Annual Report Presented by Pat Downer National Chair Trefoil Guild Madam Chair, Guests & Fellow Members
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The Trefoil Guild Annual Meeting 2018 Annual Report presented by Pat Downer National Chair Trefoil Guild Madam Chair, guests & fellow members. It gives me great pleasure to present our annual report on behalf of the trustees… But first I would like to wish you all a very… This year the report will be a little different from usual as I thought it would be good to reflect on our history before bringing you all up to date with what is happening now. In the Guider Magazine August 1943, there was an article about the meaning of ‘Guild’ and it suggested that it meant “larger than the family” which fits well with today as we are like an extended family to Girlguiding. It also said that a Guild was formed for protection, instruction and conviviality and good cheer whilst watching over & protecting the interest of the craft or trades, to see if they were honorable, solvent and to help needy members. It was also mentioned that a Guild would ensure equal pay…well that is still correct, we all volunteer and earn nothing but get rewarded in different ways! The article also stated that a section for over 21 year-olds was fully discussed by the Executive committee with all the Branch Commissioners and it was agreed to form a Trefoil Guild. Details would be appearing in the September Magazine but in the meantime, would commissioners & Guiders refrain from writing to headquarters on the subject! Guider Magazine September 1943 Did you read the article in August Guider? It was published for more than its historical interest. A coming event casting its shadow before it; in that story of old associations of master-craftsmen, banded together, for “the guardianship of the craft”. It foreshadowed the founding of our own Guild of Guiding – a Guild that one-day may be as ancient and as honorable as that of the merchant adventurers. As our guild rises out of guiding in response to and as the fulfillment of a very definite need. It will lie with its first members to crystalize it into a definite form, to decide how it can best be organized to give service to Guiding and the community and will need to be modified and adapted according to local needs and possibilities We will now hear from fellow trustees how it has developed over the last 75 years Presented by 1943 – 1958 South West England 1943 – 1958 The Trefoil Guild initially started as Old Guides! What and who were Old Guides? These young folk were girls who became too old to attend Guides or Rangers or Cadets or were unable to take an active part as Guiders or Commissioners and started to wonder what they should do next. Unofficial Old Guides groups began to set up enabling the Old Guides to stay in touch with former members. 1943… The middle of the 2nd World war! Bing Crosby and Vera Lynn were making musical hits brightening the world whilst tragedy happened all about us. It was also the year that a decision was made in light of recent changes to Policy and Rules (remember those?) within the Guide Association, to review the situation regarding the introduction of a maximum age for Rangers of 21 years. Provision was needed for members to retain their connection with the Movement. 1943 – 1958 The Girl Guide Association's 29th Annual Report from the Council included the following: 1943 has seen the beginning of a new development of Guiding – The Trefoil Guild. Membership of the Guild is a privilege open to any members of the Movement who have ceased active Guiding and who are over 21years of age. 1946 saw a setting up of an ad hoc Committee to inquire into the development of the Guild idea. In 1947, the Old Guides, Ranger Clubs, Guidons, and new Guilds were amalgamated under the title of Trefoil Guild and a special Promise badge was introduced. It wasn't long before specialist groups were set up, i.e. The Scottish Handcraft Circle in 1945 and the Golf section in 1966. In 1951, the first Trefoil Guild magazine as we know it was produced at a price of 2d and called ''Notes and News''. It proved so popular that within a year it had increased in size and price! 1943 – 1958 In 1952, the Trefoil Guild was granted full recognition as a self- governing and self-supporting organisation within the Girl Guide Association and responsible for former Guides in the United Kingdom and Overseas Territories. In the 1953 Trefoil Guild, there is mention of the Guild's Biennial Conference which was at the Hayes in Swanwick, with approximately 160 Guilds being represented. Lord Baden Powell had accepted the invitation to speak about the B.P. Guild of Old Scouts. 1953, being the Coronation year of Queen Elizabeth II, the Trefoil Guild was allocated a seat in the Guide stand in Piccadilly to see the procession One of the subjects to be discussed at the Swanwick Conference 1954, was: ''Now that 'Notes and News' is a quarterly magazine and not an occasional news bulletin, a more suitable name is needed. What about ''The Trefoil''? 1943 – 1958 According to the 1955 Trefoil magazine, a member of the Rock Ferry Trefoil Guild, in response to the idea that guilds were just social clubs, stated that ''The Old Guides were started in her area when it became obvious that there was going to be an acute shortage of Guiders in the area. Since then, the Trefoil Guilds have 'kept warm and returned a total of 12 members back into active Guiding‘’. Two Trefoil members went to Denmark in 1956 as Observers at the start of the International Fellowship. In 1958, a new medal, the Oak Leaf, replaced the Certificate of Merit for Good Service in the Guide Movement. The title was the suggestion from Miss Eileen Ford (then Division President, Horndean, Hampshire), made as the result of a request in the Guider for ideas. When looking back at some of the reading material I have come across, I cannot but fail to think on the commitment and vision of those fabulously staunch women who pioneered the Trefoil Guild for us to enjoy. Presented by 1959 – 1973 North East England 1959 – 1973 Like me, many of you probably began your grown-up life in the 1960s. When I went off to university the third-year students looked exactly like their parents: girls with permed hair, pearls, twin-sets and the boys in sports jackets and collars and ties. When I was a third-year student, I was dressed in black from head to foot and with my hair cut resembling a pudding basin. Later in the decade I grew my hair, adorned it with flowers, modelled myself on Ali McGraw in ‘Love Story’ and waited for Ryan O’Neil to pop along! This was the decade of change and unrest; Martin Luther Kind, Yuri Gagarin, CND, the first heart transplant, the advent of the pill, the death of John F Kennedy, the mini skirt, Mary Quant, Twiggy, the Beatles and the Stones. Was Trefoil on the move? I’ll leave it to you to decide. 1959 – 1973 I have based my Trefoil research on this decade on my own county, East Yorkshire. There seemed to have been guilds especially for ladies with physical or mental health problems. I quote, “the matron of the Mentally Deficient Home at Brandesburton is looking for a new leader and the Hull Post Rangers have joined with the Tilworth Grange guild to form a promising union”. Tilworth Grange was a centre for girls with learning difficulties. Another interesting fact was that the Trefoil had produced many active guiders from their ranks, rather the reverse of today where we tend to recruit members when they finish active guiding. I have noted that service to the community seemed to be the main thrust of Trefoil in the 60s. One report tells of visiting the aged, the sick, homes, hospitals, helping the handicapped; supporting the NSPCC, cancer research, Dr Bernardo’s and displaced persons; distributing Christmas parcels to the sick and needy, as well as helping active guiders raise their funds. 1959 – 1973 There didn’t seem to be the same emphasis on fun and food as we have. There does seem to have been a very close link between Trefoil and the Local Association with a joint conference held at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The aim of the Local Association was, I believe, to give support to Guides and Brownies in their area. When I became a Queen’s Guide, my mother was instantly asked to become a member, which she found rather daunting as all the ladies wore hats! Another interesting quote, “as our Area Recorder said referring to the phrase ‘Active Guiding’ - we are just as active as any good guide company. The phrase should be ‘Uniformed Guiding’”! She had the right idea, didn’t she? 1959 – 1973 I have another interesting quote, “many members can look back over more than 40 years of guiding to the days when they wore umbrella hats and carried staves. They are joined by delightful and enthusiastic young members, many of whom bring their babies to afternoon meetings and organise crèches in adjoining rooms”. Do we today succeed in attracting such young women? I am very pleased to say that in North East England we do have a few such groups. I suppose I have to close this decade with an analysis of numbers. In 1964 there were 302 members in 11 guilds in East Yorkshire, in 1967 there were 15 guilds.