Were you a Girl Guide, Brownie, Ranger, Spark, or Leader in Cumberland?
The Cumberland Museum and Archives is hosting a temporary display of uniforms and Guiding artifacts on Saturday, May 7, the same day the local Guiding District holds their Revel Rally at No. 6 Mine Park. Past participants of Guiding in Cumberland are invited to come and share your stories and experiences over a glass of punch and cookies between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the museum.
“We hope that many of the past participants of the Cumberland Guiding movement will come and tell us their stories,” says past guider and leader Marianne Bell. “It will add another dimension to our understanding of the life of young women and girls in Cumberland.”
2016 marks the 100th anniversary of Guiding in Cumberland. The movement started in January of 1916 when the principal of Cumberland Elementary School announced that, under local scout leader Mr. A.J. Taylor, female teachers would begin leading Guides. Miss Janet “Nettie” Robertson, Miss Jenny White, Miss E. Mc Fayden, Mrs. Franklin and Miss A. Frame were the first leaders in Cumberland, with 50 girls attending the initial meeting. The 1st Patriotic Cumberland Guides raised money for the war effort and for their uniforms, which they made themselves. The Guides held camps on Hornby Island and at Comox Lake where they wore “scout hats” and carried walking staffs on their hikes.
With your help, the Cumberland Museum and Archives looks forward to learning more about the history of Guiding in Cumberland.