No matter how much time you have to give, there’s an opportunity for you!
Girlguiding Sussex Central County is part of Girlguiding the leading charity for girls and young women in the UK.
By volunteering with us, you can help us create amazing opportunities for girls across the county.
Everyone is welcome
Girlguiding Sussex Central County welcomes volunteers of all backgrounds, ages, cultures, faiths and abilities.
We are flexible and volunteering can be arranged to fit around a busy lifestyle.
You can volunteer to help out with:
Or you can take on a non-unit supporting role. Guiding as an adult is a wonderful opportunity to meet like-minded people to share your next adventure. If you’re interested in trying new guiding challenges explore the Trefoil Guild.
Every hour counts!
Our incredible volunteers contribute more than ten million hours to guiding every year. Some give a couple of hours here and there, for example helping out with driving for trips, fundraising and events planning, or even doing the annual accounts for local groups. Others give their time as Unit Volunteers and Young Leaders, providing girls and young women with a space where they can be themselves.
Whatever your skills and interests, and no matter how much time you have to spare, one of our volunteering roles is bound to suit you.
Why volunteer?
- Meet new friends living near you
- Take a refreshing break from your everyday routine
- Share a skill or specialism
- Make a difference to the lives of girls in your community
- Spend time laughing, playing and being inspired by incredible girls and young women
- Build skills for life
- Be an inspiration for girls and young women
- Visit our Facebook Page
Safer guiding is our safeguarding training and will help you to:
- Understand your role in safeguarding and what to do.
- Learn about our approach to health and safety and your responsibilities.
- Find out all about data protection and what you need to do.
- Include everyone.
There are 2 types of safer guiding training – safer guiding and safer guiding basics. The one you’ll do will be based on your role.
For anyone volunteering with girls
If you have any contact with girls you’ll need to do the safer guiding course. This has 4 topics and replaces a safe space levels 1, 2 and 3.
This e-learning takes about 3 hours and is divided into smaller modules. It’s designed for you to dip in and out of and it’ll save your progress along the way. We wouldn’t recommend completing this all in one go but make sure you allow plenty of time to complete it before your deadline.
At the end of each of the 4 topics there’s a quiz for you to do. You must pass each quiz to complete the course.
If you prefer to complete a trainer-led session instead of the e-learning, you can book this through the learning platform. These sessions take around 4-5 hours.
For those without direct contact with girls
You’ll need to do safer guiding basics – a shorter version of the safer guiding training. It’s required instead for a small number of non-girl-facing roles.
This takes around 45 minutes to complete and there’s no quiz attached to it.
You can complete the training on the learning platform.
County Trainings
We run a variety of training sessions and events throughout the year – check out our calendar for details.
Like all organisations, Girlguiding is full of jargon, the list below should help but if you are not sure of what something means please ask!
A Safe Space – Girlguiding’s policy for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people in their care
BIG GIG – Girlguiding’s pop concert
BGIFC – British Guides in Foreign Countries
CC – County Commissioner
DBS – Data Barring Scheme
D of E – Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
DC – District Commissioner
Div Com – Division Commissioner
FOG – Friends of Guiding
Gift Aid – Government scheme to encourage donations to charities; tax already paid on subscriptions can be reclaimed!
GFF – Guide Friendship Fund
GO – Guiding Organiser database
GOLD – Guiding Overseas Linked with Development
HQ – Headquarters; where Girlguiding UK’s administrative office is situated.
INTOPS – International Opportunities Weekends
LaSER – London & South East England Region
LQ – Leadership Qualification
Mentor – Someone who supports you in gaining a qualification
Pow-Wow – Decision-making meetings for Brownies
Rangers – The section for those aged 14 to 18
SSAGO – Student Scout and Guide Organisation
Subscription/Subs – Girlguiding annual membership payment
TAC – Training and Activity Centre
TG – Trefoil Guild
Unit – Group of Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers, Young Leaders and their Leaders
WAGGGS – World Association of Girl Guides & Girl Scouts
YL – Young Leader
YLQ – Young Leader Qualification