Our meeting opened with our usual horseshoe, followed by an active game (Ladders) chosen and led by our Active Living patrol for the night.
We started out with a discussion where the Guides shared what they had been learning about the wars and Remembrance Day at school. They then wrote Postcards for Peace that will be sent to veterans and members of the Canadian Forces. (see www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/get-involved/remembrance-day/learning-resources for more information)
The first game we played was the "Balloon Game" from UK Homefront (www.ukhomefront.co.uk/kids_page_41.html). In this game a piece of string is stretched between two chairs and players kneel on either side (like in volleyball). They have to hit the balloon back and forth using the backs of their hands. Points are scored when the balloon touches the ground on the opposite team's side. (We played this game using soft balls and it was hilarious!)
We then moved on to a game in the dark called "Hunt the Ghost" from the Girls' Own Annual 1941. In this game, one player is the ghost and has a flashlight. All players scatter around the room and the lights are turned off. The ghost flashes her light on and off and the other players try to catch her. The player who catches the ghost becomes the ghost for the next round. (This was fun until we had a big collision - I would try this again but outdoors in twilight so shadows and silhouettes could be seen, and grass would be softer to fall on than the floor.)
Next we had an active story called "Mary's Day Out" from The Guide, December 7, 1939.
For this, the Guides spread out around the room and acted out all the parts of the story as they were read out to them:
"It was Mary's day out, and she was in a great hurry to get ready. She walked around the room, combing her hair with one hand and pulling up her stocking with the other! The bell rang. 'Bother,' said Mary. She proceeded to run down the stairs. There were twenty steps and she counted them as she ran. Now she had only one shoe on, so she had to hop along the corridor. She could do it in five hops, she knew, as she had done it before! She opened the door and there was no one there. 'Bother,' said Mary. She hopped back along the corridor, five hops, ran up the stairs, twenty steps, and bent down to put on her other shoe. She then put on her coat, hat, and hung her gas mask over her shoulder - the right shoulder, as she had been taught. she then ran downstairs again, twenty steps, putting on her gloves the while. She opened the door and ran out and found that she had just lost her tram. 'Bother,' said Mary. She slammed the door and was lost in the black-out."
After all this activity, we had a brief storytime and the Guides listened to a diary entry, "Camping in 1943" from Like Measles, It's Catching! (Girl Guides of Canada, 1974, pages 68-69).
The last part of the meeting was spent singing songs that Guides would have enjoyed during the 1940s - and still enjoy today: "Fire's Burning", "Kookabura", "Ging Gang Goolie", "My Paddle", "Land of the Silver Birch", and "Make New Friends".
We ended the meeting with reminders for next week and Taps.
