Tregadillett Brownies have just finished a very busy autumn term, once again all done virtually using Zoom.

After the very successful ‘virtual Pack Holiday’ during the summer holidays, it was decided that the virtual meetings would continue until the end of the year, and would be reviewed before the new year. So in September ten new girls were welcomed in to the pack.

This was the first time for several years, that the waiting list to join has been completely cleared! A few of the new girls have decided to wait until the ‘Unit’ meets face to face once more but most were happy to start using Zoom.

The term was started by doing some Christmas things way back in September and then the rest of the time has been spent working towards another badge.

This time the badge was ‘Communicate’ which came in very useful. Some of the activities were to ask lots of questions and as there were lots of new faces on the screens, it was very handy to get to know them a bit better.

Of course, in November, there is usually lots of fun doing firework activities and this year was no different. Some very creative attempts at decorating a chocolate biscuit to represent a firework were shown to everyone... and then eaten!

Fireworks

Also, an experiment to make a firework in a jar and the evening was finished off by a ‘fizzing firework’ game which the girls all enjoyed. Then at the end of November, everyone made a Christmas decoration from a jam jar lid and shiny plastic gems and also an origami card in the shape of a Christmas tree!

The final live ‘meeting’ of the term was a Christmas party! This was going to be quite difficult to organise over Zoom but after a lot of thought about how it could be achieved and sending a small package out to each girl in good time, the evening turned out to be a great success! The girls all dressed up in fancy dress or party dress to add to the occasion. Then everyone played a game involving a dice, a bar of chocolate and a hat, scarf and gloves which was great fun.

After that game, there was another dice to use for a second game. This dice was made from card and the girls had to have it cut out and ready to use for the evening. On each of the sides, instead of numbers, there were several different forfeits to be done depending on which side it landed. It was another success and all the girls ended up with a small present to unwrap.

The very last Brownie meeting was not live but as it would have been impossible this year to invite all the parents to come and celebrate Christmas, it was obvious that things would have to be different. Since September, the girls and the leaders had been busy preparing a special Christmas video to go ‘live’ on both Facebook and Youtube on the last evening.

It was fortunate that Brown Owl already had some short videos of the Brownies ringing hand-bells in previous years that could be used too. The girls got involved by emailing Christmas pictures and readings to Brown Owl. Rev Nicki Farr and Rev David Miller both were kind enough to send a video to be used in the video too. There were also some Christmas carols that were recorded in August, to be included.

It was all gradually edited together and the final video was shown and hopefully all the girls and their families were able to enjoy it together. To see the video visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Qr4ALTpys