Scottish Guide History
history of Girl Guides continued....
The staff, which often includes Guiders from overseas, are on duty all the year round, because some of the children cannot be cared for in their own homes, so holidays and camps are part of the programme.
The family atmosphere is well illustrated by this anecdote: Miss Bruce was showing a visitor round the house; on entering a Cubs' room she remarked "Please don't thinks that the enamel bowl on the windowsill is out of place. I asked about it myself this morning and was told that Miss Willey likes to have tadpoles in the bedroom!". The school moved several times but in 1950 it acquired its own home, "Kirklands", six miles from Edinburgh, which was specially adapted for wheel chairs.
Square Centres
In 1940 the Government made an appeal for the extension of youth services to meet the needs of boys and girls between the ages of 14 - 18 who had left school were awaiting "call-up" but were unattached to any organisation to any organisation. Scottish Guide Headquarters answered this appeal in a practical way by opening the first "Square Centre" in Edinburgh.
Boys and girls poured in, finding here a much more agreeable way of spending the evening than hanging around the squares with nothing much to do to. In a very short time there was a membership of six hundred and it was not long before other centres opened, mainly in Scotland. These youth centres were run on Guide lines and the adult leaders were Guiders who were also required to take a Youth Club Leadership course.
The organising genius was Miss Greta Collyns, a diploma'd trainer, who believed implicity in self-government; the leader must never appear super-efficient, the centre must be managed by the elected committee of members. No activity was started unless the members asked for it and then they were responsible for running it. Miss Collyns would freely admit that she learnt much through trial and error, but eventually she arrived at the position she aimed for: "They think I am quite nice, but not very clever, so they have to look after me and run everything themselves".