She’s a real guiding light!
BRAMFORD: She has become part of Suffolk’s guiding history having dedicated much of her life to the cause.
And today, the movement gave 75-year-old Janet Read something back after offering her a top county post in recognition of her effort.
For nearly seven decades Mrs Read has been involved in the guides, from being an enthusiastic brownie in the 1940s to county chairman of the Trefoil Guild.
She started as a seven-year-old when she joined Bramford Brownies before holding a plethora of posts until being given the honour of becoming vice president of Suffolk Girl Guiding.
Mrs Read, a mother-of-seven with 16 grandchildren and one great-grandchild, said she was as passionate as ever about the movement and was thrilled to have been given the role.
She said: “I’m very proud – it’s quite an honour. I joined the guide association at the age of seven when I became a brownie in Bramford, then a guide and a brown owl.
“I was later district commissioner for Bosmere and Bramford and then an Anglian region advisor for young leaders.
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“I knew I would always want to be involved in guiding, in some way or another.”
Mrs Read, who is married to husband Roy, said she was inspired to join in the first place by her aunt Cora, a very keen member of the guiding association, and that all of her children had been guides or scouts.
Now her six-year-old grandson George Cunningham has become a member of the beaver scouts in Waterloo, Belgium, and Mrs Read said she was very pleased to see him continue the tradition.
She said: “It’s a wonderful movement and of course you meet so many different people. I love the camping and have been twice this year.
“I can’t pinpoint what I have enjoyed the most because I have enjoyed it all but training so many young leaders has been fantastic. I have got several of them that I am very proud of.
“(Being made vice president) is an award really and it’s an honorary position and I don’t think I have a lot to do.”
n Have you dedicated decades to a cause close to your heart? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@evening star.co.uk
