Girlguiding Rainbows win gold in award ceremony

There was gold at the end of the rainbow for two children at a Girlguiding award ceremony on Monday (July 11).

Seven-year-olds Rosie Cooke and Daisy Burnham of 5th Kennet Vale Rainbows have completed their Gold Rainbow Award.

They were presented with their badges and certificate by unit leader ‘Kingfisher’ Ann Dibble.

She said: “It takes two years to complete this award and so for much of the time the unit was in lockdown and meetings were held on Zoom.

“Daisy admitted that she much preferred the face-to-face meetings but they both had some fond memories of things that happened at Zoom meetings.

“For one thing you could share your pets with each other.”

Daisy particularly mentioned showing her cat to the mayor of Thatcham who visited one of the Zoom meetings in 2021.

In addition to the activities in the meetings, there are 12 interest badges that Rainbows can gain, all of which are “done at home”.

To gain the Gold award, six of these badges must be chosen.

“Rosie decided to do all 12,” she continued.

Read more: Thatcham Rainbows receive prestigious gold award

“She is only the second Rainbow in this unit to achieve that goal.”

Both Rosie and Daisy are due to move on to Brownies and have already made a start in familiarising themselves with this next step by visiting and interviewing current Brownies.

In an attempt to portray what she “loved about Rainbows”, Daisy painted her own rainbow and listed her favourite things about her time there, from “making friends” to “learning first aid”.

Rosie made a photo montage displaying her love for “the family tree badge”, “making kites” and her trip to 4 Kingdoms adventure park.