Tealing Guides (Est. 1927)
The 1st Tealing Girl Guide Company started in 1927 with Miss Molly Mount of Balluderon as Captain. She became District Commissioner in 1944 prior to Mrs Margaret Young of Shielhill, 1945-1948.
Janet Murray recalls "I joined in 1937, the meetings were held on a Friday evening and the Captain was Miss Maggie Paterson, who took over from Molly Mount. In the winter we were kept busy doing badge work, learning knots, first aid, morse code, flag signalling, sewing, knitting and country dancing. As we had no electricity then, just paraffin lamps, we had to be very careful if we had ball games. So they were left for the long clear evenings when we could play outside. During the summer evenings we would collect wild flowers and tree leaves, learn their names, collect firewood, cut turf and make camp fires where we would cook sausages on sticks. The highlight of the year was Guide Camp when we had a week away to put our skills to the test. When war broke out we would meet on a Saturday morning to collect Sphagnum Moss at Petterden, which was passed on to the Red Cross for use in dressings".
The Summary of Work records 1936-44 show that the group was very active. Their activities also included attending a rally in the Caird Hall Dundee when Lady Baden Powell visited in 1936, Coronation Rallies in 1937, concerts and fund raising for the Auchterhouse Sanatorium and knitting blanket squares for the Red Cross.
The Company was suspended in 1948 and then re-started in 1961, with 18 girls, at Tealing Hall. The Lieutenants were Eva Robertson and Zena Wylie. During the sixties, membership at the Murroes dropped and the company became the 1st Murroes/Tealing Girl Guide Company in 1970, continuing to meet in Tealing. Eva (now Acting Guide Guider) remembers "the programme was similar to the early years with the exception of war service. Today the girls are much more aware of global issues and help with aid to various charities and war/natural disaster areas. Things have changed over the years. The girls have other interests and, unfortunately, the numbers have dropped to just eight".