Brownies Promise Celebration, what is it?

clairec79

You had a hanky in your purse as well

I remember a folded pair of scissors as well but that may have been guides rather than brownies

heretolearn_2

I'm glad she's enjoying it as I'm sure kids can get a lot out of it.

I was dying to be a brownie for a couple of years until I turned 7...then it was all a huge disappointment. Maybe my troop was just a bit rubbish but I remember feeling either bored or plain embarrassed by the activities (more suited to a playgroup age I thought).

I dropped out the week I was supposed to do the pledge thing. Even at 7 the thought of having to jump over a big plastic mushroom (yes, we had to) and then promise about God (I was raised atheist) and to serve the Queen (likewise not exactly a royalist family) was ludicrous to me. I also didn't understand why they wanted me to lie about these things.

Running_On_Empty

I learnt quite a few skills at Brownies which may now be laughed at in the more modern world, darning, tying knots, how to set the table, how to wash up but the point was it gave us goals to work towards and the sense of achievement when goals were reached.
Brownies also gave us the opportunity to work in a team and a sense of pride in the team itself.
I remember the large toadstool, loved that, and wondered why there weren't any growing locally!
Happy days.

heretolearn_2

Exactly why I hated it. I'd had the handbook for a couple of years and was all excited about the activities I would be doing, only to find out that what we were actually doing every week was blooming housework! Jeeeeez.

kerri_gt

I started as an elf, was a leprichaun and I think I was a sprite or a gnome for a bit - our Brownies tried to keep a balance in the groups between ages and olde/newer brownies, so if a few started at once, it wasn't uncommon for other brownies to move to new groups - I think it also helped to ensure everyone mixed well. I was a seconder and then became a sixer of the elves.

Barn Owl - I know what you mean about watching small children carry cups of tea - we all felt super grown up doing things like this but I can still recall the look on parents faces as they all held their breath lol!

I enjoyed working for my badges and had them all swen down the sack cloth uniform I had (yep - that lovely brown dress lol!) I think we got quite compeitive in our group to see who could earn the most - not sure if that was quite the spirit of the brownies hehe!

GlasweJen

We never moved but we had a special six for girls pre-promise, they didn't get a six until they'd made their promise which meant brown owl could distribute newbies to balance out sixes.

Went up to the blue tits in guides which later became the penguins when the new system came in.

ailuro2

Also had to have a 2p piece for the payphone in case you ever needed to call anyone!!:rotfl:

Jeez you'd be hard pushed to find a brownie without their own mobile these days...

Emmylou_2

I was a mid80s brownie and a late 80s/90s guide. And a mid90s young leader. I really enjoyed my time in the Guides organisation - my mum was seriously ill when I was growing up, dying when I had just turned 16, but I knew that I had a group of young people (and adults) I could go to and just be ME - no worrying about anything other than my shoes being polished, my badges sewn on properly and my promise badge shining.

I still remember what was in my purse (yes, we had them for guides as well, it's amazing how well you can climb a tree etc in a pencil skirt after a little bit of practice)

10p (later 20p) for a phone call
Bit of string
Clean hankie in an envelope. It took me a while to work out WHY it was in an envelope, I wondered for years who we were posting it to.
A stamp (or was that just us - it was so you could post the hankie)
A pencil (so you could address the envelope with the hankie in)

Obviously I am not mentioning the fact that it was a perfect place (when a Very Norty Guide) to put a lipstick/lighter/10 fags/condom. Oh no. Because I would not have done anything like that, particularly not with any Scouts. No, not me. You must be thinking of someone else :rotfl: