A Question About Cdn Girl Guiding/Boy Scouting in the 70's/80's?

[AragornElessar]

My sister's friend who drove us over here, and is a good friend of her's and my Parents, but I can only handle for short periods of time. Both due to her booming voice *and* personality that to me is like fingernails going down a blackboard. Another factor? She's one of these people who is *never* wrong and even when she is, she'll stick w/whatever she believes. Such as...

Back when we first came here and I was able to do it health wise, I volunteered as a Leader w/the local Brownie Pack. Mom was out on Friday and ran into the lady who was the Brown Owl of the group. That led into a conversation of how expensive Guiding is now and that it's just not fair the kids have to pay just to be a part of Guiding and Scouting now, because *her kids* certainly never did.

Said completely w/a sniff of distaste, of course.

That made my eyebrows go up, as I clearly remember having to pay a Membership Fee starting w/Brownies and all the way through to Rangers and also as a Leader w/those Brownies. I also said that since we're all the same age, then they certainly paid too. Which brought the follow up of, "Oh, but you're not 43." To which me, my sister and our Mom all at the same time basically told her the same thing. May not be 43, but I am 40.

You could literally hear the snap of her jaw as it closed after that piece of information.

Of course the subject changed and also she started hitting the table as she talked, which creates vibrations, which in turn creates more pain for me w/what I'm dealing w/and gave me a grateful legitimate excuse to leave and come down here.

Anyway...I'm sure I'm remembering right, but decided to double check here, because I know there'll be someone on here who will know the answer to this one. Thanks in advance!!!

[Really]

I remember my mom paying a fee for me to be in Brownies the one year I did join (I was 9, I think). That would have been in the late 60s.

[Skittl1321]

I have a USA Girl Scout training manual and it has the same saying in it we say now when we train (I was a trainer until this year, I don't like the new direction of Girl Scouting, so I stopped)
"Girl Scouts is a membership based organization"- you have to pay membership dues to join. They were not expensive then, and are not now though. It is currently $12 yearly fee to join the organization. And there are scholarships available.

The problem is troop dues. When I was a girl in the 80s, we paid $1 per meeting into the troop fund, and sold cookies like crazy, and gift wrapped, and car washed and everything we could to earn money for our activities.

But if you don't fundraise and you want to go ice skating, horseback riding, on ski trips, and on international trips the money has to come from somewhere. That might be why it seems so expensive.


If you don't want to pay dues, anyone can offer to lead a troop through the council. That troop doesn't have to collect dues and the leader can figure out how to fund activities.

[DaveRocks]

I was in beavers, cubs, and scouts in Canada all through the 80s, and there was never a membership fee.

[Norlite]

I was in beavers, cubs, and scouts in Canada all through the 80s, and there was never a membership fee.

We never paid a membership fee either. This was Ontario in the 60's. We were encouraged to pay a small amount as dues each meeting, never a set amount, bring whatever you could, and it was always coins, never bills.

When my kids joined briefly in the 80's,and I think there was a very minor fee paid at sign up, something like 12 to15 dollars IIRC. And another small amount for dues each meeting.

[overedge]

I remember my mom paying a fee for me to be in Brownies the one year I did join (I was 9, I think). That would have been in the late 60s.

I was in Brownies and then Guides, over three years, and I think there were dues (as Norlite describes) that were on some sort of sliding scale or pay-what-you-can. I know I wouldn't have been in it if it had been really expensive.
I also remember that we had to pay a small fee to get each of the badges that we earned -for the actual badge, not for the activities that led to getting the badge.

[Really]

I was in Brownies and then Guides, over three years, and I think there were dues (as Norlite describes) that were on some sort of sliding scale or pay-what-you-can. I know I wouldn't have been in it if it had been really expensive.
I also remember that we had to pay a small fee to get each of the badges that we earned -for the actual badge, not for the activities that led to getting the badge.

It wouldn't have been much when I was in either because my mom was a single parent (almost unheard of in the 60s) and couldn't afford much.

[AragornElessar]

Same here w/the dues, but it was always called Membership Dues w/the Brownies and Guides groups I was w/. By the time I was in Rangers, the actual small Membership Fee had been brought in at the beginning of the year.

I also remember the one Guide Leader I had always explained at the beginning of the year why we needed to bring in those Dues. That they went to help pay for some of the costs of the Company. Such as badges, pins, supplies for various activities, etc...

Thanks to everyone for answering and assuring me that not only I was remembering things right, but I have a leg to stand on when I tell that snotty woman tomorrow she was wrong.

Not that she'll accept that, but...

[Norlite]

when I tell that snotty woman tomorrow she was wrong..

Why bother? You've already admitted she is the type that pushes certain buttons, and she won't listen anyway.

[cruisin]

I'm from the US. But, we paid dues. It wasn't much, I'm 59 and I was in GS back in the early/middle 60's. But dues went: partly to National organization and partly to cover badges and troop projects/trips. Any project/trip that was more expensive than what dues would cover, we contributed to separately.

[minx]

When I was a brownie in the late '60's, dues were ten cents a meeting, a nice shiny dime, and if you missed one you had to pay it up the next time. Ten cents was a lot, if you missed many meetings it added up, and girls dropped out but then would start again the next season. There was a stock of used uniforms. I think you had to buy the scarf. T'wit, t'wit, twa-woo. A church would sponsor units.

Many of us have left Trefoild Guild because of how they centralized operations. It's really terrible now. It is so top heavy in bureaucracy and all the money goes to Toronto.

We can't take kids outside the building without a pile of triple signed forms and our attempts to be able to do an outdoor skate were declined. too risky. Everything is too risky. I learned to skate in Brownies, for Pete's sake, which led me to lessons in the arena later.

[MacMadame]

I quit Girl Scouts because our leaders wanted us to not only bring $1 per meeting but they would cancel every other meeting due to one of the leaders having a regular conflict and they demanded we pay dues for those canceled meetings too! And we then had to pay extra for our many activities on top of it. My family didn't have that kind of money so I quit.

[Karina1974]

Everything is too risky. I learned to skate in Brownies, for Pete's sake, which led me to lessons in the arena later.

You too?! I only did Brownies one year (third grade) and somewhere in my parents' attic is my sash with my Learn To Skate patch sown on the back. We did an 8 or so week lesson block at a local roller skating rink, on Saturday mornings. At the end of the program, we performed a gorup routine for the parents, and then they did an all-skate session, where the parents got to skate with the Scouts. I remember my father rocking the Mohawk turns, in both directions!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My dad's Boy Scout troop charges membership dues, although I don't know how much. They also do popcorn sales (BSA's version of the cookie sales!) and I've had my car washed twice this year at the carwashes they hold to raise money ('course, my dad paid for it! ). They do one camping trip every month, and then there's the week of summer camp in July, and if anyone goes to NOAC or the National Jamboree that's more money.

[overedge]

Why bother? You've already admitted she is the type that pushes certain buttons, and she won't listen anyway.

And if she does, she will probably get snarky about the "difference" between membership fees and membership dues.

[AragornElessar]

Why bother? You've already admitted she is the type that pushes certain buttons, and she won't listen anyway.

I didn't get a chance anyway. I had a really bad night pain wise and by the time I finally conked out, I was out for the better part of the day and she was thankfully gone. Still had to put up w/a lecture from Mommy Dearest on we need to respect people and their opinions.

When it's delievered in a well thought out, non aggressive, "I'm right so don't even bother trying to correct me" free tone, then I am more than happy to do that. That's not only not what happened here yesterday, but considering she was a guest in this house, was also pretty rude to boot.

God forbid I point that out to my Mom however...

[Artemis@BC]

I'm a bit late to this discussion, but I certainly remember paying weekly dues all the way through Brownies and Guides in the 70s and 80s. Not sure about an annual membership, but that could have been the case too. I do remember there were work-arounds for girls whose families couldn't afford the dues or other costs -- I have a vivid memory of collecting and washing old uniforms that were donated for example, and fundraising to send kids to camp.

By the time I hit Pathfinders and Cadets we were a much smaller and self-directed group so our fundraising tended to be project-specific rather than a weekly thing.

And yes, I too learned to skate via Brownies. Just one of the many, many, many skills I attribute to my Guiding years. I still keep in touch with the remarkable woman who was our leader for Pathfinders and Cadets, and visit her whenever I'm in her part of the country.