Celebrating 100 years in New Zealand
4 March 2008
The Guide Jamboree in Christchurch, New Zealand kicked off a year of centenary celebrations for Girl Guiding New Zealand.
The city’s Canterbury Agricultural Park came alive for ten days of fun at the J’08 Guide Jamboree from 11 to 20 January. Over 3,000 people turned out for the four-yearly event which was opened with a performance by Sarah Gamman, a 12-year-old Guide from Auckland who composed a song, ‘Together’, to mark 100 years of Guiding in New Zealand.
Guides from Wales, Northern Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and Fiji joined New Zealand Guides in activities such as rock climbing on the Banks Peninsula, jet boating in Hanmer Springs, kayaking at The Groynes and visiting tourist attractions in the city.
History
Girl Guiding New Zealand is celebrating its centenary in 2008, as a colleague of Robert Baden Powell, Colonel Cossgrove, brought back to New Zealand the concept of Scouting in 1907, starting up programmes for boys. His daughter Muriel badgered him to let her join in with the boys. In 1908, Colonel Cossgrove and his wife decided that, as there was such strong interest in the programmes by girls, they would run the activities and programmes separately. The original girls called themselves Fairy Scouts.