The award ceremony, hosted by Girls’ Brigade patron Margaret Casely-Hayford and Trustee Board Chair Emily Brailsford, was held in London. Margaret was delighted to celebrate the outstanding leadership of these girls and young women. She expressed her passion for the Girls’ Brigade and the important work we do as an inclusive and welcoming space for girls and young women, giving a moving speech about women’s leadership, its history, and how Girls’ Brigade is shaping and impacting the female leaders of the future. Emily Brailsford also spoke, praising our fantastic new badgework and partnerships, and the importance of a female-only space for young women to flourish.
There were nine award recipients, followed by an introduction to Girls’ Brigade’s new fantastic Youth President and Young Ambassadors. This was these young women’s first official engagement, and we look forward to seeing them represent and advocate for us at the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Affairs and at civic events.
Essi Gill from 1st Chapel. Essi joined the 1st Chapel group when she was 4 years old and she’s now 9. Essi loves The Girls' Brigade. Her energy and the way that she throws herself into all the activities is infectious and she helps other girls gain in confidence and try new things. Somehow the world seems a brighter place when Essie bounds into the room.
Word of mouth is the best way of encouraging other young people to join us, and Essie’s enthusiasm has resulted in lots of her friends joining too. She’s done “show and tells” at school and is a such a passionate advocate.
Martha Young from 1st Andover. Martha joined Girls’ Brigade when she was 4, and she’s now 10. Girls’ Brigade sows the seeds of faith through our work and Martha decided to commit her life to Jesus about a year ago. She wrote the most beautiful letter about her faith journey. Martha was unable to attend the event, so a video was played of her expressing her love for Girls' Brigade, and she will be presented with her certificate at school as she requested.
Holly Robinson is a Young Leader who’s just completed her Queen’s Award and is training to be a teacher. Holly played a leading role in creating and delivering new programme materials for 14–18-year-olds that address the issues that young women face in today’s world – things like “having a safe night out” or “making sustainable choices”. She was influential in making the case for a new badge on climate justice and gender justice.
This is an age group about which Holly is passionate. She was very conscious of the importance of making sure that the sessions went at the pace of those in the room. She researched the best way of helping young women to engage with the material safely and responsibly. As some of these sessions are delivered online, Hollie helped us ensure that we were following best practice in digital safeguarding.
Holly’s work with Girls’ Brigade is forward-leaning and innovative. People like Holly ensure that GB is relevant to girls and young women, now and into the future.
Faith Oyenekan and Delaena Debre were recognised for the work they've done on "breaking the mould" at the Esther Generation weekend as part of their Queens' Award. They inspired others through their thoughtful contributions and a brilliant rap they wrote. Through their words and deeds they help others understand that they don’t have to be constrained by other people’s expectations of them.
We also recognised some of our outstanding volunteers. We have many thousands of committed volunteers up and down the country, almost a 1000 of which have over 50 years’ service as a Girls’ Brigade volunteer. We know that there are many families that are 3rd or 4th generation GB leader – grandmothers, mothers, daughters and sometimes granddaughters.
Grace Claydon is a Leader at 1st Hawkwell. She attended the ceremony with her family, including her beautiful baby Agnes. The Girls’ Brigade is deeply committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. It’s an integral part of our faith – knowing that everyone is made in the image of God and has a unique combination of gifts and talents.
Grace advocates for equality, diversity and inclusion, and – crucially -has a quiet but powerful way of showing by example what it means to be truly welcoming and inclusive. This approach engenders trust. The girls and their parents love Grace and really value her approach. Grace also played a pivotal role in developing The Girls’ Brigade’s gender guidance and our EDI policy. She’s also generous with her time in giving advice and support to others.
Anthea Herrett and Jane Deeley are co-leaders from 1st Amesbury. 1st Amesbury has been running for over a hundred years and is rooted in tradition. Obviously the nature of volunteering has changed over the years and now people are under so much pressure to balance work, family and their volunteering commitments.
Rather than continuing with a leadership model that relied on a single team leader to do all the planning and behind the scenes work to ensure that the group is run safely and effectively, Anthea and Jane introduced a co-leadership model where everyone is crystal clear on their role, but the tasks are distributed across a leadership team which is drawn from the 14 leaders that volunteer for the group. Not only does this mean that the load doesn’t fall on only one person, it’s more fun, and gives others the chance to learn and to develop their leadership skills too. The kind of things that Anthea and Jane encourage others to do is connecting with the local community so that the group is at the heart of the community. 1st Amesbury now has over 70 girls attending every week.
Betty McComb is the group leader at 3rd Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Betty has just been presented with her 50 years’ service award, and has played local, national and international roles for Girls’ Brigade and is the current international treasurer.
Betty’s daughters Donna and Zoe are also GB leaders, and granddaughter Florence joined GB at 4 years of age. Betty has a strong sense of fun – and adventure – and does things like organising for the girls and young women to have a sleep over on the ferry and take it in turns to steer the ship. Betty ensures that 3rd Ryde are an active part of the local community and support local causes. Even though transport to and from the Isle of Wight can be tricky, Betty always goes above and beyond to ensure that the girls go on camps and residential trips.
A huge thank you is owed to Margaret Casely-Hayford CBE for hosting the event and her ongoing support of these young people and The Girls' Brigade. We would also like to thank Emily Brailsford for her support, and Church House Westminster for providing a venue for the event. We would also like to thank our committed staff and volunteers for all of your hard work, without it Girls' Brigade would be lost.
