Community & Business
15 March, 2023
Guides future uncertain
Many people don’t know they still exist, but the Oakey Guides are out in town again post-COVID and looking for new members.
The Oakey Girl Guides have three current members, and a long history in town but are under threat due to soaring insurance costs and a lack of awareness.
Due to the pandemic restrictions, the group has found itself unable to use it’s traditional methods of fundraising.
Group leader Bianca Bidgood said the easing of pandemic restrictions had come too late to stop the bills from piling up.
“Since Covid hit, we haven’t been able to do the fundraising,” she said.
“We’ve picked up again this year and have three girls attending currently.”
She said the group, which meets on Saturdays, has tried different methods of spreading the word about the values of the Guides, but had struggled to break through into the mainstream.
“We’ve been handing out pamphlets at schools, we’ve been in two school newsletters, and we’ve sent in a couple of letters to the Champion,” Ms Bidgood said.
Despite holding a fuel raffle, if the Group is unable to pay its debts, it may be forced to find another home away from the School of Arts Building, where it have resided since 1962.
The Guides movement has been a central part of the community for multiple decades and has empowered hundreds of girls to serve their communities.
Long time Oakey Guides volunteer Daphne Webster OAM says the focus at the moment for the group is spreading community awareness about the value that the Girl Guides can bring to young women.
She says she’s been personally involved in the Guides movement in Oakey for over four decades.
“I started Guides as an 8-year old back in 1951 and did three years of ‘Brownies’ in Maryborough,” she said.
“When I was Deputy Principal of the High School in 1982, they were looking for a leader and someone said to me,
‘Daph, you’d be a good leader’.
Ms Webster said that Girl Guides promote self-confidence and self-esteem in an environment which isn’t sports-centred.
“You see a lot of girls going to sports these days,” she said.
“I think Guides is perfect for those who aren’t sports-minded as well.”
The modern Girl Promise was developed in 2012:
I promise that I will do my best,
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs,
To serve my community and Australia,
And live by the Guide Law.
To learn more about Girl Guides in Oakey, contact Bianca Bidgood at oakeygirlguides@gmail.com
