The History of the Senior Section
In 1916 many of the original Girl Guides were beginning to outgrow their programme and wanted something else to move on to. As a result Senior Guides were started. At the time World War I was being fought, women did not yet have the vote, and the world was very different from what we know today.
Sea Guides began in 1920 for Senior Guides who were interested in seafaring activities. In the same year Senior Guides were renamed Rangers - the name was chosen to reflect the broadness of its meaning and still remains today.
In 1922 Ranger Guides from all over England and Wales attended the first conference held for them in Hindhead.
From 1926 Rangers were allowed to camp with a Guider if they had taken the Camp Craft Badge.
The first international Ranger Conference was held in 1936 at Our Chalet, Switzerland.
By 1937 there were 31,801 Rangers in the UK. This was also the year when the first Sea Ranger training, took place on HMS Implacable and Foudroyont. Over 6,000 members would go on to receive training, many of whom went on to further their skills by joining the Women's Royal Naval Service.
In 1942 HRH Princess Elizabeth joined the Sea Rangers, showing how highly regarded the organisation was. Rangers continued to help with the war effort by, among, other things, running messenger services and fire watching.
In 1945 Air Rangers started, and in 1949 Land Rangers were officially recognised.
During 1967 a new uniform was introduced to coincide with the renaming of the Senior Branch to The Ranger Guide Service Section. The uniform consisted of an aquamarine blouse, navy blue skirt and cap, piped in aquamarine.
The Queen's Guide award became part of the Ranger programme in 1983. Before this it had been incorporated into the Guide programme.
At Kensington Palace in 1986 the first royal presentation of the Queen's Guide Brooch was made by HRH Princess Margaret to 50 Rangers and Young Leaders.
1991 saw the first GOLD trip set off. This gave Senior Section members the opportunity to use their skills and enthusiasm on the global field.
In 1994 a more open Senior Section was created with the introduction of the Look Wider programme. This gave members a framework to plot their own personal development plan rather than having everyone complete the same parts of the syllabus.
Following consultation with the membership in 1998 jeans became part of the official uniform. This reflected the increasingly member-led nature of the section.
The first Innovate ran in 2000 at Waddow. This was an opportunity to allow Senior Section members to have their say on Girlguiding UK-wide matters.
Also in 2000, Look Wider was relaunched, having been revamped to stay modern and relevant to the needs of young women in guiding.