Awesome just doesn't describe it

I've done quite a lot of things across the Jubilee but being at the front of a procession of 250,000 people probably was the best bit.

I'm not being facetious when I say probably either because behind this most incredible moment is another Guiding story of amazing parental trust and privilege.

On Tuesday we took a number of Brownies, Guides, Young Leaders and Young Adult Leaders to London.  We were so lucky to get special tickets to the private youth enclosure and spent a glorious day in London and I plan to do a couple of posts covering it as one would be just too long.

These pictures are lifted from the BBC as I don't have personal photos of the moment.















That big banner is ours.

I didn't take my own photos as my priority at the time was ensuring I went home with as many children as I left out with and given the crowd we were in, that meant hanging onto them for dear life.  We had a good briefing from the Police before we started the procession about exactly how they would control it and about what the crowd would do once the masses were allowed to join the youth groups.  I also had a conversation by phone with a very experienced Scout leader (he and others had travelled down with us to help out but hadn't tickets to go in the enclosure) who explained how to line up the girls into a block, surrounded by leaders so the crowds would at least run around us and not break up our group. And it worked out fine.

We were at the front, and stayed close to the front all the way down the Mall. As we walked up to the Victoria Memorial, all the people in the stands (from the previous nights concert) cheered and waved. I was so proud to be there, all of us in uniform, Guides and Scouts together.

A couple of the brownies with us had only just turned 7 and it was their first time in London.  But it's not just trust from the parents of the littlies, it's the parents of all of the children we took. 

What a massive privilege to be allowed to take them, to be trusted to keep them safe.  Of course we are trained to do it, we do risk assessments galore, we briefed, de-briefed, we labelled them, counted, double counted, then counted again.  We even had extra experienced adults with us to help with the journey on the tubes as we expected mayhem.

We gave those children an experience that they will never forget, something they will remember for ever which is great, it's what we aim to do, we call them 'Mountain Top Moments'

BUT those children allowed me to have an experience I will never forget, something I will remember for ever and that is the privilege of being a Guider.

Awesome.