Guiding is a Golden experience for County Commissioner

"Most years, there is just one major event in the county but this year has been an incredible year to be county commissioner - there have been six!” said Staffordshire Guiding’s Pauline McKie.

As county commissioner during the centenary year, Pauline has thrown herself into the organisation of all six of these occasions.

From the launch party at Shugborough in September 2009, the Brownies Take to the Tracks event at the Churnet Valley Railway, Rainbows Go Wild at Rodbaston, Unity International Camp and the county’s award-winning centenary garden, A Stick in Time, Pauline has been there.

“I think if I were ever to give up Guiding I could actually be a tour guide at Shugborough, the Churnet Valley Railway or Rodbaston!” she laughed.

Pauline first joined the movement as a Brownie and moved on to Guides.

“I left when I was 14, as a lot of girls do,” she said. “But then when I was 17, my father died and my old Guider decided I needed something constructive to do.

“Before I knew it, she had found me an assistant and I was running the Guide unit.”

Pauline was a Guide Guider for over 30 years and is now a Ranger Leader.

“In the early days I was persuaded to take on the role of trainer,” she said. “I ended up on various European training groups for WAGGGS before taking on international roles for Girlguiding UK.”

During her national role as community development adviser, Pauline had an idea that would lead to a scheme she is particularly proud of today.

“I went to Sri Lanka and the experience really affected me. I came back appalled by our materialistic society and thought that if I could give girls the experience of doing some kind of community work overseas, it would be beneficial to the girls and to guiding.”

The germ of an idea was growing and the night before a big conference, ‘Guiding Overseas Linked with Development’ was born.

“I sat up most of the night with two other leaeders, formulating the plan for GOLD and trying to find a name for it,” she said. “We tried all sorts of acronyms before we settled on GOLD.

“Then I got up the next morning, was the first to make a presentation and spoke about GOLD as if we’d been planning it for months.”

Since 1991, the scheme, which gives young women aged between 17 and 30 the opportunity to take part in community development projects overseas, has visited over 25 countries including Bangladesh, Chile, the Ukraine, Fiji, Mongolia, Tanzania and Madagascar.

More than 400 members have since taken part.

“I am really proud of GOLD,” said Pauline.

During her years holding national and international posts for Girlguiding, Pauline admits her grass roots Guiding did have to take a back seat.

“But I managed to keep involved as Division Commissioner thanks to the support of the local leaders.

“They supported me so well. Whenever I was feeling down or tired or fed up, they would dust me down then pick me up again so I could keep going,” she said.

“I could not have held the positions I had without them. Guiding offers wonderful opportunities and I have been lucky to have such good friends at District and Division level to help me experience them.”