Ready Steady Go

Have you ever thought of Spring cleaning at Our Chalet? Well believe me, it was certainly more interesting than cleaning my own home! During the first two weeks of May, I was one of a group of sixteen volunteers taking part in the Ready Steady Go weeks. The purpose of this was to get Our Chalet and its other buildings ready for the summer guests, following the winter months.

Having applied last November and accepted in January, I was very excited to be taking part. As May got nearer I got a little bit more anxious as I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. When I arrived at Our Chalet in time for dinner, all my worries from before disappeared. The place is in such a beautiful setting and everybody was so friendly, I felt totally at home.

On our first day after the welcoming ceremony, we did some team building to help us quickly get to know each other and to remember each other‟s names. We were then divided into six patrols and would work as those patrols for the fortnight. Our range of tasks had been planned by the staff, so we all knew what we had to do each day. The staff seemed most impressed that we were quick workers and we often ended up doing extra small tasks to fill the time. The type of work we did included cleaning windows, airing mattresses, laundry, sorting out camping equipment, checking inventory lists, dusting off books and bookshelves – you name it, it had to be cleaned. I was even privileged to dust the tea set that had been used in the tea party for the opening ceremony for Our Chalet back in 1932. There was also a special project to build a footpath from the main chalet up the hill to the campsite. When we completed this we had an opening ceremony – we all had a pair of scissors to cut through the ribbon, then we all ran up the path to celebrate!

It wasn‟t all hard work though – most evenings we were entertained by the staff who were required to do this as part of their job. But we had our part to play too - for example we all took part in the International night when we had to talk about our countries and how guiding is back home. On the Swiss night, some of us acted out a play on the story of William Tell and then had a quiz testing our knowledge of Switzerland.

Throughout my two week stay, I completed the Our Chalet challenge badge. It‟s just like a badge earned at Brownies or Guides, but only for those who go to Our Chalet. The badge focuses on learning about Our Chalet and its history, WAGGGS, Swiss culture, doing good turns and elements of the promise. There was a choice of activities which I completed and got signed off by different members of staff, and I was finally presented with my badge at the closing ceremony.

My time working at Our Chalet really confirms that everyone in Guiding has something in common and you are never alone. It certainly reinforces the fact you can make new friends from all over the world. I would say I had two of the best weeks of my life and would recommend it to anybody. I feel as if I have put a bit more back into Guiding, but at the same time got lots out of it too.

Sue Heathfield