An explosion of Pink

Fireworks. Blasts. Eruptions. Yes, we had another explosion in Dartmouth Shore Area. An explosion of the PINK kind!

On Saturday, 130 Sparks with their leaders, from Downtown Dartmouth all the way to Musquodoboit Harbour, came together for a morning of songs, crafts, snacks and most of all fun with Guiding friends new and old!

This years theme was a popular one in Guiding: Camp!

GAMES!

SONGS! With Lynne and Watermelon

PHOTOSTOP!

CAMPFIRE CAMP HAT CRAFTS!

GIRL GUIDE CAMP HAT CRAFT!

EDIBLE CAMPFIRE SNACK

Once again, thank you to all our volunteers, leaders and of course our Sparks! A special thanks to the Special Events team who made sure that our crafts and edible campfire were organized for each Spark before the event. Us, Guides, always prepared!

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Guides Night Out

What do you do when you have an area with over 200 Guides? Well in Dartmouth, we hold a special night just for them!

Guides Night Out took place on Friday night, with 208 of our area girls in attendance! The format? There isn’t one! From the time they walk in to the time they leave, there is very little structure. After opening announcements the Guides are free to go to whichever activity running that interests them.

This year the activities were:

Hand knitting

“We’re making this craft to hang in our room!
Selena and Julia from the 2nd Woodlawn Guides, like many Guides, could be found carrying their craft all night, to stop and work on it every now and again.

Picture frame crafting

“I like it here because I get to play with my friends!”– Imogen, 1st Lawrencetown Guides

T-Shirt type dyeing with sharpies

Twister

Games!

Making our National Service Project Pledge (over 200 pledges were made this night!)

“My pledge is I will try to reuse as much as possible, pick up garbage and throw it away. If I see someone littering I will tell them not to. I will protect nature from being trashed and I will teach others not to as well.– Tiffany, 1st Lawrencetown Guides

Photobooth

Guides wrote messages on the boards about why they are a Girl Guide or why Girls should be in the lead.

After all the activities were done and a snack was eater, girls had the whole pool to themselves! After they undid their bedrolls and watched a movie. A fewhours later, they woke up with a dance party, breakfast and then headed home.

Thanks to all the Guides, leaders and the Dartmouth Shore Special Events team for a great Guides Night Out!

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Rangers take to the trees

(Thank you DSA Special Events team member and Edgemore Pathfinder leader Jenn for this blog post!

We’re so adventurous, we should be on a cookie box!

Whenever I find myself doing something outside of the usual meeting with our Rangers – like horseback riding, high ropes courses, or a trip to the art gallery – I can’t help but think that we’d make a great picture for a cookie box or the cover of Coastlines!

On Saturday, September 14th, a crew of girls and Guiders from DSA were certainly worthy of a cookie box picture. They took on the challenge of On Tree, near Martock, Windsor, Nova Scotia. This amazing facility has a variety of courses complete with high ropes, ziplines, and balance challenges. You can check out some pics and get more info here. Though it would be doable for any age, many of the courses are limited to those 13 years of age and up. Children 12 and under must be accompanied at all times by one on one adult supervision, but older ones can go free range!

Though there were jelly legs, a few bruises, and the occasional shriek, everyone who participated came away with a sense of achievement. Some of these courses are no small feat, especially the spider web and the high wire bicycle! The owners of On Tree plan to add more courses for next season, including another easy course with the longest zipline to date! We can hardly wait!
Those who participated at On Tree will receive the new, yet to be finalized, DSA Adventure Seeker crest. Sorry to have missed out and want a crest? We’re heading back to On Tree again next fall! Crests will also be on offer to participants at our annual ski day at Ski Martock in early February, once the weather turns wintery, stay tuned for details.

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August end, means Guiding begins!

It’s a Tuesday evening, late in August and the Dartmouth Shore Area Special Events has gathered: it’s time to plan all the events that will be held throughout the Guiding year.

Back for the year will be On Tree and Ski Day for the Pathfinders and Rangers, a great half day for our Sparks and of course, back by popular demand, Brownies Got Talent.

It’s not all events as a Thinking Day challenge will be issued again!

But don’t worry, also returning is Area Dinner for our hard working leaders and Girls Night Outfor our Guides (yes, Lock-In has a new name, but same great event!)

And……it’s time to announce…we aredoing an Area Wide Event!

Yes, lace up your shoes, in May the whole Area will be “paloozaing” again. But instead of a picnic, we will be hiking!

We know we aren’t the only Dartmouth Shore Area Guiders starting our plans, so mark your calendars:

Pathfinders & Rangers: On Tree, Saturday, September 14
Guides: Girls Night In, Friday, November 22
Sparks: Pink Explosion, Saturday, January 25
Pathfinders & Rangers: Ski Day, Saturday, February 9
Brownies: Brownies Got Talent, Tuesday, March 25
Leaders: Area Dinner, Sunday, April 27
EVERYONE: Hike-a-Palooza May 2014

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Explosion in Dartmouth …of the Pink Variety

What do you get when you combine the following:

125 Sparks + games + songs divided by fun? You get a PINK EXPLOSION!

Dartmouth Shore Area continued to bring all levels of Guiding together for fun events, this time focusing on the Sparks. Gathering early on a Saturday morning, the youngest members of our Guiding family were excited for their day. After opening ceremonies, units were paired up for a morning of round robin activities.

 

Games were played!

Guiders get into the fun showing the Pink Explosion crest!

Making Picture Frames

Time to take a picture for the picture frames!

Oh! What a time we had at the Lock-In!

The beginning of November means just one thing in Dartmouth Shore Area: it’s time to “Lock-in” all our Guides for a night! On Friday, November 2 over 180 Guides participated in the Lock-in at Cole Harbour Place. Coming from all corners of our Area, the girls were excited to hang out with their units, meet new Guides and run around participating in various crafts and activities.

Guides ready to start the night

Our Ranger group from Edgemere came out to help – screen printing shirts for all the Guides! The girls were able to watch as the shirts were printed, learning about screen printing. Lots were even wearing their shirts later in the night! 

One of our craft stations was a simple craft and also inexpensive: Washers painted with nail polish.

Guides sang the latest hits at karaoke and battled each other at “Family Feud.” They paused for a moment for a snack of cheese and crackers before hitting their favorite stations again.

The second craft stop of the night was another jewellery making station. Recycling old t-shirts, the Guides (and some Guiders!) made DIY Braided T-shirts bracelets.

Over the course of the night the Guides completed a scavenger hunt and also contributed to a Graffiti wall. At the top of the sheet they were asked the question: “What I love about being a Girl Guide is…”

A wall of answers

Stations and snacks weren’t all that the Guides did. With the lock-in location closed to the public, a pool party, movie and sleepover rounded out the night.
The morning brought tired, but happy faces and homemade muffins from Guider Cindy.  Another year done, but only 365 more days until Lock-in 2013!

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Costa Rica Adventure 2012

Costa Rica Adventure 2012 – Congratulations to Amanda Clack of Shubie District for being selected for the Nationally-sponsored trip to Costa Rica. Amanda says:

I want to take this opportunity to thank you and the Area council for your financial support for my participation in Costa Rica Adventure 2012, as well as for the generous donation of crests. I had a wonderful time and it was the opportunity of a lifetime. I really enjoyed the service projects we did because they were challenging but fun, and the feeling of accomplishment when we were done was amazing. I really loved the Santa Elena community and its people. Everyone was so nice and welcoming to us, and I think more groups should have the opportunity to go there.

I have put together a Powerpoint presentation about my trip, and I would like to offer to deliver it to any Area units that would be interested. Hopefully this will help to get more girls interested in Nationally sponsored trips, so they might get to have an amazing  experience just like mine. I am attaching a few pictures from my trip, one of me in the cloud forest, one of me with a waterfall, and one with my group.

Thanks again, Amanda Clack.

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