Scouting

My time as a brownie

by: Jenneke JR.

One of my biggest interests between 1966 and 1985, was being a part of the big "Scouting" family here in Holland.

In the time I became a brownie (in 1966), there were 4 different organizations and "Het Nederlands Padvinsters Gilde" (NPG) was one of them. The fusion between all four of them became a fact in 1973 and from then the time "Scouting" was used.

But let’s go back to 1966. Together with some other girls of my school, I became a brownie at the "Sterappels" group of "Wegeli Duinwijk" here in Den Haag and my small nation between the group was called the "Leperkaantjes" which were designed as a brownie in orange with a green hat. There were three other small nations in the group with the names " Dwergjes", "Aardmannetjes" and "Elfjes". Every small nation had a head brownie and a helper and then some other brownies.

We came together every Saturday afternoon between 2:45 and 4:45 in an old school building of the "Dr. Herman Bavinck School". In that time, we still had to go to school every Saturday morning!

Before you became a real brownie, there were some things you had to learn first. For example you had to know the lyrics of the Browniesong, to know the Browniestory and you had to know the song of your own small nation.

When you knew all these things it was time for your installation as a real brownie. Till then your name was "Mensenkind". My installation, together with the one of my friends, took place on November 26, 1966. It was a great afternoon and a special highlight of my young life.

Installationcard

During your time as a brownie, it was also possible to "work" for your finger and later hand badge to put on your uniform.

You could also get some special badges for, for example, "Reading". That was the only extra one I received during the years. For that special one, you had to know where the nearest library was situated, some of the books they had in their collection and if there were books translated from the Dutch. Funny isn’t it, that I only worked for that one? Maybe my interest for my education later at the PATA started here?

We also went on camp during my brownie period. I’ll never forget my first camp ever. I felt so sick before. They thought, it will be the nerves and that I will be better as soon as the camp started. But it didn’t. I was ill during the whole week, driving the leaders completely nuts. We stayed on a farm with chickens and other animals, but I don’t remember the place anymore. I only remember, we slept on the top of the farm and that we eat outside and did some walks in the fresh air. In 1966, it was still possible for little girls that age (around 7 – 10) to walk through the woods without a leader. It’s better not to do that now! You’ll never know what happens!

During my time as a brownie I also played for St. Nicholas once. I changed myself in a real St. Nicholas and some of my brownie classmates transformed themselves to Black Peters.

  Jenneke at home transforming herself into St. Nicholas

We went to our own school in the morning in our outfits. All the other kids sang St. Nicholassongs for us and got some presents. Then we had a small lunch together and in the afternoon a taxi drove us to the Bavinck School were we did our act once more.

  Jenneke as St. Nicholas at the Bavinck school

We also went to the "Rendierhoeve" in Tilburg a year later. It was a big house where we stayed and on one day, during the camp, we went to the "Efteling" in Kaatsheuvel. I had never been there before and I found it very interested.

In 1968 we went to Ommen and camped in "Junne" nearby. It was possible for the parents to visit us there so my father and mother went over and my father took a lot of photos from my friends and me.

On September 14, 1968 it was time for us to say goodbye to the brownies and go to the girl guides. For that we came together on a big field because there wasn’t enough space for all the brownies, girl guides and their parents in the school. Before you were able to fly to the girl guides, we received our special wings from our brownieleader, Oehoe, on our uniform.

Then we sing a special song and was it time to jump over to the girl guides and the "Kieviten". Of course, my father made again some pictures of this special day.

The card you received when you flow over to the girl guides

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