Heywood St Luke's Rainbows win Diane Kay Shield

Rainbows, Brownies and Guides all came together for the Diane Kay Shield Event

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Rainbows, Brownies and Guides all came together for the Diane Kay Shield Event with 2nd Heywood St Luke's Rainbows coming out overall winners and will now have their group name engraved on the shield.

Each unit had to create a sculpture of what Guiding means to them and once completed the sculptures were carefully judged by Diane Kay, Barbara Hughes (from the Trefoil Guild) and Lynne Scales (County Commissioner for Lancashire South East).

The judges picked a winner from each section and then an overall winner from the three was chosen.

The winning sections were:

Rainbow Section – 2nd Heywood St Luke’s Rainbows
Brownie Section – 9th Heywood St Margaret’s Brownies
Guide Section - 14th Heywood Woodland Guides

Nicola Davies, Leader of 2nd Heywood Rainbows added: “It was amazing and a pleasure to win. All the girls worked really hard. We decided on a heart because we all love rainbows, we choose to do hand prints because we use them in all the activities we do and love, and the colours are of a rainbow. We wanted our portraits and quotes on so everyone knew who we were and that we loved coming to rainbows".

Alyson Quinn, Leader of 9th Heywood Brownies said: "All the Brownies enjoyed making their entry especially the salt dough. We had lots of ideas of what guiding means to us".

Also on the night Charlotte Quinn, the newly appointed Junior Representative for Heywood received her Young Leadership Qualification. Unit Leader Beth Tennent said "Charlottes work is outstanding and the attention to detail within the qualification pack extraordinary. Charlotte has completed all this whilst studying for her GCSEs, all of which I am sure she will excel in. Charlotte is a shining example of a Young Leader. We would be lost in our unit without her input".

Charlotte said: “I am very pleased with achieving my Young Leadership Qualification after all the hard work. Also as the newly appointed Junior Representative I am looking forward to voicing opinions of the young people within the Guiding community".

Diane Kay became a Guide as an 11-year-old, at St Luke’s Guides, and loved it so much that she later became a Guide Leader, a role while she continued for 30 years.

During this time Diane was also a Rainbow and Senior Section Leader, took on the roles of District and Division Commissioner for Heywood, and also held the position of International Advisor for the County. However, Diane had to leave Guiding after all these years due to ill health.

Diane said: “My highlights have been seeing girls grow in confidence throughout their time in Guiding. Also the two trips to Canada, and the numerous camps. Oh I could go on forever. There are so many happy memories”

The Diane Kay Shield was given to the Division by Diane on her departure from the organisation. “It was my thank you to the Division for giving me so much” said Diane, “It’s keeping my link with Heywood Guiding strong. I miss it terribly”.

Diane added: "It was wonderful to see everyone and was a very enjoyable evening. The standard of the entries was very high and made judging a difficult task. Well done to all the girls for their hard work and thank you Heywood Division for a very warm welcome".

Girl-guiding gives girls and young women their own space to have fun, be themselves, build brilliant friendships and gain skills.