ONE HUNDRED years of Girl Guiding was celebrated in Great Dunmow. More than 280 girls aged between five and 16 marked the start of the anniversary year with a march to Helena Romanes School. There they took part in an activity afternoon including games, c

ONE HUNDRED years of Girl Guiding was celebrated in Great Dunmow.

More than 280 girls aged between five and 16 marked the start of the anniversary year with a march to Helena Romanes School.

There they took part in an activity afternoon including games, circus skills, bouncy castles, cake decorating and a traditional sing-along.

The group joined more than 600,000 girls across the country to mark the century. Girl Guiding started in September 1909 when Lord Baden-Powell held a rally at Crystal Palace for the members of the Boy Scouts, the movement he had started two years earlier.

Some 11,000 boys turned up - and so did a small group of girls, who informed Lord Baden-Powell that they were scouts and wanted to do the same exciting things as their brothers.

Lord Baden-Powell asked his sister, Agnes, to set up a movement for girls and in 1910 the Girl Guide movement began.