The Carmarthenshire Girl Guides Association

Papers of the Carmarthenshire Girl Guides Association.

The Girl Guide movement was set up in 1910 three years after the Scouting movement had been founded by Robert Baden - Powell. In 1909 he decided that due to the great interest of young girls in Scouting an offshoot had to be created to avoid mixing the sexes. He appointed his sister Agnes Baden - Powell as the head of the movement.

Carmarthen's first troop of Girl Guides was formed in 1909 by Eira and Marjorie Barker. The group consisted of twenty four girls. In 1917 Miss Stepney Gulston was appointed County Commissioner of East Carmarthenshire Girl Guides. The numbers of Girl Guides grew in Carmarthenshire with packs and companies registering every passing year.

Two central themes drove the Girl Guides movement in its earliest days. Domestic skills were accompanied by a more modern practical feminism. This practical feminism embodied physical fitness, survival skills, camping, citizenship training and career preparation.

In its earliest days Princess Mary was a great advocate of the movement, promoting it so much so that in 1920 she became an honorary President of the British Girl Guides Association. Much like many girls from the U.K in 1937 H. R. H. Princess Elizabeth and H. R. H. Princess Margaret enrolled in the Brownies and Guides respectively. The Royal contribution to the Girl Guides continued and in 1965 Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdonia became a patron of the Girl Guides. This connection was reflected in the introduction of the Queens Guide award in 1946, which was the highest Guiding accolade.

The Carmarthen Girl Guides grew from strength to strength with the first county rally being held at Derwydd in 1924, and the next year the first county camp was held in Pembrey. The Carmarthen Girl Guides were valuable in their contribution to the war effort in the Second World War, many collected waste paper for the salvage drives, and knitted sweaters and blankets for the W. V. S. (The Women's Voluntary Service). The Carmarthenshire Girl Guides were also involved in Mrs. Churchill's 1941 Aid to Russia Fund. Around £8 million was raised over the course of the war, in part from contributions from the Penny-a-Week Fund. The money raised helped pay for warm clothing and medical supplies.

Today there are some 600,000 members of the Girl Guides and this year the organisation celebrates its centenary. It has become an integral part of British Society with more than half of all women in Britain today having been involved with Guiding at some point in their lives.

By type.

Ar Agor / Open

Dim cyfyngiadau / No Restrictions

Adnau preifat / Private deposit

Mae copiau clawr caled o`r catalogau ar gael yn Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin ac yn y Gofrestr Cenedlaethol Archifau. Polisi Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin yw catalogio yn iaith y ddogfen / Hard copies of the catalogue are available at Carmarthenshire Archives and the National Register of Archives. It is the policy of Carmarthenshire Archives to catalogue in the language of the document.

Cyflwr da / Good condition

Compiled by David H. Jones for Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin / Carmarthenshire Archives.

Mae'r holl gofnodiadau sy'n cydymffurfio â pholisi casglu Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin wedi eu cadw / All records which meet the collection policy of the Carmarthenshire Archives have been retained

Deposited at various intervals. Some items were transferred from the Derwydd Archive.

Mae croniadau yn bosibl / Accruals are possible