Published in Windlesora 20 (2003)
© WLHG
In 1943 the first Trefoil Guilds were established in this country, so that older people still interested in the Guide movement could meet on a regular basis, and thereby keep in touch with Guiding. Here, in Windsor, in 1952 Mrs Joyce Waltham, the District Commissioner for Guides, asked Mrs Ethel Macey if she would be willing to start a Guild. The idea bore fruit and on the 6th August 1952 the Windsor District Trefoil Guild was duly registered at Guide headquarters in London. The first meeting of the Guild took place in the old British School in Chariott’s Place.
What does the Trefoil Guild do? This is best answered by an excerpt from Trefoil Memories by Mrs Venice King:
‘I look back with great thankfulness to the comradeship with which the Guild has accomplished the many and varied tasks allotted to it – Brownie nature hunts in the park, lunches for a Swedish Guide band, stewarding at the county rally, help in various ways with international camps (both Guides and Scouts), good turn sales for a variety of organisations and renovating the Guide hut.’
The Guild is still flourishing today and meets monthly at 2.30 in the afternoon at the District Guide Hut in St Leonard’s Road.
Angela Drewett
[Web editors note 2023: looking at the Trefoil Guild website, we cannot find a current Guild in Windsor.]
Windsor Local History Group 