An outdoor cooking extravaganza was recently held at ‘Heyswood’, the County Campsite for Greater London West Girlguiding. Many girls in patrols of four or five had a great day cooking a three-course meal for themselves on an open wood fire. The girls chose their own menu on a budget of £3 per head and came up with imaginative ideas that met the challenge of using healthy fruit and vegetables. Marks were given for safety, food hygiene, creative menus, teamwork, presentation and taste of the food! The winning patrol, aptly named ‘Delicious’ had a starter of prawn cocktail served on beef tomatoes, a vegetable and noodle stir fry followed by chocolate muffins. The muffins were cooked in a ‘homemade’ oven in the embers of the wood fire. The patrol came from 7th Cheam Village Guide unit. The girls had great fun and were heard to say, ‘this is a brilliant day’. They are now very keen to do more cooking outdoors in the future!

Girlguiding UK is the UK’s largest voluntary organisation for girls and young women, with around 530,000 members and recognised volunteers. Over a third of girls and young women (aged 7-21) in the UK are involved in guiding, or have been in the past and almost half of all the women in the UK have been involved in guiding at some stage in their lives.

We run Rainbows (5-7 years), Brownies (7-10 years), Guides (10-14 years) and Senior Section (14-25 years), enabling girls and young women to develop their potential whatever their ability or background.

Girlguiding UK, part of a worldwide Movement of approximately 10 million girls and young women in 145 countries, celebrated its Centenary in 2010. Registered Charity No 306016 www.girlguiding.org.uk Based on information supplied by Steve Wicks.