What did girl guides do during the 1st and 2nd world war?

Answer 1

During World War I there weren't that many Guides - the organisation had only being running for 4 years - yet they did a remarkable amount of work. Some girls worked in hospitals, preparing and laundering dressings, rolling bandages and preparing stretchers. Many were involved in sewing and knitting clothes, and in collecting fruit to preserve. They gardened, and set up convalescent homes for wounded soldiers. Funds were raised to set up and equip rest huts for soldiers in France, and supply a motor ambulance. Some were employed by MI5 as messengers, passing on classified information, sometimes orally. They also served as messengers at the signing of the peace treaty in Versailles.

During World War II, Guides were involved in many areas of work - what they did depended on what part of the country they were in, but included some of the following:

Meeting evacuees and helping escort them from train stations to village halls

Helping assemble gas masks for distribution.

Acting as messengers for ARP and others

Helping run canteens and childcare centres

Organising out-of-school activities for part-time schooled children

Picking hedgerow fruit for jam-making, sphagnum moss for dressings, and herbs for medicinal use

Collecting waste paper, metal, jam jars, cotton reels etc.

Raising money to supply ambulances, air ambulances, rest huts and a lifeboat

Collecting books and knitting garments for rest huts for soldiers

Teaching 'blitz cooking' to bombed out households

Helping in hospitals

Perhaps most important of all was the Guide International Service, or GIS. Following the suggestion of a young Guide, teams were trained to work in Europe and elsewhere as relief workers, following the liberating armies into Europe. Several teams were used, setting up hospitals, undertaking emergency feeding and helping to re-settle refugees - one team worked in the Belsen Concentration Camp.