Remembering our Jubilee challenges

Thursday 22 September 2022

On this one-off National Day of Mourning we honour and pay tribute to the life and service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Throughout the year, our local Girl Guides have enjoyed many activities to acknowledge the Platinum Jubilee of The Queen.  As she acceded to the throne on 6 February 1952, The Queen is the first British Monarch to ever celebrate seventy years of service.

Ten years ago (2012), the reference to “serve the Queen” was removed from the Australian Guide Promise with a rewording to give service to the local community.  As head of state, The Queen was still considered to be a part of this commitment, as well as a part of Guiding history.  Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret were themselves youth members of Guiding, as were their own daughters.  The Queen and the royal family have a special connection with Ballarat’s Girl Guides.

At the beginning of the year, Girl Guides Australia created a special Royal Connections commemorative badge with challenges that encouraged our Guides to explore The Queen’s service and her connection with Guiding over her lifetime. We have all enjoyed working on this badge and learning more about The Queen. It is extremely sad that this special year was also to include the passing of The Queen, and even more important that we had celebrated her achievements.

Our activities included:

• Learning about the Royal coat of arms and creating our own family coat of arms
• Deciding what we would do if we were Queen for a day
• Learning about the Imperial State Crown and making our own crown
• Organising and preparing food for a High Tea
• Locating the countries that are part of the Commonwealth on a world map
• Finding out about The Queen’s involvement in Guiding
• Creating a timeline of events in the life of the Royal family
• Enjoying a trivia game with questions regarding The Queen
• Practicing walking with good posture

Remembering Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a Girl Guide who has Gone Home.