Carol Dunne County Commissioner

Dear all,

Belated Thinking Day greetings to you all and wherever and however you celebrated our special day, I hope you had a wonderful time. I was very privileged to join the Bharat Scouts and Guides in Pune, India with the other members of the Oxfordshire contingent who visited Sangam.

As you will read in Helen’s report, thewhole trip was a memorable experience but one of the highlights was Thinking Day. A special service held in the Indian heat where the work and service of Lord and Lady Baden - Powell’s work is acknowledged and revered, was followed by fun and games with the Guides and Scouts – being confronted unexpectedly with a group of adolescent boys rather than younger Scouts or Guides certainly kept Denise and I on our toes but the respectful way they thanked us was very special. The day was rounded off with a special service in the grounds of Sangam. I know overseas trips are costly but the international opportunities we offer to girls and adults can be financially supported and are fantastic events to participate in. Please contact our County International adviser, Wendy Faulkner for more details of opportunities or speak to our residential advisers about taking groups away yourself. Visiting a country with guiding enables you to see a different and possibly more ‘real’ world to that experienced by tourists.

Shortly after our return I had the pleasure of attending this year’s Gang Show which was celebrating 60 marvellous years. Once again, the young people and the adults who work hard both behind and in front to the scenes produced a spectacular show that was enjoyed by those attending including the Mayor and other dignitaries

My thanks to you all for your hard work with GO and this year’s subscriptions. However, there have still been a number of challenges that remind us that we all must keep our records up to date and make sure all girls and leaders who leave us and are ‘inactive’ are given end dates! As a unit leader I have found Go to be a useful tool, but it is only effective if the date entered is accurate. The more we use it, and make suggestions to CHQ about how to improve it the better it will become.

Please don’t forget about our really special event, GLAM (Guide Leaders Are Marvellous) in July to which all leaders are invited. Further details will be sent out shortly but we aim to keep the cost as low as possible while offering a memorable occasion for us to dress up, have fun and acknowledge our achievements of the past couple of years.

Spring Training Day and the residential trainings are also just around the corner, so please come along. Dani will also be looking for teams of Guides to attend their special challenge day with its new name of OxyGen (formerly Girloree) and new trophy! The current trophy has run out of space for the plaques so this year’s winning group will be the first holders of our new trophy. This year, guides and senior section are also offered the opportunity to attend their own Netball Festival organised by Helen Wynn

For further information about any of these events please contact your commissioner.

Finally, on August 31st, my term of office as County Commissioner come to an end. I have thoroughly enjoyed the five years which have flown by, meeting so many wonderful and inspirational people, visiting many different places and seeing Guiding go from strength to strength as we celebrated our Centenary. Soon, I will be asking Rosie Spencer, our Region Chief Commissioner to begin the process to appoint our next County Commissioner and therefore if you have suggestions of who you think it could be, please speak to your Division Commissioner or contact Rosie herself once the process has begun. I can unreservedly say it is one of the best roles in Guiding and that I can recommend it wholeheartedly despite the responsibilities it carries. However, we have such a wonderful team of Trustees, advisers and trainers that the new ‘CC’ would have plenty of support.

Many, many thanks to you all once again for your continuing work and support, Carol