A flavour of what’s been happening in GB Europe
Published on September 4, 2019
GB Europe is the part of the Girls’ Brigade family made up of England and Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The Fellowship has some 44,000 members and is working in over 1,030 GB groups/companies.
So what has been happening in each country?
In England and Wales, the GB Support Centre has joined a crisp packet recycling scheme.
GB has sent off a staggering 34,000 crisp packets (173.5kg) as part of the crisp packet recycling scheme, run by Walkers, and is in the top 200 collectors in the country.
Since April 2019, they’ve been collecting the crisp packets – they get money for recycling (fundraising for their life-changing work) and the crisp packets are cleaned and shredded to turn them into plastic pellets (social action as it’s good for the environment). The pellets are then transformed into park benches, plant pots, watering cans and cool bags!
GBM’s Assistant Director Catherine Burt says ‘The response to this scheme has been fantastic, with GB groups, churches, workplaces, schools and many others remembering to save their crisp packets and send them in to us, which is great news for the environment and for GB.’
The first batch of packets raised around £44 for GB. Since then they have sent many more and the figure now stands at £292.84.
To read more about crisp packet recycling or to find out more about the work of GB England and Wales, visit their website HERE.
Join us in praying for GBEW – Please pray for the build hope programme of work. This programme aims to help grow the number of girls attending GB either through growing new groups or support existing groups to reach more girls and young women and improve the future sustainability of GB in England and wales.
Ireland have recently been celebrating the achievements of one of their leaders.
Clara Hewston, a leader at 40th Company Manorhamilton found a wonderful way to make the best of a period of illness, by using her talents to help others.
One year ago when she became very ill, Clara wanted to pass the time, so she learnt to knit. In the summer of 2018 she knitted 60 headbands and gave them to Team Hope. Team Hope put the headbands into shoeboxes as part of their Christmas shoebox appeal which were then distributed to children affected by poverty around the world. As her illness continued, in summer 2019, Clara learnt how to knit hats. Her school Principle then took the hats to Tanzania. The hats were given to Mothers, babies & children in a local hospital, to help them keep warm during the winter nights.
Well done Clara – what an amazing thing to do, thinking of others even though she was ill herself!
To read the article in full or to find out more about what’s been happening in GB Ireland, visit their website HERE.
Join us in praying for GB Ireland– Pray for wisdom as they move forward that the girls always remain in the centre of GB.
Northern Ireland have been very busy with lots of fun days for their young people to help celebrate 125 years of GB.
In May over 1200 girls & Leaders joined together for a Junior fun day at Jungle NI. Jungle NI is set within woodlands and offers a variety of outdoor activities for groups including Segway’s, archery and climbing. The girls also enjoyed lots of team building activities & inflatables.
In June more than 2400 Explorers & Leaders had a brilliant day out at Belfast Zoo. They had full access to the zoo, enjoyed arts and crafts activities, a picnic lunch and every girl received a goody bag.
At the end of August the Seniors, Brigaders & Leaders attended an event called Generation 125. They enjoyed activities including crystal maze type challenges, inflatables, drumming, health & fitness, dance, workshops on relationships and mental health, food galore and most importantly they joined together to spend time in worship.
What a great way to celebrate 125 years of GB!
To have a look at what else Northern Ireland have got planned for 2019 take a look at their website HERE.
Join us in a prayer of thanks from GBNI – Give thanks to God for the 125th year of GB, we have celebrated across the nation in a whole variety of ways. Praise God for the ways we have been able to celebrate and are continuing to celebrate for all ages and stages of GB.
GB Scotland also has exciting things happening too like Regeneration Roadshows. Why don’t you check out their website?
