LORD LIEUTENANT, MADAME CHAIRMAN, DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, COMMISSIONERS, FELLOW GUIDERS AND GIRLS

It is with pleasure I present my first report as County Commissioner of Renfrewshire. On this occasion I feel very honoured and humbled. This time last year, never for one minute did I expect to standing in this position in front of you all tonight. I must admit that I had never given much thought as to what it was like standing on this side of the hall which is probably just as well. When I received a phone call from Dinah Faulds in March, I was taken completely by surprise and virtually lost for words.

Firstly, I would like to thank most sincerely Maureen and all her team for the help, support and encouragement they have given us, the new County team, since I took up this challenging role in April.

What an honour this position of County Commissioner is, what an exciting and memorable time to be part of the Guiding family. I have always been told that one should never look back, only forward in the direction you would want to go. However, to look back and reflect on the past in this instance is wholly appropriate.

Baden Powell’s vision for Guiding is still justly relevant today. It is still, after 100 years, a viable option for future generations of girls and young women. We have become more focused; we have also become more inclusive; I hope that we have become more understanding and appreciative of our fragile environment. I certainly hope that in this fast changing world we will become increasingly more tolerant of each other.

A movement is just that and for the Girlguiding movement to survive the test of time, to support, to grow and to develop it needs to move, change and be flexible. It needs enthusiastic, ambitious, talented and committed leaders and that is what I think we have in our County. From time to time, some of you may disagree; we can all have our off days, we can all get tired but during this past year the girls’ achievements speak volumes for all your efforts, and without your commitment and support, their results would not be possible. You are all an absolutely invaluable golden piece of the Girlguiding movement’s jigsaw.

Training: Often a word which is associated with work, thoughts of ‘do I really need to get involved I have been a Guider for some time’ and occasionally the timing of trainings may be inconvenient. The other point to consider perhaps is ‘ I know what I’m doing’! And yes of course our Leaders do know.

Guiding Development is just that and as a movement we require developing and diversifying to keep in touch and be relevant. Julie Johnston, our Guiding Development Adviser, and her team are just that - they are the people who are keeping you in touch and being relevant for today’s girls.

They are always on the look out for new talent. So far, they have successfully organised an number of trainings this Autumn and we look forward to the Pick ‘n’ Mix day later this month. This is a joint venture with our neighbouring Counties. Even the Trefoil Guild members are being coerced into doing the teas!

‘Go’, standing for Guiding Organiser, went live in September. Sandra Sutherland, Maureen Foley and Carolyn Lockhart have been assisting Guiders with their problems and we must say a huge thank you to them for their trainings, for being at the end of a phone and, it goes without saying, their patience. As with anything new, there are always initial hiccups . All unit information should be on the Go system by year end. Go is the trigger for the annual census.

South Newton is looking very spruce; although booking for the houses have not been as busy as we would like, the fields have been very busy with campers and activities. Consideration is being given to enable bookings for the property to be made on line. There have been over the last year approximately 800 Guides, Senior Section and Leaders camping/holidaying at South Newton, which is quite an achievement.

Without your involvement, there would not have been the opportunity for the many camps and holidays which the girls have enjoyed to places like Baden-Powell House, Dunkeld, Auchengillan, Birmingham, Lochgoilhead, and Switzerland to name but a few. Kathryn McBride from Greenock was selected to attend an International Camp in Denmark. I was fortunate to hear her talk about her experiences and the new friends she had made. A seed has been sown and she is desperate to do it all over again; it was awesome.

The outdoor activities teams have been busy. The climbing girls can now offer crag climbing to anyone brave enough to have a go. Archery has been well supported with ‘come and try’ days for potential instructors. Walking is also looking encouraging; one of our newer Guiders, Karen Dinwoodie, completed her outdoor first aid certificate at Gartocharn last weekend. This is part of a Level 2 walking qualification.

During the past year, the Duke of Edinburgh Award has been well supported there are currently 53 Young Leaders, Rangers and young adult Guiders working towards a Duke of Edinburgh Award in the County - 13 at Bronze, 16 at Silver and 24 at Gold. I specially thank the leaders who are continually keen to go out in all weathers to arrange and marshal expeditions! Fourteen girls have gained their Bronze Award, Sixteen their Silver and three Girls have gained their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award and they are Kim Kermath, Fiona Laird, and Carolyn Finlay.

This year due to all the excitement in the run up to the Centenary launch, I did not run out a County Challenge as usual. There were two reasons for this; we felt that with the razzmatazz of our Centenary Launch, the Changing the World challenge, and the introduction of the Adventure 100, there was quite a lot going on at a local level. We do intend to run our County Challenge for everyone from the beginning of 2010.

The challenges have become wider. For this past year leading up to the Centenary launch, the Changing the World challenge has had a phenomenal response from Scotland and in particular, the work and results from units in this county has been fantastic. As you are aware, Girlguiding teamed up with 19 partnering organisations; 18 Charities were selected and there were 19 different projects which the girls could get involved in to Change the World. Changing the World on Google has had 442,000,000 hits!

I had not thought it necessary to pick any units out for particular mention when so many in Renfrewshire across the age spectrum have successfully supported the 18 listed charities and others, in time, fund raising, awareness and support.

However, there were some exceptions. Greenock Guides, after raising money for the Save the Children Charity, were challenged to come up with a number of statements for inclusion in the Save the Children Manifesto and out of the twelve statements submitted, three were chosen for the final document. These statements from the guides, along with another nine, were made up into a Charter which was presented to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and was discussed by Barack Obama and the other G20 Leaders during the G20 Summit.

Cloch Trefoil Guild raised £444 for Mary’s Meals, Brownies in Kilmacolm held a fantastic fashion show raising just short of £1000 in support of Children in Need, Cardonald South district did a very successful sponsored walk over the Erskine Bridge and even the smallest managed the task. In Paisley, they pulled out the stops and supported Camfed; and the list of support continues right across the County. Well done to everyone who has taken part.

The results summary which I received last week for Girlguiding UK confirms that Scotland was the clear winner raising a total of £117,172. Help the Hospices was in number one slot receiving monetary donations of just short of £25,000. It is a tremendous result. Nothing like this challenge had been attempted before and the receiving charities may have been a little sceptical on initial approach but will now be in total agreement that girlguiding can and is changing the world.

In September, came our County Centenary Launch where we all went rather wild along with everyone in Girlguiding UK. What a celebration; the Centenary team led by Caroline Matheson did us all proud. It was a super afternoon at the Lagoon Leisure Centre, Paisley. The event was supported by the Splash Productions chivvied on by Maureen Buchanan; there were songs, many which I am not very familiar with, lots of laughter, lots of balloons and many happy and bemused faces. It was a tremendous start to the celebrations already planned for this coming year. Remember to grab this minute in time and enjoy your mountain top moment - it will be another 100 years of Girlguiding history before there is another opportunity .

In conclusion I should like to say thanks to you all for your support and dedication, for the hours of planning you do for the events and meetings you all organise. For all the other things which are done by you in the background which no one knows about. You know who you are and I thank you most sincerely. For all that you ladies do, for the time that you give the girls freely, it will help change their world to help change that of others.

This year, in line with our theme, we have change the format of the Annual Review. There is a fresh format but the unabridged Reports from our Commissioners and Advisers can be found on the website. We hope that you will find the wee calendar of use to note all you guiding events.

Thank you

Moira Johnston