Girlguiding BGIFC

Last updated
Girlguiding BGIFC
Dissolved2024
Headquarters Victoria, London, England
Region served
UK military bases and British Overseas Territories
Membership
2,600
Parent organization
 Girlguiding UK

British Girlguiding Overseas (BGO) (formerly British Guides in Foreign Countries, BGIFC) was part of Girlguiding UK, operated for British nationals living overseas. With an administrative base in Commonwealth Guide Headquarters in Victoria, London, it had around 2,600 members, in two groupings, one for British Guides in countries outside the UK, including on UK military bases abroad, and one for British Guides in British Overseas Territories (BOT). [1] In April 2023, a change in operations was announced, with the BGO operation to be wound up. The operations in non-UK countries ended by 1 September 2023, [1] while those in British Overseas Territories were to end by 31 December 2023, [1] but have now been continued within Girlguiding North West England Region. [2]

Contents

Purpose and approach

Members in this section of Girlguiding UK followed the normal programme very closely, with girls making the same promise as girls in the UK.

Girlguiding BGIFC also supported Lone Guiding. If a British girl living abroad wished to be a member of Girlguiding UK at any age level and had no group, then she could become a lone guide. Girlguiding BGIFC's lone guides interacted by post and email and were encouraged to attend the biennial camps.

Galleon badge

All Girlguiding BGIFC members wore the galleon badge on their uniform. The badge depicted a galleon sailing across the ocean. The colours of the Union Flag, red, white and blue, are all present. The ship symbolised Guiding overseas. The red cross on the white mainsail is a crusader cross, symbolising the adventurous and crusading spirit of the people who leave their home country to live and work abroad.

Originally the metal Galleon badges were hand-painted, with the country's name displayed on a scroll beneath the blue waves of the sea. Later, as BGIFC spread, individual hand painting was no longer possible and the galleon badges became mass-produced.

History

British Girlguiding Overseas traced its origins back to the 1st Peninsular Guide Company in Porto, Portugal. This company started in 1911, but was not registered until 1913. [3] The majority of Units were registered after 1950, although many went back much further than this. The first Lone Unit was formed in 1985.

On 1 April 1986, BGIFC was established as a Region of Girlguiding UK (now Girlguiding), similar to the nine UK "Countries and Regions"; this move gave BGIFC its own Commissioner, Advisors and Secretary. In July 2017 Girlguiding BGIFC was renamed as British Girlguiding Overseas (BGO). [1]

In April 2023, the Board of Trustees of Girlguiding announced a decision to "change our overseas operations", which involved all units ceasing to be part of the UK girl guide organisation. [1] The decision was primarily attributed to the difficulty of operating in many countries, each with its own laws and rules around child welfare, safety and other matters. [4]

Operations

Counties

Girlguiding BGIFC had three "Counties": Benelux and France, Cyprus and Germany. Not all units were organised into one of these groupings.

Benelux and France

There were seven districts in the Benelux and France county, but not all units were in one of these districts.

Cyprus

There were three districts in the Cyprus County, based around RAF Akrotiri, Episkopi Army Garrison and Nicosia. Each district had its own District Commissioner. The majority of girls came from British Armed Forces communities, but Leaders were often from the expatriate community.

Germany

In 2007, Germany had 4 Divisions, 12 Districts, 1 Senior Section, 15 Guide Units, 22 Brownie units and 18 Rainbow units, ranging from Hamburg to Munich. [5]

Biennial camp

British Girlguiding Overseas ran a biennial camp in the UK. It is not yet known whether the continuing Girlguiding Overseas Territories county will run a camp along similar lines.

See also

Related Research Articles

The Scout movement in France consists of about 80 different associations and federations with about 180,000 Scouts and Girl Guides. Next to Germany, France is the country with the most fragmented Scout movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Girlguiding</span> National guiding organisation of the United Kingdom

Girlguiding is the operating name of The Guide Association, previously named The Girl Guides Association. It is the national guiding organisation of the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest girl-only youth organisation. Girlguiding is a charitable organisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish Girl Guides</span> Organisation in the Republic of Ireland

The Irish Girl Guides is a Girl Guides organisation in the Republic of Ireland. Together with the Catholic Guides of Ireland, it forms the Council of Irish Guiding Associations. Whereas the Catholic Guides are an all-Ireland body, the Irish Girl Guides are not organised in Northern Ireland, where Girlguiding Ulster, the branch of Girlguiding UK, operates instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting and Guiding in Belgium</span>

The Scouting and Guiding movement in Belgium consists of 15 to 20 separate organizations serving about 160,000 members. Nearly all organizations are grouped by languages and confessions. The Crown Scout rank is the highest a Boy Scout can achieve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting and Guiding on Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha</span> Scouting movement in Saint Helena

Scouting and Guiding in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha is administered by the United Kingdom Scout Association and Girlguiding UK, due to Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha's affiliations as a British Overseas Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting and Guiding in the Falkland Islands</span> Scouting and Guiding movement n the Falkland Islands

Scouting and Guiding in the Falkland Islands are served by a part of the Scout Association and a branch of Girlguiding UK, due to the Falkland Islands' affiliation as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom.

Scouting and Guiding in the Turks and Caicos Islands exist as branches of the parent organisations in the United Kingdom.

Lone Guides or Lones are Girl Guides and Girl Scouts who do not attend group meetings for a variety of reasons. They are organised into groups that keep in touch, for example, by letter or email. Members carry out their organisation's normal programme on their own as much as they are able. The first official Lone Guides started in 1912 in the UK. Many countries have Lone Guides.

Scouting and Guiding in Switzerland is made up of numerous scouting and guiding bodies which act to provide the opportunities to scout. This could be though Swiss national Scouting and Guiding organizations, through independent troops or through international troops established in Switzerland. While the latter two are similar, there is a fundamental difference because the three independent groups while taking guidance under different national regimes it is a program developed by people in the various cities, where the presence of international groups in Switzerland is a top down targeted programs that have been developed to offer expatriates scouting and guiding in the language they are used to and are developed in areas with a larger expatriate community. All of which are supported the existence of KISC and Our Chalet, both acting as semi-permanent jamborees.

Scouting and Guiding in Sweden is represented by one organisation Scouterna as a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement and World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. It was formed in 2012 as the successor to Svenska Scoutrådet which consisted of five different associations.

Scouting and Guiding in Anguilla exist as branches of the parent organisations in the United Kingdom.

Scouting and Guiding in the British Virgin Islands exist as branches of the parent organisations in the United Kingdom.

Scouting and Guiding in the Cayman Islands exist as branches of the parent organisations in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting and Guiding in Montserrat</span> Scouting and Guiding movement in Montserrat

Scouting and Guiding in Montserrat exist as branches of the parent organisations in the United Kingdom.

Scouting and Guiding in Norway is served by the Speidernes Fellesorganisasjon, a federation of

Scouting and Guiding in the United Kingdom is served by several different organisations:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Girlguiding Scotland</span>

Girlguiding Scotland is part of the worldwide Guiding movement. It is the country's largest voluntary organisation for girls and young women with 61,375 members in 3,500 units throughout Scotland.

Girlguiding North West England is one of the nine Countries and Regions of Girlguiding UK. It is further subdivided into 17 Girlguiding Counties. These are not the same as the counties defined by the British government. The region was introduced in 1960 covering the Counties of Cumberland, Westmorland, Cheshire, Lancashire, plus the Isle of Man and the 'Overseas Territories', with the headquarters in Preston. It is also known, for example to the Charity Commissioners, as the Guide Association North West England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting and Guiding in Gibraltar</span>

Scouting and Guiding in Gibraltar exist as branches of the parent organisations in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Girl Guides</span> Movement for girls and young women

Girl Guides is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909, when girls requested to join the then-grassroots Boy Scout Movement.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Goodbye to British Girlguiding Overseas". Girlguiding (UK). Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  2. ↑ "An important announcement about British Girlguiding Overseas". Girlguiding (UK). Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  3. ↑ "UK Guiding - BGIFC (British Guides in Foreign Countries)". h2g2: Clubs and Associations. BBC. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  4. ↑ "An important announcement about British Girlguiding Overseas". Girlguiding (UK). Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  5. ↑ "Germany". Girlguiding BGIFC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.