Ready, Steady Go!
24th June 2024
Recently I had the opportunity to volunteer at Our Chalet as part of the Ready,
Steady Go (RSG) team – this is an alternate to becoming a season volunteer (or
vollie) which allows for a much shorter commitment period as for many people,
including myself, committing to a three month period isn’t possible but I was able
to commit to a week.
I visited Our Chalet over new year and I took part in a programme of events and I
knew I really wanted to go back, and I also saw all of the vollies and I also wanted
to do that as well – however committing to a vollie period isn’t something that I
am able to do, but when I came across RSG I thought that it was the perfect
option for me.
The application asks questions about your understanding of WAGGGS, what
Guiding roles you have, why you want to participate, what skills you have and a
general personal statement. After this you need to get approval from UK Guiding,
this involves a local commissioners reference which gets sent to the International
commissioner and then they sign you off to go! This was super easy and only took
a few days for me.
Once you are accepted to volunteer at RSG you have to fill out some paperwork
and book your flights. I flew into Zurich and used public transport to get to Our
Chalet which is super easy and takes around 3 hours. Our Chalet picks up your
luggage at the Adelboden Oey bus stop and you then make your way up the hill
to Chalet.
Once I got checked in I met my roommates – firstly Grace from Australia, we
became great friends and have plans to meet up again as well as visiting Nuestra
Cabana in the future, secondly Brenda from the USA who works at UC Davis, she
was a Girl Scout leader but now helps at Council level (similar to UK counties)
where she looks after various different things including Girl Scout cookies. All of
the rooms had participants from all over the world spanning different age ranges
which allowed us to make new friends as well as become a more integrated
group. Overall there were 14 of us representing 6 countries including Ukraine,
Canada and Ireland.
Over the days we achieved a lot as a team; not only helping get big jobs done like
clearing the trees, but in the future when we revisit Our Chalet we will see a path
that we helped to build, or a bench where we stripped the bark off of the planks.
This is the positive impact that we were able to make over a short period of time,
and our efforts will help to positively impact visitors, staff and vollies in the future.
I had a truly amazing time at Our Chalet and would recommend Ready, Steady,
Go to anyone who would like to not only give back to a World Centre but also
experience World Guiding and make amazing new guiding connections.
Also, shoutout to: Shauna (Ireland), Brenda (USA), Charlotte (Canada), Grace
(Australia), Viktoriya, Liudmyla, Natalia (Ukraine), Ffion, Melissa, Fiona, Rosie, Sue,
Ailish (UK) for being the most amazing team and some new found Guiding
friends! As well as all of the staff and vollies at Our Chalet who truly work so hard
and make it such a wonderful experience.
Flossie Shaw
Leeds County