Scottish Women Guide Girls At Centenary Camp

The Girl Guides embraced the Scottish outdoors to participate in a skills and activity session led by Scotland Women’s internationalists at the Guide’s Centenary Camp in the Borders. This year’s camp, in Peebleshire, celebrated 100 years of Girl Guiding in Scotland and welcomed more than 1000 Guides and Senior Section girls from throughout the country to participate in a range of activities – from the traditional to the adventurous. In a new initiative with Scottish Rugby, this year’s camp included an activity day with some of Scotland’s leading women rugby players. The Girl Guides embraced the Scottish outdoors to participate in a skills and activity session led by Scotland Women’s internationalists at the Guide’s Centenary Camp in the Borders. This year’s camp, in Peebleshire, celebrated 100 years of Girl Guiding in Scotland and welcomed more than 1000 Guides and Senior Section girls from throughout the country to participate in a range of activities – from the traditional to the adventurous. In a new initiative with Scottish Rugby, this year’s camp included an activity day with some of Scotland’s leading women rugby players. Scotland Women’s captain and flanker Lynne Reid, scrum-half Louise Dalgliesh, full-back Celia Hawthorn, flanker Sarah-Louise Walker and prop Gilly McCord led the girls in a variety of ball-handling and footwork skills and drills, relay races and other skill-based activities, mixed with some healthy competition designed to give the girls an insight to the basics of rugby. Despite the rain, spirits were high as the Guides grabbed the chance to learn from some of Scotland’s leading female athletes, three weeks from the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup. Kate Devlin, Co-Chair of Adventures for Scotland for the centenary project, said: I think it’s very good for the girls to see young women from Scotland taking part in outdoor activities. They can see that they’re ‘cool’, and that they love taking part in energetic and fun activities, that can also keep them fit. Sarah-Louise Walker, who grew up as a Girl Guide in Edinburgh, recalled her own experiences of camps at Netherurd House, in Peebleshire, and how the organisation has moved with the times. She said: When I was here we did a lot of orienteering and making camp-fires. It’s great to see that it has been continually evolving and can include rugby and other activities on offer now. Car Stevenson, Scottish Rugby’s regional development manager for women and girl’s rugby, added: Having the Scotland Women’s team down at the camp was great everyone involved. The players are excellent role models and it has been a brilliant opportunity for them to share their skills and enthusiasm with the Guides. Women’s rugby is a developing sport and we are continually looking to recruit newcomers to the game. Working with the Guides has been a fantastic opportunity to introduce rugby to new players and hopefully the girls have taken something positive away from the day.