TK Maxx Castle Vale

We are a girl only organisation in North Warwickshire giving girls a space just for them, so girls feel free to be themselves. Brownies gives them somewhere they can talk openly about what affects their daily lives and get support from other girls like them. All girls are welcome, we give all girls an equal sense of belonging, girls with additional needs and from less well off families are always included in all we do. Through fun, friendship, challenges and adventure we empower girls to find their voice inspiring them to discover the best in themselves and go on to make a positive difference in their community. On a weekly basis girls take part in games, crafts, outings, and earning skills builder badges for learning life skills like first aid. We bring girls together from 6 different schools in North Warwickshire, older girls get the chance to be young leaders (5 past young leaders are now teachers) they assist the leaders and develop their leadership skills as well as acting as role models to the younger girls. We arrange outings and subject to funding offer the girls the chance to attend a residential adventure. We currently have a unusually strong membership with 30 members age 7-11 Because of the rural nature of our villages there are rising mental health issues for the girls from numerous pressures that these young people face from school, peers or families. The Mental health foundation research shows that mental health problems affect 1 in 10 children, intervention at an early stage being outdoors, active and taking part in activities can keep them mentally well. Additional to this we know that loneliness is a problem among young people especially in the rural villages where transport is an issue. We raise money to enable the girls to take part in a residential adventure. Through being part of the residential the young girls get to build important friendships and support networks that will last over the years. In this age of technology, girls on the residential will leave this behind and spend their time outdoors with different activities. When there are many concerns about children being less active and overweight, the residential gets everyone outdoors showing them exercise can be fun and trying new experiences. Parent questionnaires show 100% of parents feel their benefit from the trip but for many cost is a barrier. Fund raising and grants enable us to make the trip affordable to all. It is important to us that we play a part in the community and encourage the girls to grow into responsible adults, caring about the local area. We have recently been awarded an Environmental grant, We have used this money to buy litter pickers and other equipment. We had a great evening litter picking with very enthusiastic girls collecting lots of rubbish and over 15K of recycling. We have followed this with working on environmental themes in our program, we will repeat the activity with current and future Brownies.