Ardrossan Guides and Brownies pictures early 1970s

[down south]

Moving on once more now to some pictures of Ardrossan Guides and Brownies. And this first one shows the entire 1st Ardrossan Company : Brownies, Guides and Ranger Guides, pictured in June 1972.

The picture wasn't of the greatest quality originally, but I can recognise many of the Ranger Guides : they're the ones in the palest blouses in the back row. Some of them were actually from Saltcoats; but perhaps not all the local companies had a Ranger section.

With luck, then, people who knew them will be able to recognise some of the younger ones too. But it's clearly pretty difficult to make out individuals in such a large picture when it can only be reproduced online at a modest number of pixels. So I've divided it up into three smaller sections for a closer look.

Section A, the left-hand part:



Margaret Stirton on the far right at the back.

Section B, in the centre:



Left to right at the back: Helen Macpherson ( ? ), Lyn Robertson, Joan Geddes, Agnes Wilson, Linda Bryan, unknown.

and Section C, on the right:



Nobody I knew here.

Susan

[down south]

Here's another picture now, showing a group of Ardrossan Guides and Brownies attending the planting of a tree in commemoration of their Thinking Day.

I've discovered that that is the 22nd of February, but I'm not sure of the exact year of this picture, except that it will be somewhere between 1971 and 1973; certainly I recognise a couple of girls in the back row who were also in the previous picture, Agnes Wilson and Linda Bryan.

I would guess the lady wielding the spade is their company leader; she also appears in the next picture I'll be showing.

Susan

[Penny Tray]

The gentleman on this left is, I think, Mr Ian Currie, who was an engineer/surveyor with Ardrossan Town Council; and the gentleman on the right is definitely Mr Allison, the Ardrossan Burgh Gardener. The latter, I recall, was deaf and dumb.

[down south]

Thanks, PT. I rather expected the two males in the picture would have some association with Ardrossan Council...and I was equally confident that if they did you'd be coming in to identify them !

Susan

[down south]

That other picture I mentioned now, and this one dates from March 1974. It shows a group of 1st Ardrossan Brownies who were raising money for the RNLI by holding a sponsored " hush-in".

Along with them , in the back row are some guides and guide leaders supervising the event. As well as the lady who was planting the tree above, they include Joan Geddes in the tank top second from the left ; and Mary Wilson last on the right.

Susan

[down south]

Here are a group of guides, and assorted visitors, at the annual arts and crafts display/competition put on by Saltcoats and District Youth Panel in June 1973.

Participants came from various youth organisations from across the Three Towns, including scouts and guides and their juniors, boys' and girls' brigades, and youth clubs. In 1972 and 1974 the exhibition was part of Ardrossan Civic Week ( and there are other pictures in the topics about those Civic Weeks ) but since this wasn't happening in 1973 it was held as an event on its own.

Which town the guides in this picture are from isn't mentioned, and at first I was therefore going to put this in the " mixed and unspecified guides and brownies " topic. But recognising the Ranger Guide at left of the group as Agnes Wilson from Ardrossan, I concluded that this was probably the Ardrossan Guides display table and the other guides would also be from there.

PS A note also that there's another picture featuring Ardrossan Ranger Guides to be found here.

Susan

[geomacintyre]

Hi Susan,

In the section B of the large photo I would say it was Marion Dodds back row first left and I would move Helen Macpherson further right along the row.

George

Edit: After another look at a photograph of Helen with her Queen's Guide certificate and "Crown", I am not convinced, given the quality of the photograph, that she is in the line up.

[down south]

Thanks, George. Must confess I had more doubts than ever myself when I had another look, particularly when I noticed ( just visible in my original ) that the girl in the picture appeared to be wearing glasses. And though I remember that Helen had lost quite a bit of weight at the time, I doubt if she was ever quite as skinny as the girl there.

I'm pretty confident of my other identifications, so on the whole I'd tend to agree Helen is pretty certainly not in the picture at all, though you would have expected she would be, given that as you say she won her Queens' Guide badge with the Ardrossan Company a few months later.

There were of course two girls called Marion Dodds around a year apart in age in Ardrossan , and at the Academy, at the time, and this will be the one I didn't know; not the Marion who was in my class, and who I don't think was ever in the Guides.

Susan

[Mokercal]

The Brownie Guider is Mrs Nettleford ,she had a daughter Pamela who sometimes helped her

[down south]

Another picture for this topic, of a group of Ardrossan Ranger Guides at a trampolining session in June 1972. Surprised they went all the way to Ravenspark for it, because the new sports centre at Ardrossan Academy had just opened and trampolines were one of the features.

Susan

[down south]

Some Queens Guide award presentations now. This first picture is from June 1970:

This one , from December 1972, is the photo of Helen MacPherson above-mentioned :

And this final one, from March 1973, features Marion Dodds :

Susan

[down south]

More Queens Guides now. This picture, dating from April 1971, doesn't specify Ardrossan. But since I believe Sandra Hair lived in Ardrossan, and Joan ( although from Saltcoats ) has already appeared in this topic, I'm including it here.

Another Queens Guide from the Ardrossan Rangers ( though actually living in Saltcoats ) ; Diana Horne. This is from March 1972.

Susan