December 7th- Village Christmas Fair

Another bit of divine intervention as far as the weather was concerned- a lovely clear night which bought loads of people out. Compared with the following day-wet, windy, revolting. Phew!


We had a bit of a buying frenzy shortly after setting up with the Chocolate Brownies selling like hot cakes ( or brownies..)
We could have sold twice the amount!
The baby owls went too along with half the bracelets so we have some stock for next summers fair at Newman Collard.


Some of the Brownies had practical maths lessons working out what change to give people! they all worked very hard when they were helping!
We took a very impressive £100!!! 


The Petersfield Herald took our photo so watch out for it in next weeks paper.
Here are some photos...

Thank you to everyone who baked brownies for our stall- you are stars!

I've got some other pics in a portrait format but cannot seem to rotate them!

These will have to do for now. if I suss it out I'll post them soon!

Have a great Christmas everyone and see you on 12th January.

The real 24th November!

First, a catch up from last week having failed to post anything at all!
Last week we enrolled 5 new Brownies!
Jessica, Emily, Amy, Louisa and Abigail. They all said their promises perfectly and although I made a 'pond' as part of the ceremony, I forgot to use it until a Brownie helpfully reminded me! So we 'twisted them and turned them' all at the end!

We made  a start on our bracelets that we will be trying to sell on the stall at the Liss Christmas Village fair next Weds.


This week- Thursday 1st December


We were joined by two lovely girls, Lucy and Emma from Bohunt School who are working towards their DOE awards. They'll be helping us each week from January for 3 months!


After a quick catch up with the Home Skills Badge because some of the girls were away when we did stuff a few weeks ago, we went on to making bracelets again to build up some actual stock- the Brownies wanted to BUY their own bracelets so we had to make more!

Christmas presents were handed out- some gorgeous handmade owls by Mrs Stemp, Abigails Mum. What about these then?!

I love them!

I promoted several Brownies to Sixers and Seconders for next term and presented the leavers, Anna, Molly and Kayleigh with a badge, certificate and a small gift to say goodbye.
In the chaos of all that excitement- we forgot to do Brownie Bells and say goodbye properly.
Goodbye!
I'll do a post next weekend with pics of the Christmas fair stall and let you know how much we raised.


Ps Thanks Mrs Park who helped out last night!

24th November

Tawny Owl was off sick with 'The Virus' ( evil and nasty) but luckily Jenny Edmondson helped out.
We had 4 'stations'- recycling, shoe polishing, Laundry care and buttons for the blind-all part of the 'Home-skills' badgework.
It was pretty full-on this week and I could have sworn it was a full moon or something as the girls were bouncing off the walls with energy.
As a result I didn't take any photos.
Bringing my camera to the meeting may have helped....


7 girls were off with various obligations here and there so we will be doing a 'catch-up' session this Thursday and then they can get their badges on our final meeting (1st Dec)


Next week we will be enrolling 5 Brownies and starting our bracelet making project a bit early which seems wise.
I'll be sending home plates and wrapping for Choc brownies on Thursday!
Get your recipes at the ready...

More Remembrance pics

13th November - Remembrance Day

Well, I wasn't expecting such incredible weather!
It was a beautiful, sunny day and warm too.
19 brownies attended this very special day in Liss which is a tremendous turn-out!
Molly and Kayleigh shared the job of 'standard bearers' and were part of the 'Colour Party' along with Anna who despite having a terrible cold, did a great job laying the wreath at the monument. They all did the job perfectly-Well done, girls!

I was very proud of our girls today, who sat through a long and at times tiring service in church!
If anyone has any good photos I'd love to see them and can put some on this blog.

10th November

This week we were finishing off work towards our Crime Prevention Badge.
The girls had to produce a poster to promote safeguarding our property and then act out some more scenes which is always lovely to see the budding actresses in the pack!
The Tweenies had a chat with Tawny Owl to prepare them for their promises in a few weeks.

Ella has learned to play 'Westminster Bells' on the piano which is our 'Brownie Bells' music. Despite the piano at the hut being desperately out of tune in places, she did very well and everyone clapped. She now wants to do it every week!
Lucy Mann received her 'Rider's Badge' and everyone got a Crime Prevention Badge (except our Tweenies, who can only get badges once enrolled.)
We were joined this week by Ella's grandmother visiting from Yorkshire (who used to be a Cub Leader some years ago) and Sue Munter. Thanks ladies!


Any Brownies that would like to go to the District Xmas party, please step forward this week! Time is running out and it seems there are places available.
Next week we will start our 'Home Skills Badge' so get the checklists back this Thursday along with a pair of shoes to polish please!

3rd November

I'm finding it hard to take photos during the meetings due to the amount of things I'm doing. Running around a bit like a headless chicken, I get to the end of the meeting and think-'oops! didn't take any photos!'
I might ask the other owls if they could help out with that.


Anyway, we had a 'bonfire theme' to the meeting tonight and miraculously the rain stopped so we could get outside.

The girls did a 'scratch art' project which they seemed to like and I saw some lovely pictures. Pesky pictures wont rotate tonight, sorry about that.
We then toasted marshmallows over tealights ( somewhat) and headed outside for a mini bonfire.
I took our bbq pan out to the woods behind the hut and stood there lighting the fire listening to the owls twoo-ing in the trees. I was joined by the Brownies and we lit sparklers and sang songs.
Debi Knight had made us a big plate of cakes which we devoured in a flash. Her cakes are SO good.


Next week we'll be finishing off our 'Crime Prevention Badge' and getting our Tweenies ready for their Promise Night in a few weeks.


Please, if your Brownie would like to attend the District Party in Alton on 10th Dec, you really need to get the form in next week or the week after.


Over and out.

October 20th

Tonight we went to the Taro Centre in Petersfield for some fun in the water.
I can't post any photos because there aren't any!
I think the Brownies were well and truly tired at the end of a rather long session and probably slept like logs that night.
Half Term begins and we have a week to recover from the first half of the term.
I'll send out a term planner next week telling you what we will be up to until December- the good news, parents, is that we will be doing' Home Skills Badge' which involves them making their beds for a whole week! Yay. Enjoy it while it lasts! 
See you on 3rd November.

October 13th 2011

Tonight was fun.
We were very lucky to have the company of PC Smith, our local police officer who helped us work towards a 'Crime Prevention Badge'
He talked to us about stranger danger, keeping your possessions safe, marking precious possessions with invisible ink ( which of course they loved ) and keeping your house safe from intruders.
The evening went really quickly and the girls were captivated the whole time.


As part of the badge they had to act out scenarios to show the right and wrong way of going about the topics covered.
We all learnt a lot and it gave the girls lots to think about.
Soon we will make some posters and that's the badge covered!

Next week Swimming at the Taro centre!

6th October 2011

The Brownies got to try on their new promise bracelets that we made last week-they turned out so well and hopefully we'll enjoy making some more in December to sell on our stall at the Village Christmas Fair.


We had a blast cooking scones  and chocolate Krispy cakes despite a few mishaps along the way and sold them all at the end of the meeting!

Liss Horticultural society gave us crocus bulbs, pots and compost for a competition. hey will come to a meeting in February to judge the best entries and give out some prizes. They aren't too bothered if the bulbs fail and will give points for clean well decorated pots.
In the chaos that prevailed tonight, the girls all left their pots behind so next week they will bring them home and look after them until we say " bring them in"


Next week we will have Pc Smith joining us to help us work towards our 'Crime Prevention' badge.
I'm not sure that cuddly toys will be able to take the security ink to mark precious possessions.....;)

AUTUMN TERM 2011

Welcome back everyone-


September 15th: A new start and a freshly decorated hut awaited us this week- we have made some changes to things and got organized by creating 'bum pads' with names on for pow wows and coat peg names so we can keep track of things.


We had a good Pow Wow to decide on term activities and had a brainstorming session for ideas for cooking night and bonfire night.


Our lovely new helper Sue Brett who lives close by came to our first meeting and has now been named as 'Snowy Owl'!


SEPTEMBER 22nd : Brown Owl was away in majorca this week at a family wedding so the Brownies got busy decorating Sixes reward charts and the tweenies painted calico bags.


SEPTEMBER 29th: Tonight had a was a Promise theme night and we made lovely promise bracelets which will be tied and given out next week-we ran out of time

The Hut was unbelievably hot and our hands were slippy so a lot of beads got dropped on the floor and we had a few tears! At last we mangaed to get our bracelets finished and rushed outside for some fresh air and games to cool down.
Charlotte took her promise under the big oak tree in the park and became a proper Brownie at last- well done Charlotte!

Next week: cooking!

14th July - Coldharbour Wood

Apologies for the delay in posting this - my camera took some very dodgy photos that evening so I managed to scrounge some from Andrea Mann - (thanks Andrea!)


Tonight was our last meeting and we were lent a lovely spot to have it, by en Bloch's Neighbour Sally.
Georgia and Harriet the Guides helped to make a camp fire which meant one thing- Marshmallows!!!

Den Building

Lucy and I took our promise together and we were joined by our District Commissioner, Phoebe and our local Guide leader, Judy.
Badges were handed out for our completed Reduce, Reuse & Recycle challenge which we have been working towards all term- well done everyone!


We also said our farewells to Steph who stepped down from being Brown Owl this evening. She received a bunch of flowers, a fabulous cake made by Debbie Knight and a picture of the pack along with other goodies.


So that means I am now officially the new Brown Owl!


There will be no more posts until September 15th when we start our new term.


BROWNIES!!!!


Please have a think about what you would like to do next term- bring some ideas with you to the first meeting if you can!
See you in September!


Brown Owl Jools x

July 7th - Cook Night

Despite my not being there for most of the meeting ( leadership training course in Southsea of all places... ) It seems the Brownies cooked up a storm with scones, chocolate crispies and fruit kebabs. Yum. Missed out on that one...

We had a nice group photo taken outside- Just a shame Brown owl was ill and not in the picture. ( along with a few Brownies! )

Rebekah Weaver and Jenny Edmondson stepped in to help at the last minute which was great-thank you ladies! We could not have run the meeting without you.
I wish I had more to tell you but I haven't heard how it all went yet!

June 30th - Water Fun Night

Again, a lovely sunny evening so we spent the meeting outside.

We played all sorts of water races with filled balloons, hopping whilst carrying a cup of water, above the head, under and over, the lot. We measured to see which six were the winners after each race.


The brownies bought in their toothbrushes and we took turns to brush teeth for 2 minutes while keeping the tap running- this too was measured and 7 litres of water was used!! 7 litres!
The next team did it  using the tap only to rinse the brush during and at the end. Only 1 litre was used between them, which is quite a difference, we thought. 
It was good to see the Owls running around too...

June 23rd- A visit to Durleighmarsh Farm

Again we were exceptionally lucky with the weather- the rain finally gave up and we had a beautiful sunny evening for our visit to Durleighmarsh.
Alison Granger was fantastic and taught us all about food miles and the benefits of buying local produce.
Armed with knowledge and an appetite, we all ventured out into the fields to pick fruit.

                                      
 
                                      

The girls were given a small punnet each to fill with allsorts- gooseberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, raspberries, Tayberries and good old strawbs! There were some adventurous brownies in the pack who were trying some fruit for the first time, and loved it! Well done!
What a fantastic time we all had.

June 16th - Junk Picture Frames

The girls bought in bits of scrap paper and things that might have been thrown away or recycled.
They bought photo's of themselves and created some very groovy looking frames to give to their dads on fathers day this weekend.
They played a game, had a sing song and signed a 'Get well Card' for Kate Shally who is sadly in hospital and not very well. We all hope she gets better soon.

Next week we will be meeting at Durleighmarsh Farm to spend some time talking to Alison Granger about the benefits of buying local produce and food miles. We may even get to eat some raspberries!

Lets hope for sunshine and no more of this rain. Enough! (although it probably isn't....)

Litter Picking

East Hampshire district Council kindly lent us 24 litter pickers for kids with snappy jaws and faces! Bags were provided and Hi Viz jackets too. How organized!
We met Ray Swift in the car park and he chose a route through the village which he thought would provide lots of pickings.
It was great fun and we managed to fill 4 big bags. Quite a haul really.
I think the girls found it odd how people could drop so much litter with bins so close by!

We had tea and cakes back at the pavilion with Ray and it was great to get out and about again.


This week we'll be making junk picture frames!

Village Day June 4th 2011

Well weren't we lucky with the weather? Though at the time we were too hot to move! I can't believe the change in the weather....

I'm not sure what the takings were as I write this but I think we can all agree it was well worth the effort in terms of getting our faces seen.

The Petersfield Herald took photos of some of us so look out for the pics in the paper this week.

The brownies worked very hard selling books, plants and chocolate brownies which were just about surviving the heat. We had to keep moving things into the shade!

Anyway, great job Brownies, hard working as ever!