Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #girlguides, aggregated by home.social.
The official opening of Otawa Guide Lodge, 1978
This lodge was built and owned by the Girl Guides Association and was sold in c2019. It was set in bush with a number of walking tracks close by and there was also easy access to a nearby stream. The two-storied building was designed as a multi-purpose facility, with six showers, six toilets, two large rooms and a deck.
Western Bay District Council via DigitalNZ
“Girlguiding has unveiled the first major redesign of its uniform range in more than 30 years, with the aim of allowing its members the ‘freedom to express themselves’.” But not if you are trans. #Transphobia #GirlGuides
The law of the jumble.
Do ‘Jumble Sales’ still exist today?
Sadly, I fear not.
Nowadays, the word ‘jumble’ infers any goods on offer consist of worthless junk the original owner couldn’t be arsed taking down to the local dump. Nowadays, that ‘useless crap’ has become more treasured. Expressions like ‘vintage,’ ‘pre-loved,’ ‘pre-owned’ and the very loosely-termed ‘nearly new’ give second-hand items an air of respectability.
‘Tat’ has now become ‘nostalgic.’ Or ‘shabby chic.’
Such items are less likely to find their way to the local dump these days (‘the dump’ has been re-imagined as a ‘re-cycling centre,’ these days ) mainly because we now have various businesses accepting boxes of unwanted goods in return for a ‘fair price.’ ‘Vintage Cash Cow,’ ‘and ‘We Buy Books’ and ‘Vinted’ are good examples.
Not only that, the good ol’ Jumble Sale faces competition, and ultimate extinction, thanks also in part to the plethora of High Street charity shops. And of course there are also those infernal plastic bags pushed through our letterboxes with a request for old clothing.
Everyone wants our old stuff now! Kids from local youth organisations looking to supplement their coffers, are reduced to bag-packing at the supermarket. Some simply shake a can in front of consumers going about their weekly shop. (Heck – I’ve even seen some desperate, but enterprising youngsters priming their hand-held card reader in readiness to accept donations by bank card!)
It’s all so far removed for the days back in the ’60s & ’70s, when Jumble Sales were a pretty big deal within the local community. Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, youth sports clubs and the like, all regarded Jumble Sales as a prime fundraising events.
Throughout the week prior to the big day, kids would be farmed out around the local streets with the instruction to ask / beg householders for any old jumble they’d be happy to pass on. A group leader would follow in their car and children would fill the boot and back seats with donated books, toys, ornaments, unwanted tools, lamps and other various electrical goods.
It was from the latter category I managed to bag my best Jumble Sale purchase.
Provided we paid a fair price, as agreed by our leaders, we were allowed to ‘bagsie’ items we collected. These would still be displayed at the sale, but with a great big, hand-written ‘SOLD’ sign taped to them.
The most commonly ‘bagsied’ stuff were toys and board games. Inevitably, the feelings of excitement and triumph at getting your hands on Mouse Trap turned to utter, crushing disappointment when it was later discovered both the diver and washtub / bucket were missing. This of course meant there was nothing to prompt the final act of the cage falling to entrap the wee plastic Indian Chief that was used in substitute for the also missing, toy mouse.
However, I got my hands on this beauty, didn’t I? I’d collected it from its old home, and so had first ‘dibs’ on it. I can’t remember how much I paid for it, but it was well within the budget of my paper-round pay packet.
So … not much!
Result!
It worked, too. Sure, it gave off a bit of an acrid, dusty burning smell, but the dial lit up perfectly and enabled me to pick up the US Forces Network and tune in to Yankees or Red Sox baseball games as they happened. There was something almost romantic about doing so on such an old radio receiver.
(Manufactured around 1945 / 1946 by E.K. Cole Ltd in Southend-on-Sea, my model is of ‘premium’ nature, and now worth between £500 and £750 in working order. Kerchiiiing! 😉)
This was an exceptional find, of course. But even the more mundane items were well sought after, and a good thirty minutes or so before the official opening, queues would form outside the village / church hall venue. (We like queues, here in the UK!)
It was all very civilised … until the doors opened. Mild-mannered elderly ladies instantly morphed into handbag brandishing monsters and youngsters would squabble over a copy of the Dandy Annual that Santa forgot to deliver the previous Christmas.
(Who, in their right mind, gives away their copy of a Dandy or Beano Annual????)
The general rule was that first to lay their hands on a desired good, got it. However, the law of the jumble is savage. Much-sought-after items would become subject to mini-bidding wars, much to the delight of the sale organisers.
And it’s fair to say a good biot of haggling went on, especially towards the end of the sale, when it was a case of shifting everything that was left, for the best price possible.
There would be home-baking stalls, loaded with donations our mothers had slaved over for a couple of days prior.
That stuck up cow, Mrs Brown, isn’t going to produce the best Victoria Sponge this year! (Now don’t go telling wee Johnny, I said that, mind.)
Coffee and tea would be served at the small trestle tables normally used by Tuesday evening’s Village Bridge Club – be careful you don’t spill your fizzy drink on the card-table top.
There was a lovely, warm ambience about the place on Jumble Sale day. The hall would normally have a fusty, possibly even slightly damp smell to it. This was accentuated with all the sales items that had been dragged down from people’s attics or the dark recess of the understairs cupboard.
This mixed with the aroma of over overly-stewed tea and egg and cress or cucumber sandwiches – yes, we were frightfully posh in our village! And then there was the heat that filtered through the hall from the kitchen area – wonderful on a cold Saturday morning in March, but a nightmare in summer sales.
A cacophony of excited chatter, and the odd ‘heated discussion,’ would fill the air.
Ah, yes. Jumble Sales. I miss them. Just think of the bargains you’d pick up these days with consumers buying expensive goods, looking at them twice, wearing / playing with them once, and then replacing them with the more updated, super-improved, better-than-ever make / model.
There’s much to be said for the services offered by the various online organisations who are delighted to buy your old tat. But I’d suggest there’s more to be said about Jumble Sales.
(About 1,049 words, as it happens.) 😉
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#BoyScouts #DailyBlog #GirlGuides #humor #humour #JumbleSales #junk #preOwned #radioReceivers #secondHand #villageHall #vintage
Can the fedi community help clear this up for me? When I was in girl scouts in the 80s, there was a big book with all the badges and their requirements, so I could just flip through and decide what to go for. It was like knowing that you had to take three semesters of physics to get a bio major in college.
A couple years back I was an assistant troop leader and I could hardly figure out what badges existed, much less what the requirements were. There was a lot going on for me at that time, but still... Was I doing it wrong? Or did something change?
The doorbell rang...
Wifeski heard rumours that the Girl Guides were making the rounds.. So we got in the truck and went hunting! Finally found a pack of them a few blocks from the house. I rolled down the window, gave them all the cash I had and said "how much will that get me?"
We now have cookies!!!
#Canada #Ontario #girlguides
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/mar/27/olympics-transgender-women-athlete-ban-human-rights-response-ntwnfb. I'm glad to hear it! In the #UK, we have the #GirlGuides banning #trans girls from September, see: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/27/girlguiding-trans-members-supreme-court, @transworld, @transactualuk, @christineburns, @stonewalluk, @PinkNews. This is all completely unacceptable. What the Hell did the UK Supreme Court think they were doing, @HarriettMB? The damage they've done, & will do, is incalculable.
"We continue to support marginalised groups"
No. You fucking don't. You're an old world organisation run by rancid old bags with a Christian agenda. You're a tragic relic rapidly making yourselves irrelevant in this day and age. Groups are closing and merging due to waning membership.
In 20 years we'll all be saying "girl what?"
You didn't ACTUALLY have to implement this change. Nobody put your arm behind your back and said "do it". You chose this.
#girlguidinguk #girlguides #transphobia #transrightsarehumanrights #transrights
The pettiness and cruelty of the Epstein Class.
Picking on little girls is what they like to do though...
https://news.sky.com/story/transgender-girls-given-until-september-to-leave-guides-13523781
#GirlGuides #UKPol #UKPolitics #EpsteinClass #Transphobes #TransRightsAreHumanRights #LGBTQIA
@PinkNews @trans-lives-PinkNews now JK Rowling will sue the Girl Guides and there won't be any Girl Guides but JK Rowling will be happy because she won the argument.
#GirlGuides #JKRowling #Transphobia #TransRightsAreHumanRights
RE: https://mastodon.social/@AnnaAnthro/115678541620433683
There are decent human beings everywhere among ordinary people!
These institutions are acting out of fear — fear of litigation, fear of lobby groups, fear of being dragged into a financially ruinous court case they cannot possibly afford to win.
Who funds many of these legal threats? Well let’s just say a fund has been set up by an author to expelliarmus trans people, and to support cases against trans inclusion
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-real-reason-the-girl-guides-and-wi-turned-away-trans-women-1e2ff69c427a?sk=2f318cc1fe77ee0bac38752c9b06c187
Allow transgender women and girls back into GirlGuiding UK
https://www.change.org/p/allow-transgender-women-and-girls-back-into-girlguiding-uk
https://www.europesays.com/uk/325924/ Girl Guides of Canada suspends U.S. trips over restrictions, safety concerns – National #Canada #DonaldTrump #GirlGuides #U.S.Border #U.S.News #U.s.Travel #UnitedStates #us #USA
Half of girls and young women are contemplating cosmetic procedures, study finds | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cosmetic-procedures-girls-young-women-b2582733.html
#CosmeticSurgery
#CosmeticProceedures
#YoungWomen
#GirlGuides
#Guides
#Girlguiding
#TeenageGirls
#Teens
#PeoplesPostCodeLottery
#Children
#EatingDisorder
#GirlsLooksScrutinisedMoreThanBoys
Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands in the Girl Guides, 1946 - RP Postcard
#Royalty #PrincessBeatrix #Beatrix #GirlGuides #Briefkaarten #Postcard #Postcards
William stops for school children photo at Royal Norfolk Show 🖐🏼
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-66057554
#RoyalNorfolkShow #Livestock #PrinceWilliam #SchoolChildren #GirlGuides #Scouts #YoungFarmers #ChildrensHospices #EastAnglianAirAmbulance
Very sad to see the #GirlGuides selling off their centres when investment un youth services especially for girls is so low- this seems a bit like asset stripping - already sold off their international centres according to #PrivateEye mag - why is this not in mainstream press? #BBC etc https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/information-for-volunteers/updates-for-our-members/activity-centre-announcement/#:~:text=They've%20made%20the%20recommendation,events%20going%20ahead%20as%20planned.
Hey #Melbourne! I'm a Unit Leader for our local #GirlGuides group and we're looking for more leaders and helpers!
You can start off as a helper to see how you go, and then decide to take on Leader training if you want to go that route. Prior experience not necessary!
Here are listings for the Carlton unit specifically (my unit) but we've got Guides groups everywhere so do reach out if you want to volunteer elsewhere too.
https://www.volunteer.com.au/volunteering/64295/girl-guides-unit-leader-carlton
https://www.volunteer.com.au/volunteering/64296/girl-guides-unit-helper-carlton
More hashtags of interest, follow me if you're into the same vibes: #Circus #ExperienceDesign #ADHD #Autism #MentalHealth #Migration #LGBTQ #CarmenSandiego (bah spelling) #Theatre #Digital #Events #Slutwalk #Theater #PerformingArts #Food #SouthAsia #SouthEastAsia #Bangladesh #Malaysia #Australia #Internet #Tech #Business #Accounting #Bookkeeping #WishGranting #Surprises #Gifts #GirlGuides #GirlScouts
