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Caroline Brown studies German & History . She volunteers with the 1st Covent Garden Brownies (girls aged 6 to 10 years). She also set up her own project through the VSU – a German Cultural Day for year 10 school pupils.

How often do you volunteer, and for long?
Brownies is once a week, for 1 hour, although setting up and clearing away takes a bit longer!! And as Leader-in-Charge, I need to spend some time outside of sessions planning and doing some administration.

What do you do as a volunteer? Describe your typical session.
We run different activities every week at Brownies, from face painting to quizzes to crafts. Sometimes we work towards badges, all of which have different themes, like the seasons, road safety or friends to animals. We normally start the session with a short game and a bit of a show-and-tell session, which is always interesting with ten very excitable girls!

caroline brown

What were your first impressions when you started volunteering?
I had been a Brownie leader before, so I knew roughly what to expect. It was quite different though – I have much more responsibility now, and the challenges of running an inner city unit are very different to the ones I faced back home in the countryside. The girls are all very confident and friendly, and I definitely wasn’t expecting all the other leaders to be so young!

How do you feel about it now?
I love it! It’s nice to be in such a different unit, with such young and enthusiastic leaders. I’ve got used to all the planning and accounting that needs to be done too – it’s all much easier than it sounds! This is my second year helping out with the unit, and it’s also been nice to see some of the older girls get ready to move on to the next section of Girlguiding!

What’s the best thing about volunteering?
It’s very rewarding – especially seeing how much the girls enjoy a session you have planned. Although it can be hard work, it’s fun too! It’s a nice break from studying in the library, and the girls are really friendly. The unit is part of a wider division which holds loads of events, and which is a great way to meet new people outside of university.

And what’s the most challenging thing?
You know what they say – never work with children or animals! Their behaviour can be quite difficult to deal with sometimes, especially when it comes to sharing materials for a craft, talking over you or the other children or deciding who is going first in a game. However, there are definitely ways to cope with all of this, and that’s one of the most valuable things I’ve learnt over the past 2 years!

How has volunteering changed you?
Being a Brownie leader has definitely made me more confident and improved my organisational abilities. I would never have dreamed that I would be able to organise a trip to Cadbury’s World, or keep unit accounts properly, but now I can, and I do!

What difference do you feel you’ve made by volunteering?
I was a Brownie when I was younger too, and I enjoyed it so much, I felt I should give others the opportunity to experience what I did! I really think that the girls at 1st Covent Garden enjoy their sessions, and it’s always interesting to chart their development. Some of them start Brownies as really quiet, shy children, but leave as really confident and bubbly young girls. Others calm down a bit, and learn how to interact nicely with others, without squabbling!

Would you recommend the project to anyone else?
I would definitely recommend helping out in local Girlguiding to anyone! It’s a nice way to get involved in our local community and out of the university bubble, and it’s really easy to adapt your volunteering to your uni life – my assistant leaders, for example, understand that I have exams after Easter and always try to cover the sessions for me to make my life easier. There are also fantastic opportunities available through guiding; I have been selected for a development project in Chile in the summer! But, most importantly, it’s a great atmosphere and a really nice introduction to working with children.