Who or what is Aggie? After coming across the name for years, it’s a question I very much wanted to answer and the truth is Aggie is many different things. She’s a doll, a mascot, an event but also more. When I started to research Aggie, I posted a photo of a crest on the ‘Beyond the Badge’ Facebook page and got a pretty positive response back and a number of Guiders shared photos and stories about Aggie. Before I start this blog I want to say a big thank you to Michelle Jermy, who attended four of the Aggie events and who helped research for this blog.
Aggie was the commonly used name for what was officially called the ‘Senior Branch Spring Festival’, an annual spring weekend held from 1973 to 2003 for Senior Branches members which at the time included Rangers, Cadets, and Junior Leaders. The first was held in London and called ‘Play it Again, Aggie’. The youth members who planned the event chose the name because they felt that Agnes Baden-Powell, sister to Lord Baden-Powell and first President of the Girl Guide, needed some more recognition in the movement. Even today this may still be true.
The name Aggie stuck, and a different area in Ontario (Kingston, Hamilton, etc.) would host the annual weekend. These weekends could be quite large with 1992’s “Aggie and the Sleeping Giant”, hosted by Voyageur Area in Thunder Bay, attended by 350 youth participants and 2000’s “Aggie
Beams into the New Century'' attended by 450 youth participants. Each weekend would have a distinct theme, name and crest. The activities would include both program and personal training sessions, out-trips, a guest speaker, and a banquet on the Saturday night.
Aggie was also a large rag doll, with her own uniform and theme outfits who came to each event. When I posted a photo of an Aggie event crest on the ‘Beyond the Badge’s’ Facebook page, a Guider kindly shared a photo taken of Aggie in her own little hot air balloon. Aggie's job that year was to greet people as they came in and she matched that year’s crest. I think it may have been from 1998’s ‘Looking Great in ‘98’ hosted by the Willows Bluff Area in Scarborough.
The last Aggie weekend was held in 2003 and the following year Aggie ‘wrote’ a goodbye letter that was published in the Ontario Guiding newsletter. In the letter, Aggie told readers that she spent the last year traveling abroad which is why nothing took place in 2004. Aggie had taken time to reflect and decided that after 30 years of the Aggie event, it was time for her to move on from Senior Branches (she is well past the age limit of 18 after all). She would instead join the Ontario Trefoil Guild which is for adult members 30 and above. A new Senior Branch event would be designed for the 2005 year. Aggie now wears the purple uniform of the Trefoil Guild and she (and her vast wardrobe) enjoys retirement at the Ontario Girl Guide Archives and greets the staff as they enter.
Special Thanks to Michelle J., Maureen R., Christina L. and Kristel P.
Thanks for reading! - Em
Below is a collection of Crest with Aggie that people were kind enough to send in and if you have a crest that’s not here feel free to message the Facebook page and I’ll add it in!
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