"supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is the only way to describe the day"
During the morning of 24th July, 20 Brownies from the 2nd Puriton Unit in Somerset and their leaders arrived at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton for the experience of a life time. Armed with bed rolls and sleeping bags, overnight kit and packed teas they prepared themselves for a night sleeping under Concorde: the first people EVER to be allowed to do so. Not only that, they were also about to become the first girl groupever to undertake a science based badge day at the Museum.
Having received a safety briefing about not bumping into all the aeroplanes on display they embarked on the first part of the Brownie Science Investigators Badge: all about me. What fun they had imprinting their fingerprints on balloons and acetate, brushing them with cocoa powder and comparing them with each other. There were whirls and arches galore but one print was truly different and that belonged to the 'older' lady with us - the President of Girlguiding Somerset whose finger showed definite evidence of needlework and gardening! The Brownies moved on to making pinhole cameras looking at each other through them under coloured light and seeing what happened when you made the hole larger or even made two holes.
After a lovely cooked meal held in the Swordfish Restaurant they embarked on part two of their badge: all around me. This session saw them looking at maps and symbols, seeing how to work out scale and then drawing their own plan of one of the exhibit halls. There was many a furrowed brow to start with but as they got the hang of it so maps took shape. Lots of interested looks and smiles from the public who were looking around the museum.
The word 'wow' echoed around the room as they picked up their tea time snack - a chocolate bun each, every one decorated with a Concorde made from icing , thanks to one of the leaders' daughters.
In the third and final part of the science badge, Build it, they were challenged to build a model under-carriage of an aeroplane. What brilliant teamwork: 20 girls totally engrossed in what they were doing. Imagine their excitement when one structure, made only of paper and a few nuts and bolts managed to support 8Kg before collapsing. Undoubtedly budding engineers in the making.
"Awesome","'fantabulous" or even, according to Charlotte "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is the only way to describe the day" and yet they still had the most exciting part of the day to come - the sleepover under Concorde! First though they had a short tour of the museum and all got to walk through Concorde before one lucky Brownie got to sit in the cockpit with the Brownie boot.
With the general public gone, bedrolls went down on the run way, PJ's and onesies were climbed in to, hot chocolate made and the girls settled down to watch A Night in the Museum before finally getting in to their beds for a very short night!
"A little bit scary"', "cool" and "amazing" was the verdict in the morning but Immy, probably summed it up most accurately when she said "What an extraordinary night". Indeed, it was an 'extraordinary' night, infact24 hours, which the leaders and girls will certainly remember for the rest of their lives. What an amazing time the Museum gave the girls who went home clutching all the things they had had so much fun making, togetherwith their Science Investigators Badge, the SWE Night in the Museum Badge, the Somerset 100 years sleepover badge, the BBB sleepover badge and a very special Rosebud broach ... together with amazing memories!
Girls not interested in science - rubbish! Girls not good engineers - think again!