We were given 6 sites along a loop, across from the washrooms. The weather forecast was for a beautiful weekend, and the tents were set up with dispatch under the tall evergreen trees. Lisa was doing her Gold camp, and had two first year Pathfinders with her, Amanda and Bethany, who were doing their Bronze camp. The Silver Girl attending the camp, Rachel, was on the next site with the rest of the first year girls, Isabelle, Angela who were all working on their Bronze Camp. And on the last site of the loop were the third year Guides!
It has been the observation of many Guiders of both Guides and Pathfinders, that many of the girls leave Girl Guides in the spring and do not return to become Pathfinders in the Fall. As a result, while there might be 2 or 3 large Guide Units in a District there is often 1 small Pathfinder Unit. Guider Jane and Guider Susan decided to find out if there was a cause for this or not. In some provinces other than Ontario (and in some school systems in Ontario) the girls change from Elementary school in Grade 6 to Junior High in Grade 7. And so Guider Jane (who has lived in many provinces besides Ontario) had assumed that the change in school was one of the things that affected the girl's decision to return. However in Orleans many of the girls in the unit would not change schools until Grade 9 - and we don't generally lose many Pathfinders in between Grade 8 and Grade 9 (between 2nd and 3rd years). So just changing schools couldn't be the answer. Now Grade 7 is in Intermediate, and Grade 6 is considered Junior school, perhaps that was the answer. Or the problem could be that the Guides figured that they wouldn't have any fun in Pathfinders (and since Pathfinders did not tend to be noisy and flamboyant in our District) they just didn't come back. So Guider Susan and Guider Jane decided to try an experiment. Instead of having Advancement at the very end of the Guiding year (generally the end of May), and having the Guides only come to one or two functions in Pathfinders, we would do our best to make Pathfinders visible. We would try to invite the third year Guides to our Winter camp in January. And we would have an advancement well in advance of the end of the Guiding year, and we would take the third year Guides into our Unit and take them to camp at the end of May, where we would enroll them. This would mean that we wouldn't have to do the enrollment thing in October (well, that was a good plan - didn't work, but it was a good plan!), and the girls would come back.
We approached the Guide Companies about it and they were enthused, except that they wanted their girls to be able to earn the Guide Experienced Camper Badge; since that is what they would have done by taking them camping in May. Guider Susan is a Guide Guider as well as a Pathfinder Guider, one of their Guiders volunteered to come to Pathfinders for the rest of the year (we needed her for ratio! Thanks, Guider Kathy!!!), Guider Jane was a Guide Guider only two short years before and we set out to perform this not impossible task.
So on the last site in the row were the third year Guides who had come up to Pathfinders 5 weeks before. They would earn their Guide Experienced Camper Badge, which Guider Kathy would present, and then they would be enrolled at camp.
Pathfinders, it has been my experience, need more sleep than Guides. Friday night went a little late. Saturday morning started off WAY TOO EARLY! There were spiders in the bathroom, don't you know. After the Guiders who drink coffee had some, the morning improved. Guider Stephanie was great with the girls, and Kimberly, who had earned her Gold Camp at the Fall camp helped the 1st year girls, and the 3rd year Guides safely light their Coleman stoves and cook their breakfast.
Guider Jane had gotten a cute pattern for little bears in a bag off of the internet. In order to make these bears, you sewed a little bag, with a draw string. Then you cut out 4 little bears from felt, in different colours. (We used fun foam, since we already had some from a craft we had done at another camp.) Then you placed your four bears in the bag and pinned it to your hat. If you were worried about something, you would tell it to the bear and then place the bear under your pillow while you slept. The bear would do your worrying for you, so that you could get a good night's sleep. If you had a second problem, you would tell that to a second and bear and the two bears would worry for you while you slept. So you were only allowed to have 4 problems, anything more you would have to put off till the next night, when one of the bears would be freed up to worry then. The craft was cute and the girls did a good job on their bears and their bags.
Guider Jane had met a Guider from the UK on the internet, and this Guider (Ann) was going to be in Ottawa for a wedding the weekend that the girls and Guider Jane were at camp. What to do? Guider Jane and Guider Ann wanted to meet face to face for the first time, and Guider Jane wasn't going to be home for the whole time that Guider Ann was planning to be in Canada! Well, the problem was solved by Guider Sheila! Guider Sheila who lived in Kingston at the time, drove to Ottawa (2 and a half hours away), picked up Guider Ann at her hotel, and drove her to Ottawa-Nepean Municipal Tent and Trailer Park, where she met 24 Pathfinders, Guides and Guiders!! Guider Ann had brought UK Friendship crests for everyone! Guide Jane gave Guider Ann an Ottawa Area crest, and Guider Ann gave Guider Jane a Dorset Crest. One of the Pathfinders gave Guider Ann her dessert to try. Guider Ann had chocolate for everyone! AND as an extra bonus Guider Jane gave Guider Ann her bag of bears. Besides all this, Guider Jane had also never met Guider Sheila! So that was a thrill too!! Guider Ann had to go get ready for her nephew's wedding, and we had to get back to camping, but it sure was wonderful to meet a Guider from England who came all the way out of town to visit with Pathfinders and Guiders that she had never met and to meet such a wonderful Guider as Sheila to drive all the way from Kingston to help us meet!
After lunch the program planned by the girls included a hike. There was a playground half way to the gate of the park, with a wading pool. After the girls had gotten as wet as they wanted to, we continued on for our hike and found rocks that had at one time been under the ocean - the wave pattern was displayed, despite the fact that we are quite a distance from the Atlantic here! Snack was eaten while sitting on these rocks! It was hot! We made our way back to the site for a...
Water fight!! Rules were set up - anyone who did not want to get wet was not to be soaked. If you left a certain set of boundaries then you were 'safe' and no one was to squirt water on you. No one was to enter the bathroom to get water - there was a sink and exterior tap on the back (the side facing us) of the washroom, that is where the water was to come from! (We didn't have to clean the washroom, it hardly seemed fair to make a big mess for some one else to clean up.) If you were in those boundaries though you were 'fair game'! The girls had a blast. The water fight continued until it was time to get ready for supper and the weather continued so hot that no one got chilled before they got dry.
Lisa's Gold camp led a wonderful campfire for everyone after supper. The girls had had time to work on skits, so it was quite dark when the campfire got going.
By 10:30 the campsite was quiet, the Guiders were just starting to drift off (well, except for Guider Pillowhead, who was already asleep!) when suddenly, a noise in the night - one meek little third year Guide, here to tell us that they were terribly sorry to have disturbed us (you don't think we had read the riot act about getting up and yelling at 5:30 in the morning do you?), but their tent had fallen down, and they couldn't put it back up.
LOL! It took us all about 15 minutes to get it back up, pegged in the alternately sandy and rocky soil and sturdy again. We were no sooner back in our tents, when there could be heard the gentle pitter patter of rain drops on the roof of the tent. Now wasn't that good timing!
Sunday dawned bright and clear again. (I do so hate taking a wet tent down!) Breakfast went smoothly, followed by clean up and major packing. The parents were due to arrive at 1pm for the Enrollment, so it was important that everything be done before that as once it was over with everyone would be able to go home.
Guides Own and evaluation went well. The last few things for Bronze, Silver and Gold Camps were performed. The Bronze and Silver girls were to plan the enrollment, with Guider Susan's and Kimberly's help. Everyone went through one rehearsal and lunch was quickly consumed and cleaned up. Most things were organized and ready to be packed in cars. The parents of the third year Guides arrived and were placed in their positions.
Kimberly had the Pathfinders form the Pathfinder Vee - our song was sung. The Bronze, Silver and Gold! (Congratulations, Lisa!) camp emblems were handed out! The third year guides were escorted on to the site, and awarded their hard earned Guide Experienced Camper Badges.
Then the Pathfinders escorted the Guides to Guider Susan, Guider Jane, Guider Kathy and Guider Stephanie and they were invited to join the Pathfinder Unit. They recited the Guide Promise to reaffirm their membership in Guiding and were pinned with the Pathfinder Pin by someone of their choice. Then they were escorted into the Pathfinder Vee.
At the end of the ceremony, Guider Susan handed out crests to all the Pathfinders (new and old) to reward them for surviving and ENJOYING camp! Cake was served, and the parents took their girls away. Pathfinders was over for another season, and would start up again in September!
