Going on adventures with the new Queen’s Guide award

We’re celebrating 1 year of the refreshed Queen’s Guide award, now offering more choice and support for everyone involved.

The Queen's Guide award is the highest award you can work towards in Girlguiding. To achieve it, 16-30 year old members complete 5 challenges – personal development, guiding, community action, lead the way and social experience.

As we celebrate its first year, we caught up with Guide leader and county archive resource centre volunteer Alice Talbot, who started her award in April 2023 when the new programme launched.

‘I’ve been so lucky to have a Queen’s Guide award journey where I’ve learned so much about myself, the wider world of guiding, and also made so many new friends from all over the world,’ Alice says. ‘I’ve loved getting involved in different projects and helping to contribute to the guiding world close to home and further afield!

Having opportunities to go on adventures with Guides from around the country like Go for GOLD and Norwich Pride, and around the world, like volunteering at Our Chalet and exploring Switzerland has been incredible.’

Take a look at Alice in Switzerland below!

Alice’s highlight was getting to travel around the world. ‘I love travel so it’s been particularly amazing to make so many friends and learn so many new things from my adventures in the wider guiding world. I’ve also loved seeing the differences we can all make in our communities by learning from each other and working together with all of our different perspectives and experiences.’

Due to an accident Alice changed one of her planned projects, but the challenge brought a happy ending. ‘I broke my wrist and needed surgery just before beginning my Queen’s Guide award. I’d originally planned to do embroidery and needlework as my personal development challenge, but had to drop this plan and ended up learning Spanish. I’m so happy though, because at Our Chalet I made so many Spanish speaking friends, so it made me really motivated to learn!’

Alice is now looking forward to taking what she’s learnt into the future. ‘The Queen’s Guide award has given me opportunities to gain a lot of new perspectives on things. My community project where I explored fast fashion and fashion for identity gave me a lot to think about as well.

I’m going to treasure these memories forever, and can’t wait for all the future adventures with my guiding friends.’

Here's Alice sharing the Our Chalet member run Instagram page, which is a great way to stay in touch with friends worldwide.

We're so grateful to Alice for sharing her story with us! If you want to go on your own award adventure, find out how you can get started on your Queen's Guide award.