A Ranger or Ranger Guide is a member of a section of some Guiding organisations who is between the ages of 14 and 18. It is the female-centred equivalent of the Rover Scouts.
Girl Guiding had officially been founded in 1910 in the United Kingdom. By 1916–17, it had become apparent that girls who had been Girl Guides from the start were getting too old for their companies, and that older girls wished to become Guides but did not fit well in companies of younger girls. "Senior Guides" slowly came into existence as some captains (adult leaders of companies) formed patrols of girls over 16 years old. Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting and Guiding, was interested in this development and in June 1917 asked Rose Kerr to take on responsibility for them, outlining to her a plan for them. The scheme for the Senior Guides was published in parts in 1918.
In the next two years, many suggestions of name change were discussed but no consensus was reached. Rose Kerr recounts a conversation with Robert Baden-Powell in 1920 where he suggested "Ranger", one of the rejected suggestions for the Senior Scouts (by then called Rovers). In June 1920, Olave Baden-Powell, then the Chief Guide, wrote:
Here is the suggested new name: "Ranger". If you look it up in the dictionary, you will find it means quite a number of things. "To range" is "to set in proper order"; "to roam", and this might well mean you are going to tread ground as a Senior Guide that as a Guide you have not yet passed.
"Distance of vision, and extent of discourse or roaming power" again shows that as a senior member of the community you are expected to look farther afield for good, and the work that you can do for the community.
"To range" means to travel, or to rove over wide distances, whether in your mind or your body. A Ranger is "one who guards a large tract of land or forest," thus it come to mean one who has the wide outlook, and a sense of responsible protective duties, appropriate to a Senior Guide. Another definition is "to sail along in a parallel direction," and so we can feel that the Ranger Guides are complementary to the Rover Scouts.
And so we hope that this new title will have the approval of all.
The name received approval at a Conference of County Commissioners in July 1920, and was thereafter the official name.
Rangers have a long history in the United Kingdom, but their name was changed to "Senior Section", but has now been changed back. In Girlguiding UK, Rangers is replacing The Senior Section (TSS). Rangers can belong to Units in the same way as Rainbows, Brownies or Guides belong to Units. Rangers is open to girls from 14 to 18 years old. They can pursue any or all of several schemes including The King's Guide and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.
Previously, there were also Sea Rangers and Air Rangers.
Members of Rangers often play a wider role in the running of Girlguiding as they take on additional responsibilities. Many members of Rangers are assistant or unit leaders for other sections (Rainbows, Brownies, Guides), train as Peer Educators and deliver training to younger sections and their own section on topics such as Mental Health and, Division/ District/ County Commissioners and Advisors, Trainers and Trustees.
Members of Rangers hold a seat on the National Committees. This is often the chair of the youth representation body (Polaris is Scotland, Pegasus in Ulster). Any member of Rangers over the age of 16 can join these groups and provide a voice for the members of the organisation on key issues. Girlguiding also holds seats in the Scottish Youth Parliament and the British Youth Council, these positions are held by a member of Rangers.
In Girlguiding UK, the terms The Senior Section, Rangers and Ranger Guides are often used interchangeably.
The Rangers promise is the same as that of the Guides:
I promise that I will do my best:
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs,
To serve the King and my community,
To help other people
and
To keep the Guide Law.
In GirlGuiding New Zealand, Rangers are girls between 14 and 18. The Ranger's mascot is called Woozle.
When Rangers reach the age of 18 many become Rovers which are part of the Scout movement and many do this as well as being leaders in the Guide movement.[ citation needed ]
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking, and sports. Another widely recognized movement characteristic is the Scout uniform, by intent hiding all differences of social standing in a country and encouraging equality, with neckerchief and campaign hat or comparable headwear. Distinctive uniform insignia include the fleur-de-lis and the trefoil, as well as merit badges and other patches.
Brownies are the section in the Girl Guides organization for girls aged seven years old to ten years old. Exact age limits are slightly different in each organization.
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.
Scouting Nederland is the national Scout organisation of the Netherlands with approximately 110,000 members (53,324 male and 54,663 female, 87,000 youth members, as of 2010.
Girl Guides of Canada is the national Guiding association of Canada. Guiding in Canada started on September 7, 1910, and GGC was among the founding members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) in 1928.
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.
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.
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.
Girlguiding Bermuda is a Guiding organisation in Bermuda. It is one of the nine branch associations of Girlguiding UK. It is represented by Girlguiding UK at World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) level and Girlguiding UK's Chief Guide is also Chief Guide for Girlguiding Bermuda. Girlguiding Bermuda is part of the Caribbean Link for Guiding.
Girl Guides Australia (GGA) is the national Guiding organisation in Australia. Its mission is to empower girls and young women to grow into confident, self-respecting members of the community. Membership is open to all girls and young women from all cultures, faiths and traditions. Guiding groups formed in Australia as early as 1909, and by 1920 Girl Guide Associations had been formed in six states. In 1926 the State Associations federated and formed a national organization which became a founding member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1928. It still operates as a federated structure made up of six state-based Guiding organisations. It has roughly 19,000 members including adult and youth members. Over a million Australian women are or have been Guides. The Girl Guide emblem incorporates the Commonwealth Star.
GirlGuiding New Zealand is the national Guiding organisation in New Zealand. GirlGuiding New Zealand currently splits New Zealand into 8 regions around the country with approximately 10,000 members.
National Scouting and Guiding organisations are divided into different age groups in order to deliver the Scouting and Guiding programmes for a full range of youth.
Rainbows is the youngest section of GirlGuiding in the UK. They are between the ages of 4 and 7 and at the age of about seven, a Rainbow will usually become a Brownie if she wishes to continue Guiding.
Rose Margaret Guthrie Kerr was a British pioneer of the Guiding movement.
Scouting and Guiding in the United Kingdom is served by several different organisations:
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.
The Baden-Powell Award, also known as the B-P Award or Baden-Powell Scout Award (BPSA), is the highest award achievable to Rover (adult) Scouts.
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, with the headquarters in Preston. It is also known, for example to the Charity Commissioners, as the Guide Association North West England.
Scouting and Guiding in Gibraltar exist as branches of the parent organisations in the United Kingdom.
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.
