Tea with Brown Owl!
I had tea with Brown Owl this afternoon. She is in charge of Castle Coop’s Neighbourhood Watch Scheme and rang me to say she was coming over as she had decided to go round all the houses to check everyone was on the qui vive!
‘Gloria dear,’ she announced purposefully, as she sailed through to the kitchen, ‘it’s really no good you wafting about in your usual dream land. We all have to be on the alert and you really must pull yourself together and concentrate. The Baddie has turned out to be an escaped jailbird and as the police haven’t managed to catch him yet, we must all try to do our bit!’.
PC Ixworth’s hotline number:
I was so anxious to hear about the escaped prisoner that I elected not to bring up again that I’m actually called Liberty and not ‘Gloria dear’. Instead, I pressed her for more details. Apparently, PC Ixworth has sent her a mobile text message to tell us all that if we spot anyone looking even the slightest bit suspicious, we must ring his special hotline number immediately.
Gosh ..to think just a few days ago the special hotline number was simply to enable us to report cars parked up with 2 wheels on the pavement and now we’re to use it to report escaped prisoner sightings…. I just can’t believe that Castle Coop has suddenly turned into a world with Cops and Robbers running about!
Lend a Hand:
As I poured out a second cup of tea for us both, Brown Owl suddenly jumped up from her seat by the kitchen table and marched purposefully out to the garden. Calling out to alert the Agent in case the Baddie was about to be set upon by Brown Owl, I rushed outside, only to find her inspecting our flower-beds.
‘Now Gloria dear, I’m going to send the Brownies round to ‘Lend -a- Hand’ in your garden. They can have a go at weeding some of this jungle and they can do the watering here and there… if there’s any time over, they can be useful helping you inside’.
Apparently Brown Owl has been doing some research on the web and she’s found lots of brilliant ‘Lend a Hand’ ideas for the Castle Coop Brownies. Here is a copy of the Canadian Brownie Program dating from 1996 which is responsible for inspiring Brown Owl:
Title: Lend a Hand Action
Equipment: a list of activities that Brownies could do to Lend A Hand, music (optional)
The girls are scattered around the playing area. When the leader calls out an activity, the Brownies act it out. Suggested ways that Brownies can Lend A Hand: sweep the floor, wash the dishes, make the bed, peel vegetables, wash the clothes on an old-fashioned washboard, water the plants, crush cans for recycling, put away toys. This activity can also be done with music. While the music plays the girls run, skip, jog or walk around the room, when the music stops, the leader calls out the activity.
Oh no! The last time the Brownies came round to ‘Lend a Hand’, it took me a week to clear up….
Yours, feeling dispirited,