Guide Gift Week was a fundraising appeal by the Girl Guides throughout the British Empire in 1940. The United Kingdom was at this time engaged in World War II and much of the money raised was used to help those in the Armed Forces.
An announcement in April 1940 in the magazine The Guider appealed for a total of £20000. Two air ambulances, being "the first specially constructed ambulance aircraft to be used by the R.A.F. in the war", [1] cost a total of £15000 and the remaining £5000 was to be spent on a lifeboat.
Money was to be raised directly from the members, each being asked to contribute half a day's salary or income. Younger members raised money by doing odd jobs, such as gardening and child care.
At the end of the designated week £46217 had been raised and money continued to be added to the fund.
Money raised in Guide Gift Week finally bought:
The British Film Institute holds footage of the presentations of many of these items.
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following 1883 for the financier and politician Sir Herbert Leon in the Victorian Gothic, Tudor, and Dutch Baroque styles, on the site of older buildings of the same name.
Alvin Morris, known professionally as Tony Martin, was an American actor and popular singer.
Olga Drahonowska-Małkowska, with her husband, founded scouting in Poland.
Pax Hill, near Bentley, Hampshire, England, was the family home of Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout movement, and his wife, Olave, for over twenty years during the 20th century. It is located at the end of a half-mile drive, off the main A31 road.
Air-sea rescue is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergency water landings as well as people who have survived the loss of their seagoing vessel. ASR can involve a wide variety of resources including seaplanes, helicopters, submarines, rescue boats and ships. Specialized equipment and techniques have been developed. Military and civilian units can perform air-sea rescue.
The Silver Fish is the highest adult award in Girlguiding. It is awarded for outstanding service to Girlguiding combined with service to world Guiding. The award has changed greatly since it first appeared in 1911, initially being awarded to girls on completion of a number of badges, then via numerous stages to the highest award in the Guiding movement worldwide, and then on to its position as a Girlguiding award.
RNLB Guide of Dunkirk was a 35ft 6in Self-righting motor-class lifeboat whose construction was funded by the Girl Guides in 1940. She was self-righting and designed for launching from a beach. As one of the Little Ships of Dunkirk she was used in the evacuation of Allied soldiers from Dunkirk in World War II. Between 1941 and 1963 she was stationed in Cadgwith, UK as a lifeboat. In 1963 she passed into private ownership.
Alix Kerr Liddell was a British writer who contributed to the Guiding and Girl Scouting movement both in the United Kingdom and internationally. She wrote several books on the history of Guiding.
Rose Margaret Guthrie Kerr was a British pioneer of the Guiding movement.
Elizabeth Hartley OBE was active in the Girl Guiding movement both in the United Kingdom and internationally.
The Little Ships of Dunkirk were about 850 private boats that sailed from Ramsgate in England to Dunkirk in northern France between 26 May and 4 June 1940 as part of Operation Dynamo, helping to rescue more than 336,000 British, French, and other Allied soldiers who were trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk during the Second World War.
Girl Guides is a movement found worldwide, which was originally and still largely designed for girls and women only. This organization was introduced in 1909, because girls demanded to take part in the then grassroots Boy Scout Movement.
The Guide International Service (G.I.S.) was an organisation set up by the Girl Guides Association in Britain in 1942 with the aim of sending to Europe after World War II teams of adult Girl Guides to do relief work. It is described in two books: All Things Uncertain by Phyllis Stewart Brown and Guides Can Do Anything by Nancy Eastick. A total of 198 Guiders and 60 Scouts, drawn from Britain, Australia, Canada, Ireland and Kenya, served in teams. There were many teams in place in various parts of occupied Europe - perhaps the most notable was at the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp - while other teams served in Greece and Malaya.
Arthur T. Horman was an American screenwriter whose career spanned from the 1930s to the end of the 1950s. During that time he wrote the stories or screenplays for over 60 films, as well as writing several pieces for television during the 1950s.
Enid, Lady Burnham CBE was a British scouting official who served as the Girl Guide Chief Commissioner for England.
Jane Parker Deeter Rippin (1882–1953) was an American social worker, who founded the first detention home for women offenders. She served as the National Director of the Girl Scouts of the USA from 1919 until 1930. During her tenure, she saw Girl Scout membership quintuple from 50,000 to 250,000; she also oversaw the formation of local Girl Scout councils and the start of Girl Scout cookie sales.
Jean Helen St. Clair Campbell, Lady Stratheden and Campbell CBE served as the Girl Guide Chief Commissioner for the British Commonwealth. She was a recipient of the Silver Fish Award, the highest adult award in Girlguiding, awarded for outstanding service to Girlguiding combined with service to world Guiding.
Violet Synge served as the Girl Guide Chief Commissioner for England. She was a recipient of the Silver Fish Award, the highest adult award in Girlguiding, awarded for outstanding service to Girlguiding combined with service to world Guiding.
The World Association Training scheme was a Girl Guiding activity after World War II. Mona Burgin was the leader of the first team briefed to find and support Guides living in displaced persons' camps. After the team's first tour of duty, General Sir Evelyn Fanshawe, at that time in charge of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration relief operation in the then British Zone of occupied Germany, "remarked that, in his opinion, Scouting and Guiding were the most rehabilitative factors at work in the camps at that time." Elizabeth Hartley followed Burgin as leader of the team.
