Promises kept

The promises we make as children are usually forgotten in the time it takes to suck a gob-stopper.

But for one group of York women, a promise they made as girls has proved to be a promise made for life. The Trefoil Guild, which celebrates its diamond jubilee this year, has 25,000 members nationwide, more than 60 of whom meet in York every month.

These women - they remain a single sex group despite throwing open their doors to men three years ago - all made a promise to do their duty to God, the Queen and to help other people when they were first inducted into the Girl Guide movement.

They all then went on to become guiders - leaders of rainbows, brownies, guides and rangers - and active members of the guild.

"We are different from other women's groups such as the WI because we still live by the Guide promise," explains York City Guild member Marjorie Sant of Fossway, who made her promise 56 years ago.

"Our emphasis is firmly on fun and friendship - two key elements of guiding throughout its long history."

The York Guild will be joining forces with neighbouring guilds from Bishopthorpe, Haxby, Tadcaster and Selby for an anniversary service in Tadcaster on April 2, followed by a celebration lunch at the Riley Smith Hall attended by guests from across the region including the chief commissioner, the North East of England chairman and Canon Ann Hemsworth of Ripon Cathedral.

The guild - whose members range in age from around 50 to 90, although they do have a few younger members in their forties and happily accept anyone who is over 18 - usually meets once a month for talks and demonstrations by outside speakers or by members keen to share their skills.

"Remember, we are all former Guiders, so we know a thing or two about arts and crafts," says Marjorie. "We also seem to eat a heck of a lot - don't ask me why."

The guild is also one of the few charities that actually gives to other charities. Whatever money they have left over from their various fundraising activities, they give away.

Most of the members started their Guiding careers in the Brownies, and Marjorie is no exception. She made her promise when she was seven before progressing on to the Guides and the Rangers.

She then became a Guider and, in 1971, went to work full-time at Guide HQ in Heworth Green, where she remained for 29 years, working her way up through the ranks to district commissioner.

Now, at 63, she runs a weekly Rainbows group for five to seven-year-olds at her local church, St Wulstans.

"Rainbows and Rangers are the easiest girls to work with," she says. "There are a lot of hormones flying around in the Brownies and Guides, but at five and 16 you can really get through to them."

She started the Rainbows group from scratch about six years ago with just two girls.

They started bringing their friends and she soon had ten members - the maximum number she and her assistant are allowed to enrol.

"Ten is enough to be honest with you," she says. "Particularly if it's a windy night. For some reason they all go a bit bonkers when it's windy."

Marjorie believes Guiding gives girls a good start in life as it teaches them to share and to work effectively as part of a team. They also learn that there are winners and losers, and that not everyone can be part of the winning team all the time.

"These are basic, but essential, lessons in life," she says. "Even our youngest girls are encouraged to make their own decisions - a real joy to see.

"It's also nice when you see them taking the lessons they have learned with us on into their lives.

"Whenever the GCSE results appear in the paper I always look for girls I have worked with. I can't take the credit if they get eight or nine qualifications, but I like to think I may have played a small part."

Marjorie is to retire from uniform in two years' time. She will miss it, but she has no plans to remain idle for long.

She will continue to be an active member of the Trefoil Guild and the church, and is considering taking up the challenge of the Dark Horse Venture - a sort of Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme for the over 50s.

Whatever she chooses to do, she will do it to the best of her ability - in line with the promise she made when she was seven: "I live my life by the promise to this day. I am not ashamed to say that I'm a royalist, even though some of them have acted in a way they shouldn't in recent years, and I am loyal to God.

"I also still adhere to the guide laws about being truthful and honest. If someone gives me too much change in a shop, I give it back. I get some funny looks, but that is just how I was raised.

"It may not be fashionable, but it is how I have chosen to live my life."

So what is it that makes Marjorie and her fellow Trefoil Guild members stick to their promise as long as 80 years after the event?

"It is the undiluted friendship," she says. "Wherever you go in the world, you will meet a fellow Guide who has shared the same experiences. It doesn't matter how old you are, a Guide is a Guide forever."

Updated: 09:01 Tuesday, March 11, 2003