10th Tyldesley Garrett Hall

Brownie Topics

Congratulations to all our Brownies on the success of the Christmas

Show. We have had so many positive comments about your performance, well done!

This term’s theme is World Cultures and will involve making things, baking, painting as

well as the usual fun and games. January marks the start of a new calendar year for us

but we will also be looking at new year celebrations for other cultures, most of which

don’t usually happen in January! A great chance to learn about the festivals and cultures

of others around the world. As always we will be incorporating various other topical

themes such as Valentines Day, Thinking Day, Mothers Day, and Easter.

NEWSLETTER—Spring Term 2016

Subs this term: (please see overleaf for more information on subs increase and membership fee)

There are 6 meetings up to February half-term so subs are £15.00 due on 6th January.

The annual membership fee for girlguiding uk is also due this month and this year we are unable to subsidise

this as much as we have done in the past so .£20 per family is due on 27th January, please

There are 5 meetings between February half-term and Easter so subs will be £15.00 due 24th February

Subs are due on the first meeting of each half-term in advance

If you are unable to pay on the first week back for any reason, please speak to one of the owls.

B r o w n i e B a d g e s All Brownies will be able to complete the World Culture Badge in the meetings between now and Easter. There will also be the option of doing the Home Skills Badge around Mothers Day for anyone who hasn't already got it.

Mothers’ Day Celebration Mums are invited to the last part of

our meeting on Wed 2nd March for a

Mothers Day celebration. A chance

for us to show you how special you

are! You will be given hand-made

gifts and treats by your

brownies. There will also

be some other surprises

in store too - we promise!

So put the date in your

diaries, mums!

DATE You will need Details

Wed 6th Jan Bring subs £15.00 WELCOME BACK Owl crafts, team games and ‘Quiz of 2015’

Wed 13th Jan AFRICAN CULTURES African dream catcher craft and start paper mache mask.

Wed 20th Jan AFRICAN CULTURES Paint, decorate and finish our African masks.

Wed 27th Jan Bring GGUK Fee £20.00 DIWALI THEME Rangoli patterns and make a Diwali lamp

Wed 3rd Feb CHINESE NEW YEAR Learn Chinese and make crafts, for the year of the monkey

Wed 10th Feb VALENTINES THEME Scandinavian crafts—Danish Hearts and Swedish Doves.

Wed 17th Feb No Brownies—Half-term

Mon 22nd Feb Wear uniform to school World Thinking Day : Wear brownie uniform with sash and smart shoes!

Wed 24th Feb Bring subs £15.00 Preparation for Mothers’ Day : JAPANESE crafts and surprises!

Wed 2nd Mar Mums join us at 7.15pm Mothers Day Celebration : Treats and surprises for mums!

Wed 9th Mar JEWISH NEW YEAR THEME—Make Jewish Honey Cake and Star of David decoration

Wed 16th Mar EASTER THEME NIGHT– Eastern European Easter Egg craft and Easter Bunny Trail

Wed 23rd Mar Meet at Play Factore. End of Term trip. Parents drop off 4pm, pick up 6.30pm. Please wear uniform.

END OF TERM TRIP TO PLAY FACTOR-E

We have booked a trip to Play Factor-e

at Trafford for our last meeting of the

term on Wednesday 23rd March 4pm to

6.30pm (school finishes for easter the day

before!) We are subsidising the trip from Brownie Funds

but require a contribution of £5 each. Trip includes 2.5

hours play and a hot meal, ice cream and drinks. We haven’t booked a coach to keep

costs down and Brownies are asked to meet us there. Anyone needing a lift, please

let us know so we can help out. More details in a letter very soon!

New Brownie

Enrolments

Enrolments of new Brown-

ies are usually done at the

end of meetings. The next

enrolments will be on Wed

3rd Feb. Parents of these

girls are wel-

come to come

along at 7.35pm

to watch.

World Thinking Day—Monday 22nd February This year it falls on a school day. It is traditional for brownies, guides, cubs and scouts to

wear their uniform on World Thinking Day. Garrett Hall have given permission for our

brownies to wear their brownie uniform to school that day. Please make sure you look

smart though, with full uniform, sash and school shoes (remember, no trainers at school!).

Brownie Uniform

Please note that trainers or

pumps should always be worn for

brownie meetings so that we can

run about safely.

Please note, we do not

allow Heelys or roller

skates at brownies for

safety reasons.

This term at a glance..

Easter Theme Night

On Wednesday 16th

March we will have an

Easter Celebration. We

will decorate eggs —

Easter European style

and, as always, our

very popular trail set

by the Easter Bunny!

Brownie Website: www.ghbrownies.btck.co.uk Contact number: 07976 945150 Email: ghbrownies@sky.com

Dance4Fun If you enjoyed learning the dances for

the Christmas Show, check out the

Dance4Fun website for details of Briony

and Holly’s children’s dance classes;

streetdance, cheerleading and ballet for

all ages from 3 upwards - there is

Zumba on Monday nights for mums too! www.dance4funacademy.wix.com/tyldesley

Funding and Finances

For many years now, there has been no external funding available for brownie packs. We continue to apply for gift aid each year but the only other income we receive is

from subs and our fundraising at Christmas.

Due to ever increasing costs, we just don’t have the balances in brownie funds that we used to have and our bank balance is currently lower than ever!

We have made the difficult decision to increase subs to £3.00 per week with effect from February half term. This is only the second time we have increased subs since

we opened in 2002; the last increase was in Summer 2010. Subs cover the cost of using the school premises and pay for badges, equipment and resources, snacks

and drinks, costumes for the Christmas Show and we always try to subsidise trips.

In February of each year, we have to a pay a membership fee for all brownies and leaders to Girlguiding UK. The annual subscription amount for 2016 is set by the

Girlguiding Board of Trustees and then Region, County and Division add on the amounts they require as well. The estimated bill for our unit this year is £750. Unfortu-

nately we do not have the funds to subsidise this as highly as we have done previously and we need to ask for £20 per family for this by Wednesday 27th January (new

girls do not need to pay as they will not have made their promise). Parents with two brownies in the pack only need to pay it once.

We are sometimes asked how much we get paid as leaders- the answer is that none of us are paid, we are all volunteers and we do it for fun (and because we love it!).

Finally, we are so sorry to have to charge you more but feel we have no choice if we want to carry on providing the same fun-packed programme for our brownies. We

hope you understand.

Below is an excerpt from our Annual Accounts for 2015 for your information, if you require any further details, please ask.

10th Tyldesley Garrett Hall Brownie Pack

ACCOUNTS FOR YEAR ENDING 31.12.15

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT

OPENING BALANCE AS AT 01.01.15 756.14

RECEIPTS

Subscriptions Total money collected from parents 2878.75

Membership & Joining Fees Total money collected from parents 278.00

3156.75

Gift Aid Receipt Money received from HMRC 813.21

813.21

Blackpool Tower Trip Total money collected from parents 390.00

390.00

Ladybridge Adventure Day Total money collected from parents 140.00

140.00

Sealife Centre Sleepover Total money collected from parents 750.00

750.00

Christmas Theatre Trip Total money collected from parents 408.00

408.00

Fundraising for Comic Relief Total money raised by Danceathon 993.20

993.20

Fundraising for Brownies Programmes, calendars & raffle proceeds 398.83

398.83

TOTAL RECEIPTS FOR 2015 7049.99

PAYMENTS

Hire of Premises Garrett Hall School 150.00

150.00

Caretakers Fees G Halliwell 555.00

555.00

Annual Capitation Girlguiding UK (35 members x £19.50) 682.50

682.50

Danceathon Comic Relief Sponsor Money 993.20

Helium balloons and decorations 23.75

Girlguiding UK Comic Relief badges 21.80

Instantprint - Danceathon certificates 20.00

1058.75

Blackpool Tower Trip Coach hire - BSS Coaches 320.00

Tickets for Blackpool Tower 406.45

Drinks, sweets, snacks 29.58

756.03

Ladybridge Adventure Day Bolton Council - Instructors 303.00

303.00

Ladybridge Farm Donation for Forest School activities 50.00

Food for campfire cookery 12.56

62.56

Sealife Centre Sleepover Admission 750.00

Food for supper and breakfast 64.97

Sealife craft activities 29.26

Photo keyrings 70.00

914.23

Christmas Theatre Trip Theatre tickets - Mr Popper's Penguins 360.00

Coach hire - BSS Coaches 240.00

Ice cream at theatre 78.00

678.00

Curious Critters Workshop Daniel Jubb 50.00

50.00

Samba Drumming Workshop Sam Packwood (Musician) 120.00

120.00

Girlguiding UK Trading Service Badges, resources etc 307.76

Guiding Handbook & Going Away Scheme 16.45

New flag with lettering 78.95

403.16

Annual Owl Awards Night Medals and rosettes 18.45

Certificates 6.56

25.01

Refreshments Refreshments for parents 42.75

Juice & biscuits for Brownies 108.88

151.63

General Resources

Theme Nights Bird themed crafts 40.03

Masterchef night - baking ingredients 34.49

Bushtucker Trials 19.16

Valentines crafts 21.82

Circus themed crafts 34.78

Easter crafts 21.68

Easter Theme Night - Easter eggs & bunny hunt 35.36

Mothers Day crafts & daffodils 61.70

Kite kits 65.89

Team building challenges 11.82

Weaving crafts 38.45

Fathers Day crafts 25.27

Cocktails & Catwalk Pamper Party 87.65

Playground games 13.96

Carnival Games Night 8.15

Get Wet Night - sponges, trug, balloon bombs 11.92

Owl charm bracelets kits 29.83

Super shrinkies keyrings 15.38

Baking night - sandwich cake ingredients 13.93

Flower arranging 7.28

Soap making and lip balm making 64.49

Geocache Trail and wild art crafts 30.22

Halloween Theme Nights 66.97

Bonfire crafts 14.50

Remembrance crafts and rewards 7.90

Christmas Crafts 81.19

863.82

Miscellaneous Baking equipment - sandwich tins, mixing bowls 19.17

Craft activities general - paper, card, ribbon etc. 44.53

Batteries 14.00

Postage 1.15

Briefcase 19.99

Storage boxes 10.00

Printing - Inks, blank CDs / DVDs 123.29

Kitchen supplies (cleaning, kitchen roll, jugs) 4.37

236.50

Christmas Show Costumes 266.30

Props 24.49

Printing (scripts, tickets, programmes) 44.25

Blank DVDs for video of show 9.98

Raffle tickets and prizes 25.46

370.48

Gifts & Celebrations Brownie Christmas presents, cards, wrapping 134.92

Birthday Cake and party food (joint 21st & 18ths) 45.50

Gifts others - Thank-yous 15.00

195.42

TOTAL PAYMENTS FOR 2015 7576.09

CLOSING BALANCE AS AT 31.12.15 230.04