Become a volunteerThis November I, Kimberley Clarke, was selected to represent Girlguiding Midlands at the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) Juliette Low Seminar England Hub at Waddow Hall, Clithroe. The Juliette Low Seminar was from the 13th November to 20th November 2019 and occurred simultaneously around the World in 20 different hubs.
The Juliette Low Seminar has been taking place since 1932 and was named after Juliette Low who started the Girl Scout movement in the United States of America. She did a lot for the organisation going as far as to sell her family pearls to keep the Girl Scout movement going when it was short of funds. In 2019 the seminar’s focus was on breaking gender barriers to women in leadership and leading out loud. During the week there were many different special guests from the CEO of Girlguiding, Angela Salt; ex WAGGGS World Board Chair, Nicola Grinstead; a talk from Lady Melina who is a Holocaust survivor; Joanna Dervisoglu, Midlands Crafters 4 Breast Cancer Knitted Knockers; and Chella Quint, founder of Period Positive. After the seminar the participants have to each plan a project that will reach over 100 girls and young women, that builds on the topics of the seminar.
The Seminar was attended by Girl Guides and Scouts from Australia, Argentina, Singapore, the United States of America, the Philippines, the Caribbean, Lebanon and many more. We had an international night where all the participants dressed in traditional costume, prepared a stall and food as well as giving a presentation on their country or performing a traditional dance. And during the event, everyone got a chance to sample the best of English food including afternoon tea, Christmas dinner, full cooked English breakfast and fish and chips. There was also the chance to take part in some adventurous activities outside of Waddow Hall such as zip wire, Jacob’s ladder, crate stacking, grass sledging and code-breaking.
For the community action part of the seminar we helped out at a project in Preston at a community cafe, called the Larder. We had all submitted a recipe from our country to cook at the project and four recipes were chosen, we split into four teams and made the dishes, to find a winning dish, which would go on the menu and be served at the cafe for the next week. All the food was judged by local members of the community, my team sadly did not win with our pumpkin soup recipe although it did taste delicious. The participants also had the chance to explore Preston and were given a guided tour around the Harris museum.
On the final night together, we had a dinner party with a fantastic three course meal organised by Waddow Hall. After this we were split into groups to take on the crystal maze game, in which my team got the most crystals, however we did not win the final challenge which was to put a puzzle together. Some of the challenges involved a music quiz, mini golf and deciding which biscuit would last the longest without disintegrating in tea, though the ginger tea biscuit comes a close second, it was the custard cream which was the winner. We then finished the evening with karaoke.
Overall, the Juliette Low Seminar was an amazing experience and one that I will never forget, it was an excellent way to learn more about WAGGGS and other countries and a huge thank you to all the facilitators, Waddow Staff, Service team and the participants who made the event such a success.
If anyone is interested in applying for the Juliette Low Seminar next time or for similar events, keep your eyes peeled on Your Hub and the Girlguiding Midlands website.
