Leslie's Guiding History

Logbooks and Notebooks – our homemade records

From Guiding’s earliest days, Leaders were encouraged to keep records.  Many Leaders kept notebooks with their weekly unit programmes, and whenever they attended trainings they would take a notebook to record the activities they did, and the items they learned – games, songs, outdoor activities, Guide drill and more.  These individual, Patrol and Unit records which they kept give us an insight into how units started (such as the 1st Newton-le-Willows Company on the left, in 1915), and what they really did, really learned, really experienced in past decades – as compared to what the printed textbooks suggest.

In addition, at the UK Guide training centres, Foxlease and Waddow, the trainees were split into Patrols on their first attendance, and on each further visit would be part of the same Patrol, carrying out as participants the activities they would go on to teach back at their units.  Each Patrol had an ongoing logbook kept at the centre, with each batch of trainees adding to the logbook during their stay, detailing what they did at their training week, often with beautiful sketches or diagrams.  As such, through these we can see, training week by training week, what they did and learned, and can also see who attended trainings and from where – from across the UK, and indeed, from across the world.  These logbooks are often also beautifully illustrated, with drawings in pen-and-ink or watercolour.

Training Centre Patrol Logbooks

At the training centres, the ongoing logbooks kept by each Patrol can make fascinating reading. It’s always fascinating to see what both what they did and how they did it, the topics they covered and the way in which it was done, the ideas and attitudes which they had, and which were promoted within Guiding.  A significant number of these logbooks have survived at the training centres, offering a wide range of insights. (Following the closure of the training centres, they were due to be transferred to the Girlguiding UK national archives – it will be up to them whether they are retained).

Homemade Songbooks

In Guiding’s early years, there were no printed songbooks.  Guiding centrally was keen to find and promote appropriate songs, as many of the songs Guides knew and could sing were inuendo-laden music hall songs which the leaders did not consider appropriate. Many of the songs which were promoted were folk songs, which often were folk songs, which tended to have multiple verses, so had to be memorised.  

As a result, many people compiled their own songbooks.  Often these were handwritten into hardback notebooks, but unfortunately these often are words-only – it is rare to find one which contains chords, and rarer still to find one which has tunes written out in sol-fa or on stave – hence the tunes for some songs have not survived.

And yet – some examples exist of beautifully-illustrated songbooks, and it is fascinating to see the range of songs which appear – folk songs, children’s songs, rounds, jingles, songs from a number of countries – some songs we still sing today, some which we might choose to avoid today for a range of reasons. But nevertheless all part of our history.

We also sometimes see examples of original songs or parodies being written by individuals or Patrols, of songs learned from international visitors they met at campfires, or details given of particular campfires or trainings they attended and picked up songs at – these can help us to trace ‘how far back’ some songs go, ‘regional variations’, ‘mondegreens’ and other fascinating titbits.  Often there will be clippings added of songs from Guiding magazines, and later, typed or roneo’d lyrics from trainings.

Individuals’ Training Log

Back in the day, trainings at training centres were usually a week long, with sessions on a number of topics, including badgework, drill, outdoor skills, nature study, songs, teaching skills to the girls – as well as specialist weeks themed on particular topics, or for particular branches.  The training centres sold hardback notebooks which trainees could buy to fill in, or people brought their own regular training notebooks and added to them during the sessions.  Many of these notebooks still survive, or come up for sale, and they can give fascinating information on traditional skills, or activities (many of which could be equally applicable today), and on the sort of topics which the trainers were keen to cover, and how they did it. As well as training ideas, they give an idea of the daily schedule, and can contain photographs, postcards, or sketches, in pencil, pen and ink, or watercolour

Unit Programme Notebooks

Many unit leaders kept a week-to-week record of their unit activities – the activities the girls did for their challenges, the games they played and songs they sang, the outings they went on, and in some cases, the local events they took part in such as rallies or parades.  Some records are very brief, with a few short headings, whereas others give instructions for games, words for songs, and in some cases also sketches or photographs.  

It’s not uncommon to also find in the back the attendance registers, accounts records, notes taken at District Meetings or other local gatherings, shopping lists for the Guide Shop, phone numbers, and other ephemera!

Hike Logbooks

In order to get her First Class Badge, at one time a candidate had to take two younger Guides on a ‘First Class Hike’, planning a route to take them on, perhaps activities, and arranging a suitable place to stop and cook a hike meal, during which the tester would visit to assess whether the outing was well organised and whether they were enjoying themselves.  Patrols were also encouraged to tackle day-hikes to places of interest, or to study nature, or to explore a part of their locality which was unfamiliar.  They were encouraged to keep records of these hikes, and in time special notebooks were published to allow individuals or Patrols to keep records in an organised fashion, including using lined pages for noting the route, distances, timings, occurrences and observations, squared paper for maps, blank pages for sketches or diagrams, or to allow for the later insertion of photographs, information leaflets, pressed flowers or other useful items.  These Hike Logbooks can make fascinating reading, detailing countryside now lost to urbanisation, little-known routes – but also recounting the adventures which happened along the way, from dealing with incidents and accidents, inclement weather or tenderfoot mistakes!

First Class/Queen’s Guide ‘History of Guiding’ logbooks

As part of their challenge for these badges, Guides were required to create a logbook on the history of Guiding.  Whilst these tended to wheel out the usual myths in terms of how Guiding started, and they often featured the same-old pictures cut from issues of “The Guide” or “The Guider” magazine, and information lifted from the Guiding history books of the day, it can be interesting to see the way different Guides approached the clause.  

Some of these logbooks are quite brief, and seem to follow a very similar pattern.  But some do include sketches, diagrams, painted pictures or photographs, or material on different sections of Guiding, or insights into different countries drawn from encounters with locals.  

Other logbooks were used to record the training they did towards their First Class or Queen’s Guide Badge challenges, both showing their understanding of what they had learned, and also giving them teaching aids they could use to help younger Guides in the unit. One sees hand-drawn pictures of road signs, bandaging diagrams, instructions for finding north, and the like.

Modern Logbooking and Blogs/Vlogs

It’s rare for modern units or Leaders to keep written records in hardback notebooks, as their predecessors did.  On the other hand, the recording of Guiding does still go on, through unit websites, social media posts, and blogs – although it’s not clear how long these will last – unit websites were big in the 1990s but are much rarer now, and most haven’t been updated lately. Blogging came next, in the 2000s, but it too has more or less died a death. Many Leaders currently swap ideas on facebook groups, but again, it’s not clear how long they will stay current.  

Leaders of the future are going to want to know what Leaders did in the early 2020s, so it is wise to consider options which will be accessible in the future – technology changes, but paper records have continued to be accessible over centuries.