Brownies celebrate 50 years

The uniform may be trendier and the badges different, but the values and friendship of Brownies have stood the test of time.

Five decades of a Wolverhampton Brownie pack were celebrated last night, with current and former members all turning up to mark the occasion.

The 1st Claregate Brownies have been meeting weekly since 1957, and the woman who set up the group back then was there to meet the group of girls which attend today.

Marjorie Hudson, aged 78, travelled from her home in Oswestry, Shropshire, to meet the youngsters at Christ the King Church on Pendeford Avenue.

She was 28 and a teacher at Palmers Cross Primary School when she decided what the area really needed was some Brownies.

The former Brown Owl said: "I never thought back then it would last this long.

"It is so nice to see that the Brownies have been meeting here for 50 years and that people are still prepared to run it in their spare time."

Long-standing former Brown Owl Joan Cooper, 66, enjoyed her time running the group so much she's turned it in to a family affair.

Her daughter Ruth Noble, 36, of Claregate, was a Brownie herself and now helps to run the group and her daughters, Alice, 13 and Frances, aged 10, both attended.

Alice, a pupil at St Peter's Collegiate School in Compton, said it was still a big part of her life.

"I am now in the Guides and I help the Brownies every week. It's a lot of fun," she said.

Other former Brownies looked at photographs of themselves on pack holidays and laughed about the days where they picked up skills including orienteering, pottery and sports. Jeanette Powell, aged 40, of Fordhouses, said she was a Brownie, then a Guide, a young leader and a Brown Owl. She said: "It's now grown to three units, we've got 1st, 2nd and 3rd Claregate Brownies and over 60 girls. It is fantastic that it's managed to be so successful for so long."

Also joining in the celebrations was Alison Wadge, 39, and her mother Hazel Murray, 67, who both live in Aldersley.

A special badge was created for the night by current Brownie, eight-year-old Beatrice Pemberton.

It features two Brownies, one in an original uniform and one dressed in the new-style outfit and the Brownie badge, which remains the same today.