AC Girl Guides off and running

DOZENS of nervous and excited young girls and parents gathered for the first meeting of the Armstrong Creek Girl guides last week, led by new leaders Nicole Chrichton and Mollie Nicholls.

“Most Girl Guide units start with about six and grow from there, so this is big,” Ms Nicholls said of the 19 girls registered to attend.

The age group for the new unit is 5-12 year-olds and it’s likely that some will have to go on a waiting list as if all wish to join, the maximum ratio of guides to leader is one to eight.

The group has secured use of a space in the Armstrong Creek Community House for the year and includes a large outdoor and indoor area, as well a kitchen.

“The girls are really luck to get this space,” Mollie’s mother Collette Nicholls said, herself a Girl Guide leader who will be helping establish the unit.

A majority of the parents said they lived in either Armstrong Creek or Mt Duneed and welcomed the establishment of local Girl Guides chapter.

One Mt Duneed mother said she’d tried to take her daughter to Highton’s Girl Guides but was put off by the commute and her six-year-old wanted to attend a more local group where she was more likely to know people.

“There were a lot of nerves in the room, we did some activities with the girls to make them feel more comfortable and to get to know them better,” Mollie Nicholls said after the event.

“The feedback from parents was ‘we’re going to come back next week’”.

“11 are already trying to sign up to be a member, and there was quite a few that wanted to come last week that were unable to come,” she said.

The group will continue meeting throughout the year between 4.30-6.00 on Tuesday.

For more information visit: www.facebook.com/ArmstrongCreekGGV