Girlguiding members on the Isle of Wight will join hundreds of other Girlguiding members across the UK in lighting beacons to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on Thursday, 2 June.
These Beacon lighting events will be held in selected areas and the Island has been chosen to host one. Some events, including the Isle of Wight one, will be exclusive to Girlguiding members and will see girls/leaders from the local community come together to enjoy a special evening of Jubilee celebrations.
Other events in the UK will start off early evening with treasure hunts or with attendees having the opportunity to create their very own Jubilee crown. Whilst more will enjoy a royal BBQ banquet before the beacon lighting. Plans for the Island event are underway and all members eligible to attend will receive an invitation.
Girlguiding members will be lighting an impressive 70 beacons to mark each year The Queen has been on the throne and Patron of the charity. The organisation is one of several charities taking part in a beacon event, with an anticipated 1,500 Platinum Jubilee Beacons in total planned to be lit across the UK and Commonwealth, with a Principal Beacon set to be lit at Buckingham Palace.
Anne Watson Girlguiding leader in West Wight, said: “We’re all really looking forward to coming together with fellow Girlguiding members to be a part of the upcoming Jubilee beacon celebrations. The Queen has a long history with Girlguiding – as a Guide herself and as our Patron, making this historic celebration feel that extra bit special.”
Girlguiding is offering lots of ways for its members to join in the fun and celebrate the special occasion. Many on the Island have already been involved in the first wave of tree planting as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative. The charity has a number of specially created Jubilee activities girls can do in their unit meetings, including building an edible campfire for Rainbows, a crown challenge for Brownies, a Buckingham Palace obstacle course for Guides and a one match beacon challenge for Rangers. Girlguiding and Scouts joined forces to create a specially designed woven commemorative badge – boasting seven-sides to represent the seven decades of the Queen’s reign and 70 dots in Girlguiding’s iconic blue and Scout’s purple to represent the linked history of the two organisations.
This badge also features the Queen’s official Jubilee emblem, the Girlguiding trefoil and Scouts’ fleur de lis.
In addition, the charity has launched a metal commemorative pin badge featuring seven diamonds alongside 63 individual spokes to represent the Queen’s time on the throne
The Queen has a long-standing personal history with Girlguiding first joining as a Guide in 1937, at 11 years old alongside her 7-year-old sister, Princess Margaret as a Brownie.
At the direct request of the Queen Mother, then Queen, a new Guide company, The 1st Buckingham Palace Brownie Pack and Guide Company was set up to include Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret with 14 Guides and Brownies recruited from cousins, friends and children of the staff at the Palace. The unit met in the summerhouse in the Buckingham Palace Garden.
In 1952, the same year she succeeded to the throne, HM The Queen became Joint Patron for Girlguiding with Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) and since the death of her mother has remained as sole Patron.