Guide
Fourteen years ago, I blogged about Doris and Ken - a sweet old couple who once lived on the corner of our street. They had no living family in England - just a niece in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. As a family, we befriended them and I oversaw some key matters for them as their lives entered the endgame - arranging residential home places, their funerals and the clearance and sale of their house. In some ways, their home was like a museum that accommodated so much evidence of the wholesome lives they had lived. They had both been born before World War One. Doris was involved in girl guiding, first as a girl guide and then later as a guide leader. Amongst her many papers I found an edition of "The Guide" dated November 11th, 1922 - "A journal for lovers of the open air, camping, hobbies etc.." That flimsy magazine is now 103 years old and it is in effect washed up historical detritus from a very different age. I just want to share two features from this m...