This week’s Virtual Museum post is another photograph drawn from our extensive collection. Dated 1939, it features a group of Lisburn Girl Guides on a camping trip. The Girl Guides is a longstanding institution in the United Kingdom, founded back in 1909. At a Boy Scout Rally that year, a group of girls showed up and declared themselves to be ‘Girl Scouts’ and equal to the boys.
Under the leadership of Agnes Baden-Powell, sister of Boy Scouts founder, Robert Baden-Powell, the Girl Guides movement quickly grew in numbers. The Lisburn branch of the ‘Guides’ was formed as early as 1911.
The Lisburn ‘Guides’ company had their headquarters in Railway Street. However, they were forced to relocate around the time of this photograph when the church hall they used was requisitioned by the army for military purposes during the war. It is believed that they met at the bandstand in Wallace Park. Were you in the Guides or the Scouts? Do you have any memories you would like to share? Get in touch and let us know.