman Catholic Guides were started by Mrs Pam Gilbert who ran the unit for many years. She was an amazing Guider and she was much missed when she moved away. Our loss was Oakham's gain because she is still giving time to Guiding and not long ago received the Laurel Award for services to Guiding. Her memories are recorded here.

Soon after 6^th Roman Catholic Brownies were started by Mrs Sandy Reeve and both these units are still in existence today.

Between 1973 and 1983 several units were opened.

7^th St Mary's Brownies under the leadership of Diana Smith

7^th St Mary's Guides -June Lyne as Captain.

8^th St Peter's Brownies

9^th Whitefriars Brownies

9^th Whitefriars Guides

10^th Denfield Park Brownies -Bee Tice as Brown Owl.

10^th Denfield Park Guides- Julie Coleman as Leader.

In 1981 it was decided that as there were so many units in the town it should be divided into two Districts. Knuston was to have Wendy King-Underwood as Commissioner and Newton was to be led by Marie Burton. There was a great deal of heartache over the split but eventually it all settled down and the two Districts remain to this day.

During this boom time for Guiding in the town Mrs Lily Anderson was the Division Commissioner having taken over from Mrs Myrtle Mackness. Lily was a much loved leader and an inspiration to us all. She encouraged many activities such as Division Camps, the swimming competitions and sports days which by this time were seeing  2^nd St Mary's Guides taking the trophies.

We were encouraged to take part in the St George's Day Parades and large numbers would parade through the town, with the Scouts, to a service which was often held in the Baptist Church as this was the largest in the town.

After Lily died of cancer a bird bath was placed at MacQueen House in her memory and a few years ago this was damaged beyond repair. The Division decided to replace it with a new one so there is still a reminder of a lovely lady with a very special place in our hearts.  Soon after Lily died it was decided to make a Division Standard. This involved much research into heraldry so as to ensure the correct designs and colours were used. We were delighted that we were allowed to incorporate a lily ( embroidered by her mother) into the design as another reminder of a special lady. This Standard is used on every formal occasion when the Division commissioner is present.

In 1987 a new Section for younger girls was started and they were called Rainbows. It was not long before several Rainbow units were formed in the town and three of them are in existence today.

RANGERS

Apart from the early registration of the Rangers it is not clear if they continued all the time.

There are lovely pictures taken in the 50s and Wendy King-Underwood recalls her time as a Land Ranger and then later as a Ranger Guider.

There are no Ranger units in Rushden at the present time but many girls go on to become Young Leaders and continue to help in the units.

HISTORY OF GUIDE UNITS IN RUSHDEN

Over the years units have closed and reopened and the exact dates are hard to establish accurately. The numbers have also become confused as units have joined together perhaps taking the number of one and the description of the other.

AT THE PRESENT TIME WE HAVE 12 UNITS IN THE TOWN.

3 RAINBOW UNITS, 5 BROWNIE UNITS AND 4 GUIDE UNITS.

There are

Brownies and Guides attached to St Peter's Church but meeting at Highfield Baptist Church

Rainbows, Brownies and Guides attached to St Mary's Church.

Rainbows, Brownies and Guides attached to the Salvation Army Church.

Rainbows, Brownies and Guides attached to the Catholic Church

And, Whitefriars School Brownies.

Sadly we do not have any Ranger groups in the town with many girls now taking on the role of Young Leader if they wish to remain in guiding after Guide age.

Marie Burton 2014