I am Assistant leader for 1st South Queensferry Guides and lead (aka Brown Owl) for 6th South Queensferry Brownies. I started as a unit helper for Guides in May 2025 before moving on to be a leader in training. I am a return to Guiding as a leader – previously, I completed my leadership training in 1998 but took a 12-year unplanned sabbatical following some big personal changes.

I volunteer to give back to my community, to give my life balance and to give girls the wide variety of experiences and opportunities I once enjoyed as a Brownie and Guide. I work full time as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and enjoy an equally busy personal and family life but I constantly read about “we have no sense of community these days”. I feel strongly that we should all play a part in giving to our own communities using any skills we may have or are yet to discover.

Lorna, left, and her mentor Fiona.

My life has settled in South Queensferry having moved here in 2015 but I realised I had something missing in my life and that was Guiding, which I had been a part of since I became a Brownie in 1986. I have been involved in Guiding in various forms throughout my life and realised I not only missed it but had a wish to recommit to leadership (because why not?!).

I have so many memories ranging from International travel (Switzerland and Austria) as a Guide and Young Leader to umpteen camps including Challenger, trips to York as a Brownie and Trooping of Colours in London as a Young Leader. I have such fond memories of the generations of girls I have led as Brownies and Guides across Central Scotland. My most memorable Guiding moment however was the flash flood at Netherurd, where I was a last minute sub camp First Aider. I was approaching my 19th birthday at the time, I was a fairly new Brownie leader and a Student Nurse. The unexpected experience of supporting Guides, Young Leaders, Rangers and adult leaders from across the World in such a huge evacuation has stood me in good stead, through multiple personal and professional scenarios, interviews and dinner party story time! I am still waiting on my “I survived” badge however!

Other people should volunteer because Guiding gives you life skills! Coming back to Guiding has reminded me of the pride I once felt to be a part of this organisation. Whilst the program has changed a bit since my last stint, the ethos of skill building, confidence growing and trying new things vibe remains the exact same. The girls bring the energy every week and the interest in Guiding and all it can provide is evident in the numbers of girls turning up and sitting on waiting lists.

But it takes adult volunteers to make it all happen, the more everyone can give – even if just a bit of their time (because everyone does work and has busy lives these days) the better it will be for both the girls and the leaders who do show up every week and to every event to make sure girls and young women continue to enjoy all that I and many others have had the privilege to experience over the decades.