[T]welve intrepid Guides and their leaders from Broughton in Furness and Grange over Sands Guides braved the freezing temperatures to sleep under canvas at Girlguiding’s extreme winter camp.
They joined hundreds of other girls at Sparkle and Ice, a weekend event held at Girlguiding’s activity centre Waddow Hall near Clitheroe in early February.
After pitching their tents, the group had great fun with activities which ranged from roller skating to crate stacking. And at night, they had the choice of ditching their welly boots for dancing shoes to enjoy the onsite disco or having a hot chocolate whilst stargazing before layering up to endure plunging temperatures to take on the challenge of winter camping.
It rained all day Saturday so there was lots of mud and then the very wet tents froze overnight. The girls had real trouble taking the tents down as the poles were frozen to the tent. Grange over Sands Guide leader Kristina Jackson was very pleased with her charges: “The girls had a fantastic time and the rain, mud and ice didn’t dampen their spirits. In fact, they made it into even more of an adventure”.
12-year-old Caoimhe France from Broughton Guides thought the weekend was “great fun, despite the fact that my feet froze” and 10-year-old Lily Tracey agreed: “It was really fun in the tents but it was really cold too and you got quite muddy.”
This is the second time Sparkle and Ice has been held following last year’s successful launch. A thousand girls and young women joined three camps which happened simultaneously across Girlguiding’s activity centres in Lancashire, Hampshire and Sussex. The event was supported by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Sparkle and Ice is the first of three weekend events to be held at Girlguiding’s activity centres during 2018 for girls and young women from across the country, with Magic and Mayhem and Wellies and Wristbands coming up in the summer.
