The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Across the country, some 45,000 members commemorated the centenary with unique events on May 15 Ð National Rally Day. The shindig started with a sunrise ceremony on Signal Hill in St. John's, through activities at Ontario Place and Parliament Hill and ended with a giant sleep over at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum. Manitoba held three events; in Winnipeg, Thompson and Brandon. Thirty-five girls and 11 Guiders from Flin Flon attended the rally in Thompson. There was a round robin of activities-an outdoor picture scavenger hunt, outdoor picnic races, plant stakes, painting ceramic egg banks, along with a service project to help Thompson Food Bank. A video of the history of Guiding was enjoyed with a piece of birthday cake. Along with showing girls the movement is larger than their unit, Rally Day was also meant to remind the public that Guiding is still strong. And, that it's about more than their famous cookies, which started in 1927 when a leader in Regina baked batches as a fundraiser. Guiding was born in 1909, when a pack of renegade girls demanding inclusion in Boy Scouts marched in behind the young men at a rally at London's Crystal Palace. Founder Lord Robert Baden-Powell was said to be so impressed, he asked his sister Agnes to start a program for girls. Attending that infamous rally was a woman named Mary Malcomson. Likely inspired by the showdown, she registered Canada's first Girl Guide unit in St. Catharines, Ont., in 1910. Within two years, 88 women and girls formed units in every province. The organization took the name Girl Guides of Canada-Guides du Canada in 1961. The trail blazed by these girls Ð with packs on their backs and songs in their hearts, as the marching anthem goes Ð has been enduring, but not without twists and turns. A major challenge has been declining enrollment. National membership peaked in 1969 at about 278,000, hovering around the 250,000 level until the early 1990s. It currently sits at about 90,000, in 6,479 units nationwide. Rebranding strategies to turn numbers around have at times been controversial. "You Go Girl" replaced the classic "Be Prepared" slogan at the dawn of the millennium, while women's magazine ads were launched in 2006 with cartoon Girl Guides announcing "Why Girls Need Guides." Those within the organization credit such tactics and other growth campaigns with stemming the decline about four years ago. Girl Guides were organized in Flin Flon in January, 1934. By 1954, there were 218 Guides, 233 Brownies, eight Rangers and 35 Guiders in Flin Flon. This year, Flin Flon District began with 65 girls and 11 Guiders, an increase of 20 girls from 2008. Unit activities include learning about home, community, the outdoors and the world, service projects, camp, crafts, singing, and games and, of course, selling Girl Guide cookies. We look forward to an increased membership again this fall as Guiders plan special events such as camps, sleep overs, Guide ski trip and other out trips to complement the girls' programs.
