On a recent Saturday morning at the West End Community Centre, about a dozen girls danced and sang karaoke while their peers coloured quietly or chatted.
Sleeping bags, pillows and overnight bags lined the walls, and posters handmade by the girls added a personal touch to the room.
The Girlguiding Brownies function was only just beginning. The girls would be there until 4 p.m. the next day, said Virgin Islands Girlguiding Commissioner Lariissa Mapp.
Such VI Girlguiding activities were nearly discontinued last year after the United Kingdom-based Girlguiding headquarters announced in April that its overseas operations would end last September because of risk-management concerns.
“In the end, I wish they could have been a little more transparent with us about the reasoning,” said Chrystall Kanyuck-Abel, a volunteer for Girlguiding in the VI. “But we kind of understood that they just felt like it’s too much to manage in terms of an oversight perspective. Like, the words we kept hearing were ‘risk assessment.’ … It was hard for all of us to hear.’”
‘Came as a shock’
Ms. Kanyuck-Abel found the announcement to be “sudden.”
Ms. Mapp agreed.
“It came as a shock,” she said.
But Ms. Mapp and other commissioners for British overseas territories decided to push back.
“That’s the thing: We had to fight for this,” Ms. Mapp said. “We’ve been fighting.”
After months of meetings with representatives from UK headquarters and other stakeholders, the British OT commissioners were able to win that fight. As a result, Girlguiding in the OTs — including the VI, Anguilla, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, St. Helena and Ascension Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands — will continue to operate within Girlguiding UK.
Soon, they will be integrated into the programme’s North West England region.
‘A lot of letters’
The work to get to this decision was challenging, Ms. Mapp said.
“It took a lot of letters from governors, a lot of letters from other places,” she said, adding that some OT members even started a petition.
For Ms. Mapp, that work was worth it.
“Guiding has played a huge part of my upbringing, and a huge part of the experiences that I’ve had so far,” Ms. Mapp said, adding, “I feel like I would have failed the girls if I didn’t even try.”
During the period of uncertainty, Girlguiding activities in the VI continued as normal, said Michele Edmondson, a unit leader who has been a Girlguiding volunteer for nearly 20 years.
“It really never filtered down to the girls, per se,” she explained.
Moving forward
Since the North West England region has agreed to take on the management of overseas operations in territories like the VI, weekly meetings between its representatives and OT commissioners have already begun, according to Ms. Mapp.
The transition in management will be complete Sept. 1, according to a Girlguiding press release.
“Over the past year, we have been working with senior volunteers in the nine overseas territories on a way forward for Girlguiding activities to continue,” the press release stated. “As a result, we have agreed that Girlguiding North West England’s board of trustees and management structure will provide support to, and oversight and assurance of, guiding organisations in British overseas territories, as with their other areas of responsibility. A dedicated resource within the Girlguiding North West England region, funded by the British overseas territories, has also been agreed.”
Bernadette Alexander, a unit leader for Girlguiding Brownies in the VI, said she hopes the agreement will stick.
“I just pray that they keep their word and they just move along, and we don’t have that type of drama and disturbance again,” she said. “Because [the] UK has been pretty good to us, I must say. It’s just unfortunate what happened.”
Other overseas units
While Girlguiding in the OTs found success and can continue operations, other overseas Girlguiding groups were not so lucky. British Girlguiding units that were operating in a foreign country shut their doors in September 2023.
“Depending on how parents have felt and how leaders — exleaders — have felt, some, very few, … of those units are now operating under the British Scouts Overseas, and some of us have gone over to American Girl Scouts,” said Diane Thomas, the former chief commissioner for British Girlguiding Overseas, who is based in France.