How we celebrated Volunteers' Week 2024

We heard from members across all levels of Girlguiding, took over social media with a thank-a-thon and made the news!

On 3-9 June, we celebrated Volunteers’ Week which is a national campaign to recognise and celebrate people who volunteer in the UK. 

We have over 77,000 volunteers that deliver guiding to girls across the UK. We value and appreciate what they do all year round - Volunteers' Week was a chance to shout about it to others!

Thank you to all our Girlguiding volunteers

Thank you to every volunteer who works hard to keep their local units running and give girls amazing experiences.  

Without them, Girlguiding couldn’t do things like: 

• Deliver our programme to an average of over 300,000 girls each year. 
• Offer girls exciting adventures, residentials trips or days out. 
• Shape the future of Girlguiding with our lead volunteers, insight pools and youth steering groups like Amplify. 
• Recruit more girls and volunteers every year with your local campaigns. 
• Give girls, and other volunteers, a sense of fun, belonging and community. 
• Keep guiding going for over 100 years. 

Together, our volunteers help to do every single one of those things. And we know they're having an impact.  

We heard from members about the impact of volunteers

To show the impact volunteers can have on women's lives, we heard from Brogan Lever, Amelia Collins-Patel, Katherine Desborough, Anna McFadyen, Naomi Tucker, Deb Latter and Ellen Buttrick as they reflected on their experiences in Girlguiding. They used to be young members themselves and remember the volunteers who made them feel special.

Now they’re a part of Girlguiding in a new way, either as leaders or ambassadors, and giving back to others. But they’ve never forgotten the impact their own leaders had on them as young girls. 

We announced our new ambassador Ellen Buttrick

During Volunteers' Week, we announced Ellen Buttrick MBE as an official ambassador for Girlguiding. Ellen, who used to be a Brownie and Guide, is now a gold paralympic champion rower and thanks the volunteers from when she was a young member for being such positive forces in her life.

 'My Brown Owl at 5th Roundhay Brownies in Leeds was a fantastic individual and pushed me to believe that I really could achieve anything that I set my mind to. The self-belief and determination that was fostered during my time in Girlguiding has been a driving force in my success as an athlete to date, and I’m thrilled to be recognised as an ambassador as I want to inspire and empower girls in the same way.'

Ellen and the 3^rd Henley on Thames Brownies also joined in the Big Help Out by supporting the local community with litter picking and gardening and attending the River and Rowing Museum.

Girlguiding volunteers made the news!

We love to see our Girlguiding volunteers make the news for all the amazing work they do. 

BBC news featured Dr Jodie Sabin, a Girlguiding volunteers who juggles a career at a hospital, parenting and gives her time flexibly to support girls in guiding.

Read Jodie's story on BBC news.

Girlguiding also got several mentions in the news for being a part of the Big Help Out. You can see us in the Mail Online and the Independent.

Our social media thank-a-thon

To recognise and celebrate as many people as we could during Volunteers' Week, we encouraged people to take part in our thank-a-thon on social media using the #GGThankaThon.

People across all levels of Girlguiding spread thank you messages to our volunteers including girls, parents, carers, influencers, ambassadors, Girlguiding staff and other volunteers. 

This week is Volunteers’ Week, I would like to say a huge Thank you to all the amazing volunteers on the Isle of Man. Volunteers that have made a difference to me - well there are too many to mention but I will start with the Leaders in our Unit! @Girlguiding #GGThankAThon pic.twitter.com/5RQ1mtJeFV

— Su Simpson (@SimpsonSu) June 3, 2024

Thank you @GirlguidingMids volunteers for everything you do, you are amazing! 👏#VolunteersWeek #GGThankaThon @girlguiding pic.twitter.com/qfxlWos7If

— Clare Shinton (@MidlandsChief) June 4, 2024

Thank you. Whether you’ve volunteered with us for 10 days or 10 years, we appreciate everything you do to give girls’ amazing experiences time and time again.   

Want to keep spreading the love?

Thanking volunteers should happen all year round. Not just during Volunteers' Week! There are small things you can do to show volunteers they're appreciated:

• Write thank you cards. Or post a message in your local chat group. 
• Buy a thank you badge. 
• Get girls involved by asking them to come up with fun ways to say thank you.
• Ask if you can lend a hand to support an upcoming activity or event.
• Explore our flexible volunteering options.  

Got something special planned? Let us know by emailing [email protected].