Milton Keynes guide leader who's helped hundreds of girls is honoured at red carpet ceremony

Claire Morris-Ross, 36, joined hundreds of fellow nominees and award recipients at the Girlguiding Celebrates event in London’s West End over the weekend.

The event honoured Girlguiding’s most recent award-winning volunteers

Claire has been a member of Girlguiding for 31 years and is now a leader at 2nd Shenley Brownies in Milton Keynes.

She’s also looking forward to joining the team at Bedfordshire’s Inclusive Guiding unit, which caters solely to girls with additional needs.

“I cannot stress how strongly we feel as a leadership team that we want to make Brownies accessible to any girl who needs it,” Claire said. “Over the years we've had all sorts of complex medical needs, food allergies, neurodivergent girls, girls from all sorts of faiths, cultures and backgrounds or girls from families who struggle with funds, and they’ve all been able to join in and feel welcome at Brownies.”

“Where possible, we do our best to support each girl discreetly, developing her confidence and independence so that she has a space with us where she can just be herself and have fun with her friends.”

Claire added: “Growing up, my family didn't always have lots of spare funds, so as a leadership team we're very conscious that what we offer be affordable to all, and that no-one feels that finances are an obstacle to taking part.”

“We're lucky that we meet in our local Guide centre, Heron's Lodge, and we take girls in from all over the local area rather than just one school”, Claire said. “This means that the girls get the opportunity to make lots of new friends. It also means that our families are from all types of backgrounds and by making Brownies accessible to all, we're able to level the playing field so that all girls are able to access all opportunities.”

“It can be a bit of a juggling act and taking them all on their first unit holiday together was a bit of a challenge. We’ve currently got three Brownies who have diabetes and need insulin injections, so we did additional training with their parents and one of the Paediatric diabetes nurses from the hospital. And with the help of a very bruised clementine from a parent's fruit bowl to practise injecting insulin, we jumped in and the girls had an amazing time. They've been on every residential since.

Now over 100-years-old, Girlguiding has been a part of thousands of girls’ lives and has never stopped evolving – just like girls themselves.

Claire said: “I am a staunch believer that girls can do anything, and with that in mind I'm always on the lookout for something new.”

Lucy Davies, a parent who nominated Claire to attend Girlguiding Celebrates, said: “Claire should be recognised for so many reasons. Every single week, she puts together activities that the build confidence and abilities of her Brownies. She built the confidence of my daughter like I've never seen. Brownies, under Claire's leadership, transformed my daughter’s independence, abilities, friendships and interests.”

.