1st Auckland Cavell Guide Unit Set to Celebrate Centenary

Caryn Wilkinson Reporter from Community News

One of the first girl guide units to be formed in Auckland is gearing up for its centenary.

The 1st Auckland Cavell Girl Guide Unit turns 100 in July and is seeking old girls to join the celebrations.

A social afternoon is planned for July 3, kicking off at 2pm with past guiding activities such as knot tying and marking arm slings.

Guests will be treated to afternoon tea and a birthday cake before photographs are taken of the girls.

The day will end with a singalong around the campfire.

The next day, a church parade will march through St Andrews Church, Epsom, where the unit has been meeting since 1921.

Parishioners are invited to a morning tea after the procession.

The unit, initially known as the St Andrew's Peace Scout Group, is believed to be the first guide company which has kept going since it was launched.

It all started when eighteen-year-old Mona Burgin wrote to the Dominion chief scout Colonel Cosgrove, a New Zealand Boer War veteran, asking about Girl Peace Scouts.

He arranged to meet her in Queen St, Auckland and wrote she would recognize him by the red flower in his buttonhole.

Soon after the meeting Burgin formed the troop on July 6.

Girl Peace Scouts wore khaki uniforms and the St Andrews troop wore a red open-ended tie.

In 1923, the Dominion Council became affiliated with the original Girls Guides Association in London.

*Former unit members can email cavellgirlguidesnz@gmail.com for details of the centenary.