By Tyler Wright
Margaret Brooks from Monbulk started with the girl guides in 1962 at nine years old as a brownie, alongside her sister as a guide and her mum as the president of fundraising.
60 years later, Margaret will be recognised for her 50 years of volunteer service in a ceremony at the hall on Saturday 12 November.
“I had a couple of years off and did VCE at school, and then my guide leader…asked me to go on a guide camp, which was always my favourite part,” Margaret said.
“I said yes. And that was in January, I got my VCE results while I was on that camp, (not until I got home because we didn’t even have mobile phones).
“I never left. I loved it after that. ”
Over the 50 years that Margaret has given her time and energy to helping young girls and women learning and implementing important life skills, she has taken on the role of guide leader, outer eastern region manager and Yarra Ranges district manager among others.
While she has appreciated roles with Guides Victoria in areas including learning and development; it’s clear serving the Monbulk community is where her real passion lies.
“I don’t know what separates my life from guide life,” Margaret said.
“The bulk of my life I’ve been a guide leader…it must be because I identify with those ideals, and it’s about community…[which] is why I’m drawn back to celebrating this more with Monbulk.”
Even more special is the fact one of the women who brought Girl Guides back to Monbulk after World War II.
Margaret is also currently the manager for the Sherbrooke District; the original name of the area back in the 60s.
“It’s coming around in full circle,” she said.
And what girl guiding comes back to, Margaret said, is the old brownie motto of ‘lending a hand’.
“I think that speaks volumes of sort of what guides is about, that we are out there doing what we can, not just the people in the community, but also for the environment,” she said.
“That’s continued as a tradition of raising funds [for the] Red Cross for years and years, we do Daffodil Day [for] 25 years now, we’ve picked daffodils at the same local farm.
“The girls just thrive on being out there… knowing that they’re doing something bigger than for themselves.”
The biggest take away for Margaret over her years as a volunteer guide leader has been allowing young women and girls to take charge in what they want to see happen in the world.
“If we allow the girls to lead some of the songs and do some of the skits at campfire, rather than the leader saying ‘you’re going to sing this, now we’re all going to sing this’ … they’ll be much more engaged in it, they’ll learn more, and I’ve always said they will come up with better ideas,” she said.
“The girls will come up with a theme about caring…it might be warm fuzzies, where you say something nice about someone to build that person up…if we let the girls take charge of that, they will come up with better ideas than any of us could come up with, they will enjoy it more and they’ll learn more, and they’ll become leaders of our world in the future because we’ve empowered them to say stand up for what you believe, stand up for what you want, and get in there and do it.”
At the ceremony on Saturday 12 November, Felicity Hayes will also be recognised for her 10 years as guide leader at Monbulk Girl Guides.
A reward for women who are empowering young girls and women to grow into confident and responsible community members.
