Brownies group looking for new volunteers (From Watford Observer)

Second Bovingdon Brownie could be forced to close without more help

5:17pm Wednesday 22nd August 2012 in News By Ben Endley, Senior reporter

The leader of a Bovingdon brownies group fears they may be forced to close if another volunteer can’t be found by next month.

Bekki Olah, 23, currently juggles her responsibility for the Second Bovingdon Brownies’ weekly meetings with her job at the Highways Agency and the final year of a criminal psychology degree at the Open University.

But she fears running the group single-handed with minimal help could be too much of a demand unless more people come forward and volunteer as "owls".

The group is currently on summer break however, after another volunteer dropped out to go to university, Bekki is on the point of cancelling the group’s first meeting on September 1.

She said: "I fell into it after learning they needed someone.

"When the person that trained me left I trained another girl up so we had two but she has now left so I really need at least one more person.

"People need to be willing to get involved and volunteer, not many people seem to want to do it but I think it’s great.

"We are supposed to start up again on September 1 but I don’t think we will be able to at this rate."

The group regularly attracts more than 20 girls to their weekly meets at Bovingdon Primary School on High Street, it has been running for more than 40 years now.

Bekki, of Hemel Hempstead, first got involved with the group in 2010 after reading an appeal, is now calling on any interested volunteers to get in touch and secure the group’s fate.

She said she would recommend volunteering to anybody. She said: "I love kids, before I started doing this I wanted to be a police officer but now I want to change my career path and become a primary school teacher.

"I am doing criminal psychology but once I am finished I have decided I am going to go off to university and do my PGCE."

This is not the first time the future of the brownies has been thrown into doubt, in 2010 the temporary leaders announced they were leaving at the end of the year.

The club was given an 11th hour reprieve when Elaine Martindale, a guide leader from Watford, intervened and volunteered to spend six to nine months training Bekki and another young lady.

If you are interested in volunteering at the Second Bovingdon Brownies, contact Bekki on 07852931086.