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Rangers Leader Steps Down after 35 years
Local resident Shirley Lindroos, better known as Mrs L, is stepping down as leader of Geraldine Rangers after 35 years spent working with 13 - 18 year old girls in the Guiding movement.
To say “thank you” and to honour all that Mrs L has done for the Rangers a group of Geraldine Guiding leaders got together and organised a This is Your Life book of photographs of her Guiding life. The book was presented at a surprise party held last week.
Past Rangers who were unable to attend sent in tributes and memories which were read out by the current Geraldine Rangers who dressed up in Guiding uniforms from past eras dating back to 1908 (this is NOT when Mrs L first joined!).
Maree Rowley, District Co-ordinator, was quick to point out that Mrs L is not leaving GirlGuiding NZ completely and will continue to help with
co-ordinating the Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award in South Canterbury, will run ranger interest certificates and probably many other things too.
Mrs L officially leaves at the end of the year and simply comments, “I think the time is right for me to go now but I am not going far”.
She has many happy memories from her years in the Guiding movement. “One favourite memory is going to India where I was part of a Guiding programme working with children”. Mrs L was one of only two guiding leaders in New Zealand chosen to attend. She also remembers taking a group of 30 rangers to Fiji to do a service leaders project where they met the local rangers and worked in an orphanage. Another memorable occasion was attending a national guiding camp and having to cook three meals a day for 250 girls using only a three ring gas stove!
In 1975 Mrs L moved to Geraldine and became leader of the Geraldine rangers. In 1977 she was awarded her gold Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award by Prince Phillip.
So why did Mrs L join the girl guiding movement? “Mum and Dad were involved in scouting so there was no way my sisters and I were not going to be involved, it was part of our lives. It flowed on naturally, our older sister was a brownie leader, it was what you did”.
The Queen’s Guide Award (QGA) is the highest award in the Guiding movement and is one all rangers strive to achieve.
Local residents Janet Harding and Helen Lernihan attained their QGA in 1987. Janet adds, “She gave us confidence. If you were not sure of something, she was always in the background giving you the push at the right time”.
Valerie Hendriks (17) is the most recent Ranger to achieve her QGA. She thanked Mrs L for her help and “for trying to mature me - I don’t know if it worked but I feel bullet proof!”
This comment perfectly illustrates one quality Mrs L feels rangers gain whilst achieving their QGA. “It is confidence; they are given leadership opportunities that they may not otherwise get”.
Mrs L is handing over the Rangers’ leadership to local resident Anne Youngs who has been working alongside her for the last 18 months.
Jo Bates
Geraldine News
Flying the kite for Guiding
We had a fantastic day at the inaugural KITE FLIGHT 4 LIFE day at Lake Hood, Ashburton on the 24 November. The weather was great and there was a huge variety of kites up in the air. There were four Rangers from Ashburton helping with face painting and they were so busy that they ran out of face paint.
The highlight of the day was the Rokkaku Battle - which is kite fighting.
Everyone who had entered the Rokkaku Battle had paid to have a kite made for them with their company name on it with proceeds going to the chosen charity for the event which was Canteen. As local Girl Guides were helping on the day, assisting with collecting donations and assisting children to make kites from paper, we had a kite made with the GirlGuiding logo on it, for us at no cost. The kites were made at Peter Lynn Kites in Ashburton.
At 1pm, I was in the first heat for the Rokkaku Battle and considering I had never competed in Kite Fighting before, somehow I made it through to the finals. There was a lot of running around, trying to get the other kites to the ground, therefore eliminating others from the competition. We had to do repairs on the kite string before taking part in the final, and it was with great excitement that the GirlGuiding kite was second in the Rokkaku Battle.
The festival went from 11am until 4pm and the Guides were busy all day assisting children make a simple kite from A4 paper- we had 27 Guides from four different units in the Ashburton/Methven area who spent time during the day assisting with this day. We also had other activities for the girls at a small Lake at Lake Hood where they made rafts and learnt basic kayak skills and enjoyed a visit from Sonia Faulkner.
Rebecca Kenny
Tinwald Guide Leader
Glenwood Pippin Term Challenge
We talked about what the girls already knew about the kiwi and realised it was quite a bit but we decided we could still learn more! So we read stories and looked up information in books we had got from the town library. Then all were given an outline of a kiwi and the girls were asked to write all the facts and information they knew or had learnt.
One thing we did learn that is very important is that our kiwis are disappearing from the wild because dogs and cats are killing them and eating their eggs also. Where they live in the bush is slowly being turned into farms and things so soon they will not have many places in the wild to live.
Being from Timaru we learnt that kiwis don’t live in our area but we learned about where they live in the wild and what different types there are. Most of the girls had seen kiwis at Orana Park and Willowbank in Christchurch.
Some of the tasks we did for our challenge was to make kiwis which was really fun. We made sure they had small little wings that don’t help them fly and long beaks which they use to eat worms and smell where the food is.
We also painted beautiful masterpieces of our wonderful kiwi bird. Some had stars to tell us that kiwis come out at night, some had big eggs with their kiwis to show how big they are, some had more than one kiwi as one type of kiwi lives in a family unit but most live on their own or with their mate which is normally for life, some were big and some were small, some had bushes and trees to tell us that is where they live, but all were awesome and original!
The girls really enjoyed learning about our national treasure and hope they have done enough to earn their term challenge certificate.
There are 15 girls in our unit and 3 helpers.
Cindy Gardyne
Glenwood Pippins
What has South Canterbury been up to in 2012?
Why not tell us what you have been doing in your unit so far this year?
I know you have been out camping, doing Community Service and generally having a lot of GirlGuiding Adventures - lets show everyone what we have been doing!
Forward any stories or photos on to your Leader, District Co-ordinator, Regional Co-ordinator or the Southern Zone Office so they can be published here.
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