The CBB :: View topic - Brownie Pockets

#1: Brownie Pockets Author: Karry,

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 10:54 am

i was a brownie in the days of the brown uniform dress with breast pockets. I was trying to remember the other day what the essential items were that we could lose points over. I can remember having to have a pencil, notepaper, 4d for a phone call (just shows how long ago it was!) some string and ...... anyone else any idea? I could never understand why, a couple of years after I left, the very useful triangular scarf was got rid of - how did brownies create a sling without it?

#2: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:00 am

I was a Brownie in the 80s. We had pockets in the skirt of the dress though and your stuff was in that. I remember hating the bobble hat.

Hmm - string, paper, a pencil, 5p then 10p for the phone and a handkerchief and you got 5 points for each item. I *think* that was all.

I loved Brownies! I was Sixer of the Kelpies and was really keen and probably completely annoying!

#3: Author: LadyGuinevere, Location: Leicester

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:05 am

I became a Brownie in 1990, and I remember the brown dresses and we had cross necktie things I think (could be mixing it all up). On occassion, I think I even wore some of my mothers old things from the 1960s! But I do know there had been some changes. I was there for the change over though - which bizarrely, I didn't like!

Now you mention it, I do remember something about things in pockets, but I couldn't recall anything in the way of details.

#4: Author: Dreaming Marianne, Location: Devon

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:33 am

Mia wrote:

I remember hating the bobble hat.

Gosh, yes, wasn't it hot and itchy? Um, I can't remember what else went in the pockets - subs money?

#5: Author: AnnaJ as guest,

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:39 am

Was that the brown tent-like "dress" that was incredibly unflattering? I remember huge pockets, but only keeping a hanky, 10p and string in there. I seem to remember wearing a belt with a purse attached to it and keeping subs money in there.

#6: Author: JackieJ, Location: Kingston upon Hull

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 12:16 pm

Now I come to think of it I remember the paper and pencil and money thing. I think I may have carried a safety pin as well. But I definitely had the crossed neck-tie and the belt with the purse on. I think I've got a pic somewhere of my sister in the outfit (she's three years younger than me so it worked out perfectly for passing on the uniform)

I didn't like the modern one either. I think it was the brown colour they used...

JackieJ

#7: Author: Karry,

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 12:53 pm

Again, showing my age, we didnt have a bobble hat, but a brown beret (which made me smile in Carola) that had to have the little stalk thing pulled off to show that you were "cool"

#8: Author: Simone, Location: Newton le Willows

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 1:34 pm

Quote:

Again, showing my age, we didnt have a bobble hat, but a brown beret (which made me smile in Carola) that had to have the little stalk thing pulled off to show that you were "cool"

I definately remember that and the hanky, string, paper, pencil and safety pin. I don't know about the dresses being baggy tent like things, I seem to remember mine barely being decent by the time I left, it was so short and tight

#9: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 1:37 pm

As I recall, the most important pocket item was sung about interminably.

I have something in my pocket that belongs across my face,
And I keep it very close at hand in a most convenient place.
I am sure you couldn't guess it if you guessed a long, long while,
So I'll take it out and put it on. It's a great big Brownie smile.

(No, I was never a Brownie, only an envious wanna-be.)

#10: Author: Alex, Location: Hunts, UK

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 6:35 pm

We used to keep our safety pins in pinned through our handkerchiefs so as not to lose them. The ties were silly (another 80s Brownie here) - they looked like they were pinned in place by the badge but really they had velcro at the back. And I could never find my hat - we only wore them for church parade (the cubs wore their caps then, too).

#11: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 6:41 pm

I also longed to be a Brownie - even when I was too old! I liked the different names for the different sections - they were names of animals? Were they called packs?

#12: Author: Róisín, Location: Galway, Eire

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:25 pm

I was a Brownie in and around 1988/9ish. We had blue military-style dresses with pockets and straps and things. There was a strap on your shoulder that was specially for your itchy bobble hat. We had a special brownie clap and a special brownie way of clapping 'thank you'. We played special brownie games as well, though I can't remember what they were. The under sixes were called tweeties or tweeny birds or something like that.

#13: Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!!

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:30 pm

Gosh I dont remember having to carry anything at all, and we certainly didnt have running marks kept on things like like, though we probably did have patrol inspections. Bobble hats are just wrong.

#14: Author: Squirrel, Location: St-Andrews or Dunfermline

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 8:19 pm

I became a brownie in 1990 - I stil have the certificate somewhere I think! I wore the borwn dress uniform with the yellow cross tie, belt with purse on it, bobble hat. I know that my tie did not have velcro on it, the badge held it in place a bit. It fastened with a button at the back.

I was one of the last members to wear this uniform in our pack - I wore it for about a year after the other one came in. Parents refused to replace it for the sake of one year. Don't blame them, though I know of many other brownies in the same position who changed to the new uniform.

We did have inspection though I don't recall having to have stuff in the pockets - we got points for tidyness - hair, clean unbitten nails, soft soled shoes, and proper uniform.

I was both seconder and sixer in my six - the pixies. It was all good fun, though it's only recently that the animal names came in overall. Up until the last few years they have all had 'elf' names. To fit in with the brownie story I imagine. Apparantly they are too childish for currant brownies, or something like that anyway.

#15: Author: Ann, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 9:56 pm

We always had to have our Brownie handbooks with us or we lost points.

Awful though that brown dress was (I was a Brownie from 1988-90), the Jeff Banks-designed uniform which followed it was also terrible. *has traumatic memories of the hideous baggy jogging bottoms and blue baseball cap*

#16: Author: Xanthe, Location: London/Cambridge

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 9:59 pm

There was never a definitive list produced of what Brownies should have in their pockets: it was always at the discretion of Brown Owl, although the Brownie Handbook for 1968 does say: "These pockets are useful - especially for our Pocket Books, a pencil, and a spare hanky."

Chair: a group (Unit) of Brownies is called a Pack; the smaller groups in the Pack are called "Sixes"... tradtional fairy names live on (huzzah!) but have been reduced in number and supplemented with woodland creatures...

And now I will stop, before I tell everyone more than they have ever wanted to know about Brownies...

#17: Re: Brownie Pockets Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 10:34 pm

Karry wrote:

i was a brownie in the days of the brown uniform dress with breast pockets.

Jumps and waves me too! Sadly, I don't remember having to carry anything but it was a very long time ago.

#18: Author: Rosie, Location: Huntingdonshire/Bangor

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 10:25 am

I always wanted to have the brown dress. I became a Brownie a couple of years after they changed. The culottes were dire. I have seen about 2 Brownies EVER that looked good in those things (and yes Xanthe, one of them was from your lot the other year Wink

#19: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:22 pm

I wanted one too, Rosie!!!

I was so envious of the one girl who still wore the brown dress. I think we just got the manky uniform cos the new ones are much better than ours.....for yes I also an ove-enthusiastic Brownie (and Rainbow, and Guide, and Ranger, and Guider......and still am). And now I shall shut up about uniforms cos it's one of my pet topics.

As regards pockets, we had bags which contained - Handbook, Badgebook, Pencil, Notebook, Hanky/Tissues, Money for a phone call and a stamp. Why we had a stamp I could never understand, but we did.

#20: Author: Joyful, Location: Manchester

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 3:27 pm

I seem to have written this on the umbrella thread too...but nevermind!

I was one of the last brown dress and bobble hat brownies at ours. In our pocket or belt purse (if you had one!) we had to have: pencil, paper, 10p (to make a phone call), hanky (always useful!) and a piece of string (in case your knicker elastic broke!).
I was an Imp and then a Kelpie, eventually Kelpie Sixer. We also has the Leprechauns and Bwbachods. Never met anyone else who had Bwbachods...anyone? And no we weren't in Wales! Very odd!

#21: Author: Joey, Location: Cambridge

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 4:17 pm

We had Bwbachod! I've never heard of a Brownie pack not having them, but then we were in deepest Wales.

We had the bobble hats and belt purses, but all we were allowed to put in them was subs money. We had Inspection at the beginning of every meeting, the main purpose of which seemed to be for Brown Owl to tell off the people who bit their nails.

#22: Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:11 pm

Pencil, paper, safety pin, hanky, string, 2p for a phone call (it was the 70's!), subs money in the purse on the belt, AND A PLASTER! We wore the brown dress & the bobble hat. If Brownies with long hair didn't have it tied back with a well ironed brown ribbon - woe betide you!

#23: Author: Joyful, Location: Manchester

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:17 pm

Joey wrote:

We had Bwbachod! I've never heard of a Brownie pack not having them, but then we were in deepest Wales.

...and we were in Manchester. hmm...
Think that just confirms my theory that we were strange!

#24: Author: Alex, Location: Hunts, UK

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 10:01 pm

I was in the Ghillie Dhus and I don't think I've spelt the first word right, and none of the other Brownie packs around had them. Apart from that we had the usual elf/pixie types.

#25: Author: Liane, Location: Manchester England

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 7:05 am

I started with the brown dress and loved it and then we all had to get the horrible new one (although my friend could never understand the fact that I prefered the dress). I also remember my mum bemoaning the fact that she had to transfer all my badges! We never bothered with things in pockets, nor do I remember any inspections. I do remember that I was seconder and then sixer of the Pixies.

#26: Author: Nina, Location: Peterborough, UK

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 9:29 am

Oh yes, the brown dress with pockets. And the crossover tie - think I just missed the long one, a couple of the older girls still had them. I had a beret as well. I remember having to have paper, pencil, hanky, string and 2p for the phone, all inspected and earning points. We also had to show our nails, they had to be clean and non-bitten! I know I was a Pixie, and I think we had Sprites but can't remember the others.

I was only a Brownie for about 8 weeks, I really didn't get on with it because I was such a loner and found it all rather jolly and exhausting Confused

but the thing that sticks in my mind is the Thinking Day ceremony we had with the two neighbouring packs, we lit candles and made maps and drew pictures of Brownie uniforms from other countries.

ETA: and how could I forget -my 8 weeks was in a Jubilee year, I think the Diamond Jubilee?? (must have been around 1970/71?) We all went to Fratton Park (the Portsmouth FC stadium) and had a big meeting. I remember very little about it apart from the sheer number of people and the fact that half our pack couldn't find the other half and we couldn't all sit together.

#27: Author: Alice, Location: London, England

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 10:54 am

I was a Brownie in 1989/90 and my mum had just bought the brown dress for me when the new uniform came in. Everyone else got a new uniform. I did like the dress but I felt quite uncomfortable being the odd one out. I moved to cubs not long after that because I was being teased at Brownies and lots of people at school had joined cubs. I went back to Guides later. I could go on for ages about my experience in Brownies, Guides, Cubs, Scouts and numerous other organisations!

#28: Author: Sarah_L, Location: Leeds

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 3:00 pm

I was a Brownie from late 1989 to when I went up to Guides, so I started with the brown dress and bobble hat and was there for the changeover. I hated the culottes, I had a massive growth spurt when I was nine or ten
(reckon I've hardly grown since) so my culottes were far too short. We certainly never had to have anything in our pockets, and there was no points system. I was a little swot at Brownies - I had more interest badges than anyone else and I was the only one on my Highway. I was sixer of the Sprites, which my family oh-so-humorously referred to as the Sprouts.

#29: Author: nikkie, Location: Cumbria

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:04 pm

I had the brown dress too and went up just before the changeover Very Happy

I was obsessed with collecting badges Embarassed

but I can't remember anything about pockets Confused

#30: Author: JackieJ, Location: Kingston upon Hull

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 9:12 pm

I still have all my badges - I sewed them onto my blanket that I took to Guide camp with me (the Guide badges went on there when it became DofE camping blanket) - I promise if I come to the Feb gather you'll all see them.

I was a sixer too - of the Pixies - but only for about three months as I was seconder to my friend Marie who was only three months older than I. But I did come up with an idea which let the whole pack get our Venture badges (we made a banner for the Rainbow's to carry at Church Parade)

JackieJ

#31: Author: Ann, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 3:22 pm

Liane wrote:

I also remember my mum bemoaning the fact that she had to transfer all my badges!

That was the main advantage to the uniform change - not having to sew badges onto your sleeve any more. As a Brownie I made the mistake of getting my Needleworker badge which meant, as my mum pointed out, that I was perfectly capable of sewing on my own badges. I lost count of the amount of times I sewed my left sleeve together. Rolling Eyes

#32: Author: Joey, Location: Cambridge

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 3:32 pm

What did you do with your badges, then?

Being an odd child and fond of sewing (still am!), I thought sewing my badges on was one of the best bits of getting one, and I had a double row of badges all the way down my right arm. I still have them somewhere, I think.

#33: Author: Squirrel, Location: St-Andrews or Dunfermline

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 3:41 pm

The new brownie uniform, and the only guide one I had, had a sash which was alright barring the fact that they were held together with a metal pin, and they were not sturdy enough to take the general knocks they got from brownie and guide games. All of the badges went on the sash rather than on the sleeves. The promise badge and the unit name badge went on it as well as everything else.

#34: Author: Ann, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 3:41 pm

The new (i.e. 1990) uniforms had sashes which you wore across your right shoulder. They were much easier to sew badges onto, but the pins that held them together were useless and frequently fell off. As a Guide I lost my sash most spectacularly on a spiral staircase in tower at Warwick Castle and had it returned to me by a very kind American tourist.

The baseball caps were also very poorly designed - they blew away in the slightest breeze, which is highly inconvenient halfway through a Thinking Day parade through Coventry city centre. Mine was run over three times in two years. It's amazing that I was awarded any points during Inspection when my uniform was falling to bits.

#35: Author: Liane, Location: Manchester England

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 6:04 pm

There is a site which sell uniforms and things and they have changed again. They don't really look like uniforms anymore. There is also a section of clothes for rainbows. When I was a rainbow we had yellow tabbards and you had to leave those at the church.

#36: Author: Squirrel, Location: St-Andrews or Dunfermline

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 6:08 pm

True I'd forgotton about the change. I guess you could compare the new bits of the brownie unifrom to a track suit of some description. The old uniform has not gone out though, this is just extra. The same is true for the rainbows. They are now dressed in pink if you please (how steriotypical for young girls!) and like the brownies this is like a track suit and the tabards are still in use. My girls wear green - I was one of the first rainbows in that pack - and until I went off to uni I was a guider there as well.

#37: Author: Ann, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:52 am

Liane wrote:

They don't really look like uniforms anymore.

It's called 'activity wear' now - I suppose the term 'uniform' is a bit too military these days.

#38: Author: Rosie, Location: Huntingdonshire/Bangor

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:58 pm

Squirrel wrote:

I guess you could compare the new bits of the brownie unifrom to a track suit of some description. The old uniform has not gone out though, this is just extra. The same is true for the rainbows. They are now dressed in pink if you please (how steriotypical for young girls!) and like the brownies this is like a track suit and the tabards are still in use.

A lot of girls are still wearing the older versions of the uniform (or section wear...) for their section, but it isn't really an 'extra' as such. More that we are still in the changeover period.

The new Rainbow uniform is red, not pink, for precisely the reason of NOT being stereotypical! It is also possible for some Rainbow units to continue wearing tabards: my Welsh unit nearly all have the new uniform but my unit at home have yellow tabards as we meet straight after school.

#39: Author: Xanthe, Location: London/Cambridge

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 10:15 pm

Squirrel wrote:

I guess you could compare the new bits of the brownie unifrom to a track suit of some description.

Or indeed to, er, a bus, as there are ALMOST the same number of similarites, although I WILL grant you that at least a tracksuit is also clothing...

The current range of Brownie wear is: activity trousers/leggings/cycling shorts/skort for the bottom half; then either a t-shirt or a long-sleeved top for the top half, with a hooded jumper... oh, and of course there is the bright yellow gillet... and the older-style stuff is still larking about the place as well, but the majority of girls have the newer items...

The new Rainbow uniform is very fine. But unless you are a Rainbow, you are not meant to wear it. And you MAY get in trouble if you get caught. In CHQ. (And no, it wasn't me, and it wasn't Rosie either...)

#40: Author: Rosie, Location: Huntingdonshire/Bangor

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 10:22 pm

The XS Rainbow polo shirts were SO cute though.

#41: Author: BethC, Location: Worcester, UK

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 10:22 pm

Alex wrote:

I was in the Ghillie Dhus and I don't think I've spelt the first word right, and none of the other Brownie packs around had them. Apart from that we had the usual elf/pixie types.

We had them! Although they were disbanded (or replaced?) at some point between me leaving Brownies and going back to help out in my final year of Guides. Think I was an Elf then a Pixie, or possibly the other way around. And I was another with the brown dress and bobble hat - I quite liked the dress, actually (although the less said about the hat, the better).
Somewhere in a family album (haven't tracked it down to remove it!) there's a photo of me in full Brownie uniform with a tablespoon hanging on my nose... Confused

The only pocket inspection I remember was when I managed to convince Brown Owl that my glasses-cleaning cloth was actually my hanky - not sure if she really believed me (it didn't look at all like one), but I got away with it!

#42: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 2:43 am

Ummm the Rainbow wear is for Rainbows.....please take note Xanthe and Rosie! Personally I think it's horrid, and my Rainbows still wear tabards but that's my personal opinion. Plus tabards are so convenient - they just pop them on over school uniform or their clothes or whichever, they're much much cheaper than a tracksuit and t-shirt and whatever else is deemed necessary and they don't grow out of them. Even I can still (sort of) fit my Rainbow tabard!

RE sashes - all good Brownies and Guides should have stitched their sashes together at the bottom to prevent embarassing loss of sash....especially with the new badges which are rubbish, and plastiky, and break and are generally not good. Sashes are a brilliant idea, I still have mine, with both side crammed full of badges (oh little keen me)

Guides was rather less successful I have to say. I belonged to a company that didn't "do" uniform and didn't "do" badges, with was rather disappointing cos I wanted to be all traditional a la CS Guides and get all badges and go camping. But c'est la vie....

#43: Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks

Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 11:50 pm

francesn wrote:

Sashes are a brilliant idea, I still have mine, with both side crammed full of badges (oh little keen me)

Jess ended up with 2 sashes, one over each shoulder as she had so many badges by the time she left Rolling Eyes

- took me forever to sew them onto her camp blanket for Guides Very Happy

#44: Author: Rosie, Location: Huntingdonshire/Bangor

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 8:53 am

My mother never even offered to sew my badges onto my camp blanket! She did finish sewing my blazer badge for me just before year 10 after I got distracted by televised horse trials and got blood on the badge...

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