Pax Lodge volunteers attend WTD service at Westminster Abbey
28 February 2010
On Saturday 27 February 2010 nearly five hundred Girl Guides and Girl Scouts of all ages gathered in Central London to celebrate World Thinking Day with a Westminster Abbey Centenary celebration. The centenary event was a celebration of the foresight and enthusiasm of leaders who, for 100 years, have ensured that Guiding has moved with the times and the values that have been shared with each successive generation of girls and young women.
Pax Lodge volunteers gathered to commemorate the birthday of our founders Robert and Olave Baden-Powell whose memorial is located in the Nave of Westminster Abbey. The service forms part of the Guide’s World Thinking Day in which Guides are encouraged to think and act on a particular issue. This year's theme is girls worldwide say ‘together we can end extreme poverty and hunger’. Scouts are in attendance by special invitation and together they will celebrate the shared traditions and values of the two Movements.
The Service
The service started with a reflection on the beginning of Guiding and continued with a conversation between four members of the same Guiding family that illustrated how the Promise and the philosophy and values of the Movement have influenced and shaped the lives of successive generations of girls and women.
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I got goose bumps just being among so many amazing guides and scouts. I was very proud to be one of the few, if not the only, person from the Arab Region attending the World Thinking Day service and seeing the Baden-Powell memorial Nour, a Resident Volunteer from Syria |
Later in the ceremony young members of Girlguiding UK sang alongside with Sense of Sound, runners-up in the BBC Last Choir Standing show. Before a handbell ringing performance by Girlguiding UK, Guides were given the opportunity to renew their promise with Chief Guide, Liz Burley. One of our own volunteers, Sophia from Nigeria, had the honor of renewing her promise onstage with the Chief Guide and then commemorating the Founder and Lady Baden-Powell by placing flowers on the memorial.
The service was also held to raise money to the work of the Westminster Abbey as well as a charity chosen by Girlguiding UK. Girl Guiding UK and the Scout Association have been celebrating World Thinking Day at Westminster Abbey for over 40 years.
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It was a great way to unite guides and scouts in order to celebrate the centenary. I sat next to a member of Trefoil Guild and we ended up swapping scouting and guiding stories before and after the service. It is an event I will never forget. Lindsey, a Pax Lodge volunteer |
Your comments
Jewel Hills - 12 March 2010 - 3.29PM (GMT)
It's great to see that the Pax Lodge volunteers had the opportunity to celebrate World Thinking Day 2010 at the Westminister Abbey where there is a memorial.That's the great thing about being a Pax Lodge Volunteer!
I was a volunteer House Assistant from THe Girl Guides Association of Trinidad and Tobago in 2004 along with other volunteers from Canada, the USA, Australia,Germany, Korea and Ghana to name a few.
It was an awesome experience!
Pax Lodge is indeed "The place where strangers soon are friends"
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