Leslie's Guiding History

For it was the book that travelled. Sometimes taken abroad in person by enthusiasts whose lives were split between furloughs in the UK and a career abroad, sometimes by a person in another country obtaining a copy of the book, translating it into the local language and then sharing it.

An adaptation for girls soon followed, and it travelled worldwide too. By 1926 it had reached over 70 modern-day countries, and was still running in many of them.

I can think of few other books which could travel to so many countries, in under 20 years.

But that left the same problem then as now – how to help the young members in villages and towns around the world to grasp the enormity of the organisation? How to help girls who perhaps hadn’t travelled more than 50 miles to understand the concept of sisters around the world – especially after such a recent world war when young people from many countries had been on one side or the other? The answer lay in creating a special day – a worldwide Thinking Day, a day when members around the world would pause to think about their sisters in other countries. And as 22nd February happened to be the birthday of both the founder of Scouting, and of the then World Chief Guide, this seemed like the ideal date to mark it. This was followed by the idea of ‘A penny for your thoughts’. If each member were to donate a penny or it’s local equivalent to a Thinking Day Fund, it could be used to support worldwide Guiding.