Notes for Guiders
Slide 2: The oldest photograph of Brownies in the Region archives. 1st Hornsea Brownies in East Yorkshire, from a scrapbook left to the Region.
Slide 3:A page from a Guide Association Catalogue of the 1920’s, featuring Brownie winter uniform. Up until 1921 Brownies could wear navy skirts and jerseys instead.
Slide 4: A page from a Guide Association Catalogue of the 1920’s, featuring Brownie summer uniform, with brown tie. This Brownie wears a Fairy Six Emblem and note her accompanying stick with a Fairy emblem on top;this was not featured in the catalogue.
Slide 5: Most uniforms were made at home, not bought from the catalogue. This picture of a Brownie from the same period shows what looks like a homemade tunic dress, with the Sixer stripes on the left sleeve.
Slide 6: These Brownies hats are made of straw (called a rush hat), the brown cotton hats came later. In the original uniform it was stipulated that only brown stockings could be worn, later it was changed to include long brown socks – both are shown here.
Slide 7: These Brownies are demonstrating cleaning shoes, something they had to do to pass their Second Class, or Golden BAr test. They are probably pre-war Brownies as they are wearing brown ties still, and the woollen knitted hat is in evidence, rather than a beret.
Slide 8: Washing up at Pack Holiday. Some yellow ties are now shown, as well as one of the brown cotton cloth hats still. Wearing your full uniform for everything was normal in those days, even on Pack Holiday.
Slide 9: A Pack doing the Grand Salute
“This is the grandest salute a Pack can give, and is only for very special occasions. From Fairy Ring, squat on heels, arms between knees, and two fingers of each hand touching the ground in front. All say very softly “Tu-whit, tu-whit, Tu-whoo-oo”, rising a little way, and gently sinking back to squatting position. Then all say a second time “Tu-whit, tu-whit, Tu-whoo-oo”, a little louder, rising a little further and sinking back again. The third time “Tu-whit, tu-whit, Tu-whoo-oo” gets louder and louder and all rise to their feet and jump in the air, clapping their hands above their heads as the last “Tu-whoo-oo” ends in a shriek. Then follows absolute silence as the Brownies, all standing at the alert, raise their hands in salute.
(It hardly needs saying that this was invented by Baden Powell for the first Brownie Handbook in 1920)
Promise Badges
Slides 13 – 20
The Promise Badges changed as regularly as The Promise wording itself.
Our recent change of wording in September 2013 was the 11th time the words were changed.
The change to the solid metal of the badge in 1940 indicates the scarcity of metal and the need to economise – Metal badges eventually became very scarce and during the war Brownies (and Guides) were allowed to invent their own for a time.
Interest Badges Slides 21-23
The first Proficiency Badges were triangular and in 4 colours: Blue (for character), Red(service) Green (physical health) and Yellow (handcraft).
By 1939 they became brown and yellow (as slide 23) and stayed much the same until the major changes after 2000 to the current style.
Slide 22 is a homemade badge – often made during the war when materials were scarce.
Other Badges
Slide 25: Golden Bar and Golden Ladder
Originally Brownies could work for the Entrance Test, Second Class Badge and First Class Test. After 1950 these changed; Golden Bar was the Second Class test, Golden Ladder an intermediate test and Golden Hand, instead of First Class.
They still reflected the colour areas mentioned in the Interest badge section:
For Second Class this included showing two ways of sewing on a button, as well as knowing the right way to fly the Union Jack and to bowl a hoop around a figure of eight course.
For the Golden Ladder you needed to know 15 letter of the alphabet in semaphore, how to set a compass, and to skip 30 times without a break turning the rope backwards.
Slide 26
The Golden Hand or First Class could be worked for independently of the Golden Ladder as some of the tasks were the same, but made a little easier. The Brownie had to be tested on all the sections at once, and by an outside Guider, rather than their own Pack Guider.
They had to know the whole alphabet in semaphore, to read and send messages.
Knit a child’s scarf or jumper and know some first aid as well as a number of other clauses.
Slide 27
Journey and Venture Badges – In the late 60s, Brownie Journeys replaced the Tests, with a choice of challenges for Footpath, Road and Highway.
Brownie Packs worked on projects together, and gained their Venture Badge.
Slide 28
Brownie Wings to show that you had “flown up” from Brownies, if you had gained the First Class or Golden Hand badge before you were eleven.
Slide 29
Service stars were worn in the 50s and 60s to show that you had spent a year or more in Brownies. The stars changed into badges with the number of years in Brownies in the centre of the star, and finally into different coloured badges for different numbers of years. Green was 2 years.
Slide 30
Stripes on the uniform to indicate Sixer or Second status have been in since early on in the Brownie Programme.
They changed in style as can be seen here, but have only changed type relatively recently to the name badges that we now have.
Slide 31
Six Emblems were introduced in 1918, with the little rhymes that introduced each one. The rhymes were used in the variety of traditions that Brownies used to start and finish their meetings. As well as the most common such as, Sprite, Elf, Gnome and Fairy, others were introduced for other parts of the United Kingdom, such as Ghillie Dhu for Scotland and Bwbachod for Wales. The changes in choice of name that has occurred in recent years reflects the pre-1918 Brownies (or Rosebuds) who used a variety of names of their own choice, trees or animals for example.
If you would like more information about Brownie History please contact the Region Heritage Coordinator
Pat Heynes
Region Headquarters, St Ann's Manor, 6-8 St Ann Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 2DN
Tel: 01722 329306 Fax: 01722 410230
Email: