Marianne to represent Scotland at international Girlguiding event

Jul 3 2008 by Shirley Bartynek, Hamilton Advertiser

HAMILTON College pupil Marianne Watters has been selected to represent Scotland and in particular South Lanarkshire at the International Girl Guides and Scout Conference to be held in August.

Marianne, (14) from Hamilton, began the careful selection process in October, progressing from level to level culminating in a weekend final last January.

During the final Marianne demonstrated excellent team skills throughout various challenging tasks such as erecting tents blind-folded and gave a presentation in Hamilton.

She said: “The weekend was rather daunting as I didn’t know anyone but I found I made friends quickly when I arrived.”

She went on to demonstrate first class Guiding qualities and impress the judges during the final.

Marianne now joins another six Scottish Guides, each representing their own county at the conference.

She will travel to Austria on August 2 for a two-week long International Celebration of Girl Guides and Scouts joining with 7000 young people from all over the world.

The theme of the event will be “Aqua 2008” and centres around many water-based activities.

An evening of Open Pots promises to be one of the highlights of the trip with each country’s youth preparing and cooking traditional dishes from their native countries.

Marianne is looking forward to experiencing the excitement of such an event.

She also feels the trip will be an opportunity for her to make friends with people from other countries who all share the same enthusiasm for this prestigious institution.