Become a volunteerI’m Rebecca, a Brownie leader in Birmingham and Region lead volunteer for engagement. I was thrilled to be one of the halls leads for Girlguiding Midlands’ Celebrate event on Thinking Day 2020.
I was given the opportunity to join the team in mid-2019, having never been part of team on such a large event before. It was a slightly daunting, yet exciting prospect and I knew I might never have such a chance again, so I had to say yes! I was assigned to hall 20, Arts & Action, and the first step was to work with my fellow hall lead to pull together a list of charities and STEM providers to invite to the event. We invited a huge number knowing that not all would be able to make it (although we still almost reached the capacity of our hall!) I work in the charity sector, so it helped a little when speaking to charities about the kind of activities they could offer and any limitations that they thought they might have.
The next step was floor plans and risk assessments. The closest I’ve ever come to a floor plan is a seating plan for my wedding – and believe me the two are very different! I’ve done risk assessments for Brownie activities before but again, nothing on the scale of Celebrate. With the support of a fantastic team, we got there. The weeks running up to Celebrate were full of things to do, but it was worth it knowing what a fantastic day it was going to be.
The months flew by and before I knew it, it was build day! This was when all of our plans came to fruition. Again, it was slightly daunting knowing that I had to make sure that people built their stands in the right place, that everyone had the right furniture and the right power, but the whole team were super supportive.
It was amazing when the doors opened on February 22nd and the girls and their leaders came streaming in. I was so proud to know that I’d played a part in making the event happen, and seeing everyone have such a good time made all the preparations worth it.
To anyone who is looking to get involved in an event, even if you’ve never done it before, then go for it! As long as you’re willing to learn, to ask for help and work as a team it’s an amazing experience and one I’m so glad to have said ‘yes’ to!
