Brownie Thrift Badge

Februarycat

lily117 wrote: »

Forgot to say, my Mum died last month and found she had kept my Brownie dress and beret.

My late mum did the same, I have it now hanging in my wardrobe

Blackhill

Was a brownie in the seventies, done my thrift badge & homemaker (two different badges) Have never left the Guiding movement. Have been a brownie guider for 20+++ years, have several old handbooks but they are kept at the hall, will try and remember and bring home with me. I remember making a bar of soap out of leftover peices for the thrift badge, but can't remember anything else. A lot of old badges have been replaced by modern ones, but perhaps in todays climate they should bring back a few old ones. Have tried to teach my girls to sew and cook at meetings (they never seem to have anyone who can sew the badges on uniforms!!)

AlwaysAllie

I did my thrift badge at Brownies in the mid-late 70s. Yes it did have a bumble on it. I only remember having to show my savings book which I think was also the PO.

AA

anguk

I was a Brownie in the 70's and I'm sure I had the thrift badge. I've found a link with the things you had to do:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drewzel/2278884377/

cte1111

Here you go:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drewzel/2278884377/

1. Save money for at least 6 months in a savings account. Show the assessor your savings book to show that you have been adding to it regularly.
2. Ask your parent or guardian to sign a record that you have kept your brownie uniform clean and tidy.
3. Make something out of second hand material and tell the assessor how you will use it.
4. Tell the assessor two other ways in which you can be thrifty.

anguk

Blackhill wrote: »

Was a brownie in the seventies, done my thrift badge & homemaker (two different badges) Have never left the Guiding movement. Have been a brownie guider for 20+++ years, have several old handbooks but they are kept at the hall, will try and remember and bring home with me. I remember making a bar of soap out of leftover peices for the thrift badge, but can't remember anything else. A lot of old badges have been replaced by modern ones, but perhaps in todays climate they should bring back a few old ones. Have tried to teach my girls to sew and cook at meetings (they never seem to have anyone who can sew the badges on uniforms!!)

I had to sew my badges on myself!

I too had the navy knickers and the mac with the tartan lining. I also had a little navy purse with a long thin strap so it could be hung across my body, I wore that every day during my first couple of years at primary school and my grandma would check every morning that it had a clean cotton hankie in and 2p for the phone box. I don't think I ever used the hankie or 2p.

thriftwizard

I did both Thrift & Homemaker, back in the mid-to-late 60s. I think my old handbook is in the loft somewhere, and I too still have my uniform & my belt; although I had the "new-style" tunic, I was very proud of my secondhand old-style leather belt, which had clips to hang things on, because it was much nicer than the newer ones!

peachyprice

JackieO wrote: »

who remembers having pockets in their knickers to put a hanky in They were always very tiny so it was a squash to get one in.

I had them on my vests too, to put solid blocks of a Vicks type stuff into when I had a cold. Did anyone else?

maman

I was a Brownie, Guide, Ranger and Guider so this thread is really taking me back! I was only thinking the other day how I learned to iron by doing my uniform. I was the generation where our Brownie and Guide 'ties' had to be folded from a triangular scarf. What an art that was!:rotfl:

And yes, I had the navy 'gaberdine' mac with the tartan hood and I think those purses came with them sometimes. I remember they used to sell them in the Sunday papers. I think the brand was Sartor. My brother had one as well.

Funnily enough, I put a beret on to go out last week when it was bitterly cold. I was demonstrating to DH how I used to clip my school hat to the back of my head and then backcomb my hair to cover it so it couldn't be seen. We also used to throw our hats in the horse trough outside the school to shrink them. That made them less like frisbees and more malleable to hide behind your hair. Happy days!

Broomstick

Thanks so much for that flickr link anguk and cte1111. If that isn't the early 60s version, it must be very similar. I don't remember the other things you had to do on that list but I probably did them!

(Thank you for the memory of gaberdine macs with purses. I had completely forgotten about those! - This thread is bringing up some very dim and distant memories!:D)

If anyone has a link to the Brownie manual which lists badge criteria from 1963-1965 ish, could you let me know the exact title of the book, author and date of publication. I have access to a deposit library where I could order it to have a look at. I'm getting curious about all the other badges now.

Failing that, I might post on the Guider website that Lizzie mentioned.

I had a look and someone posted on there the contents of what she was expected to carry in her uniform pockets:
coin for phone
pencil and paper or notepad and pencil
hanky (so could double up as sling or tissue)
piece string
wrapped plaster
safety pin

and I think this is almost certainly what I would have carried. I don't remember the plaster but everything else seems terribly familiar. I think the contents of our pockets were checked from time to time!

Maman, I had to tie a proper triangular tie for my uniform, too. It took ages. I remember looking at the new style cross over ties when they appeared (I was a guide by then) and I thought those ties looked really insubstantial.:D Do today's Brownies still have to clean a pin-on Brownie badge with Brasso and polish their shoes? I don't suppose the latter since many of them will wear trainers.

It seems so OS when I look back at Brownies and Guides from when I was a child. It also makes me appreciate the practical craft skills I have that date from that time. Ironing shirts, all sorts of hand sewing including darning and sewing on buttons, polishing shoes, laying and lighting fires in fire places are just some that I still use. I passed my Toymakers badge (can't remember if it was as a Brownie or a Guide) but I will have been 10 yrs or younger, and I knitted from a pattern a very complicated dress with matching knickers for one of my sister's dolls. Those doll's clothes stayed in our family's next generation's toy collection and I was amazed at the quality of my knitting when I saw it again with adult eyes!:)

B x