This film is one of twelve films that the YFA has that were made by Leonard Bowes of the Heworth Brownie and Scouts, based at Holy Trinity Church Hall, in York, covering the years from 1977 to 1984. The films also cover other Brownie and Scouts events, parades and visits, such as one to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Most of the films however are of the annual trips to the village of Burnsall in Warfedale. Leonard’s wife, Ann, was the Brown Owl of the pack and organised the trips, and...

This film is one of twelve films that the YFA has that were made by Leonard Bowes of the Heworth Brownie and Scouts, based at Holy Trinity Church Hall, in York, covering the years from 1977 to 1984. The films also cover other Brownie and Scouts events, parades and visits, such as one to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Most of the films however are of the annual trips to the village of Burnsall in Warfedale. Leonard’s wife, Ann, was the Brown Owl of the pack and organised the trips, and that is how Leonard came to make the films – his only other films being of the family. Anne had been with the pack from its beginnings in 1953 when she was just 14, becoming Brown Owl at the age of 21, and continuing as Brown Owluntil her retirement in 2003, just after the pack celebrated its 50th anniversary, with Ann receiving a long-service award. Having made the films they were then shown to the Brownies and their families at fund raising events. 

 

The annual visits to Burnsall got going quite by chance. Whilst on a family holiday in Appletreewick, just down the road, Anne met another Brownie pack staying at the Village Hall in Burnsall, and this inspired Ann to organise something similar. Each year the girls themselves would choose a theme for the trip, in this case ‘Munch Bunch’ – other years include ‘Smurfs’, ‘Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Mr Men’. The theme would then be used in the various activities, such as handicrafts. The basic idea of the trips was to allow city girls to experience country life, but also to give them an opportunity to become independent, hence their involvement in the daily duties of cooking and cleaning – some older girls might be seen in the film who came along to help out. An idea that can be seen in operation, in a different context, with the the Church Pastoral Aid Society and their visit to nearby Kettlewell – see the Context for Dale Days with the CPSA(1949) for more on this.  But as one of the girls, Emma, has subsequently related on the ITV programme The Way We Were, for the girls the great thing was that it was a chance to have fun away from home.  Heworth Brownies are still going strong, but they no longer have an annual visit to Burnsall.

 

The YFA has many films featuring the Brownies and the Girl Guides, and many more on the Scouts. The birth of the Girl Guides is not straight forward, and is bound up with the convoluted early history of the Scouts. The Boy’s Scouts Association was of course formed by a famous soldier in the context of an approaching World War, when Britain was attempting to hang on to its empire, and this naturally affected the politics of the Scouts and the formation of the Girl Guides.  It is perhaps unsurprising then that, as with so many movements, there was a schism early on in the formation of the scouts (as with the Boy’s Brigade). Alongside Baden Powell’s BSA there was the British Boy Scouts (from 1932 to 1978 the Brotherhood of British Scouts), sponsored by a boy’s comic called Chums. 
This has a large part to play in the early history of the girl guides. At first affiliated to the BSA they soon become a rival to Baden-Powell’s movement under the direction of Sir Francis Vane who had been driven out of the BSA for his criticism of its militaristic tendencies and anti-democratic methods. With the support of Quakers groups, the BBS joined with the Boys Life Brigade in February 1910 to form The National Peace Scouts (with a combined membership of some 85,000). In the following year they then formed the Order of World Scouts.


 

It is claimed that the Girl Guides movement initially emerged as an offshoot of the Scouts after direct action of some girls gate-crashing the first Boy Scout Rally at Crystal Palace in 1909. A recent TV programme for BBC4, marking 100 years of the Girl Guides, has an interview with one of the girls who took part. Yet in fact another British Girl Scouts was founded in 1909, a year before Baden Powell set up the Girl Guides Association in 1910 – led by Agnes Baden-Powell, Robert Baden-Powell's sister. This was affiliated to the BBS, but very soon, in June 1910, went its own way and separated from the BBS with name of the British Girls Nursing Corps, and launched its own journal 'The British Girl Nurse'. However, it is not clear whether these early girl scouting groups were formed independently, from ‘below’, or were established by the BBS.   

 

One source of discontent and rift may be the change of name by Baden-Powell for the girl’s organisation from Scouts to Guides.  An article on the British Girl Scouts on the Order of World Scouts website (References), quotes from Rose Kerr: "The new name was not received with any great enthusiasm by those who had already styled themselves 'Girl Scouts' and many of them felt that the scheme now proposed to them, with its substitution of nursing and domestic duties for the more boyish activities, was rather a watered-down edition of Scouting" (Rose Kerr, p35, References). What is clear is that at first there were mixed groups of scouts, boys and girls, and that this made many very uneasy. For more on the history of the Scouting Movement see the Context for the film made by Eric Marshall, New Horizons (1952).

 

Thus alongside the Girl Guides there is the alternative British Girl Guides as part of the still existing, although much diminished, Order of World Scouts. This is a more explicitly Christian organisation, with a higher proportion of non-conformist church members, and harking back to the days of the crusading knights. Both strands of the scouting movement developed with a top down structure and a missionary agenda.   The Girl Guides Association remained very much a Baden-Powell entity, with his young wife Olave taking over from his sister Agnes as Chief Guide in 1918 (World Chief Guide in 1930).

 

It was from the Girl Guides Association that the Brownies, for girls under 11, were formed in 1914 – initially called 'Rosebuds' (this was disliked by the girls themselves) and renamed 'Brownies' in 1915 (reportedly because it was the title of Baden Powell’s favourite book).  Two years later Senior Guide Groups, for girls aged 14 to 25, were formed; and both these and the junior guides played a big role in the First World working in munitions factories and carrying out first aid. Much later on, in 1987, a section for five to seven year olds called Rainbows was introduced.  The Girl Guides shared many of the aims and activities of the Scouting Movement, albeit influenced by prevailing stereotypical views on the role of women – something that is less in evidence today.  Yet despite this influence, its role in improving the position of women, through promoting self confidence in girls, as evident in this film, perhaps shouldn’t be underestimated.

 

In 2002 The Guide Association changed its name to Girlguiding UK and several initiatives over the last decade have brought the organisation, like the Scouts, more into the modern age. Its programme of peer education, '4ward, 4 self 4 others', covers subjects such as media awareness, eating disorders, the environment and sexual health; which arguably reflect more the realities of girls and young women than any out of date views on gender. It is within this context that girlguiding has issued a series of reports under the generic title of Girls shout out!, giving a voice to girls and young women on the issues of self-esteem, mental health and active citizenship. 

 

Girlguiding remains extremely popular, with over half a million members and insufficient volunteers.  Even so it is looking to broaden the ethnic mix of its members. Although retaining its Christian ethos, it has recently made moves to open itself to anyone regardless of belief. As part of this the Promise has changed its wording to, ‘To love my God’, allowing this to be changed to a more specific title. When one thinks that almost half of all women in Britain have been involved in guiding at some time in their life, it is not surprising that it remains a significant forum for the formation of young people around the world.

 

References


Audio slideshow: 100 years of girl guiding

The British Girl Scouts on the Order of World Scouts website

girlguiding

A Bibliography of the British Boy Scouts.


Further Information

Alison Maloney, Something for the Girls: The Official Guide to the First 100 Years of Guiding, Constable, 2009.        
Rose Kerr, The Story of the Girl Guides, Girl Guide Association, 1932 revised 1964.