What did we do before Our Chalet?

 Greetings Girl Scouts!

Many of us grow up in Girl Scouts knowing that we are a world-wide movement with several international homes we call the World Centers. Visiting the World Centers, we can experience international friendships with other Scouts and Guides. These international Guiding/Scouting homes include Our Chalet in Switzerland, Pax Lodge in England, Our Cabana in Mexico and Sangam in India.  (Do you know which is the newest World Center? It may surprise you)

Our Chalet, Switzerland

Did you know: Our Chalet was the first World Center (1932), a gift to Guides and Scouts around the world from American Girl Scout Helen Storrow. No wonder she was called "a world-minded sort of woman" by English Guider Katherine Furse . Mrs Storrow organized and supported training centers at Foxlease in England and Pine Tree Camp in the United States as well as Our Chalet.

My journey to England started with dreams of visiting a World Center. But what did Guides and Scouts do before there was a World Centre? Where did they go to learn how to be Girl Scouts or Guides?

They went to Foxlease, the first home of Guiding and Scouting. It is in the New Forest area in the south of England.  (Google "Foxlease, Girl Guides" or for a map look at Lyndhurst in the New Forest)

In many ways, we should think of Foxlease as our FIRST World Center.

Princess Margaret House at Foxlease

With Girl Scouting and Guiding growing around the world, more and more members wanted training on skills needed to be a Girl Guide or Girl Scout. Since it all began in England, the world looked to England for training.

In 1922, an American heiress made a generous offer to the Girl Guides.  Ann Archbold Saunderson offered her Georgian manor house and 65 acres of land to the Girl Guides. Princess Mary, the President of the Girl Guides, endowed the property; that is, she gave enough money to support the property so the Girl Guides could afford the upkeep. It became the first international home of Guiding and Girl Scouting.

The first Guider in Charge at Foxlease, Alice Behrens, set out to make Foxlease a beacon to follow for all the Guides and Scouts of the world, a haven and a source of strength. A place for Guides and Girl Scouts to call home. She set its motto: Peace, Vision, and Power...a motto that still stands relevant today.

Our Juliette Low stayed there many times and loved Foxlease dearly. She outfitted a cottage on the property where she and other American leaders stayed when they visited Foxlease. Juliette Low's British Guides called her cottage "The Link" because Juliette Low was the link between the British Guides and their American sisters.

Did You know: At first, the Guides wanted to name The Link after Juliette Low but she said no, wanting something less focused on herself and more focused on her Girl Scouting and Guiding girls. That is when the girls decided it should be called The Link, still in her honor but respecting her wishes to remember the two branches of the Guide/Scout Movement she loved. Today, the cottage is gone but its former site is a campsite on the Foxlease estate. It is surrounded by several American trees transplanted by the American visitors. It is still called The Link.

The patch for the World Camp at Foxlease, 1999

Foxlease continues to be a retreat that welcomes Guides and Scouts from around the world to come for a visit. You can stay in the house or camp out in The Link field. They also offer summer jobs to High School and College aged Guides and Scouts from around the world. This year when I went there for a 4^th of July campout, I met a Girl Scout from Arkansas who was working there as a House Assistant for the summer. We had great fun talking about our homes!

Did you know: Juliette Low, Ann Archbold Saunderson and Helen Storrow weren't the only Americans that supported Foxlease. Senator and Mrs William Clark (Montana) outfitted the Garden Room (now the dining room in Princess Mary House at Foxlease) in honor of their daughter, Andree Clark. The Girl Scouts of Massachusetts have a long, close bond with Foxlease and still sponsor one of the bedrooms (The Massachusetts Room). I understand the Girl Scouts of Texas have recently offered to sponsor a bedroom, as well.

Since 1922, the Girl Guides have offered trainings and events to their sisters around the world at Foxlease. They us offer a place to meet Guides and Scouts from around the world. There have been two World Camps (1922 and 1999) hosted at Foxlease. It has been a shelter for Guide and Scout families and other refugees during the World Wars.  Guides and Scouts from around the world will find they have a home at Foxlease, including Girl Scouts from Arkansans, Oklahomans and Texans like you and me, a place to play, rest and live the history of the Girl Scouts and Guides. C'mon, I'll meet you in The Link field for a campfire.