A GROUP of Girlguiding game-changers celebrated achieving Girlguiding’s highest award at an event in Parliament with action-adventurer Sally Kettle.

Heather Harper, 27, from Camelford, joined the celebration at the House of Commons last Friday.

Chief Guide Gill Slocombe and the Guinness World Record-holder Sally Kettle, who has twice rowed the Atlantic Ocean, gave Heather the award.

Heather took three years to complete the Queen’s Guide Award, a personal collection of challenges that must be completed before a young woman turns 26.

Sally Kettle gave a speech at the celebration about the amazing dedication of the Queen’s Guides. Fewer than 200 Girlguiding members complete the award every year.

Heather, in her second year at Plymouth University studying physiotherapy and a member of Camelford Young Farmers, selected personal challenges in fields including volunteering, social action, developing new skills and travelling to a new place.

Heather’s personal challenges included helping to organise a weekend of adventurous activities and camping for hundreds of Girlguiding members across the South West, walking coast to coast in Cornwall over four days, learning sign language and volunteering at a local youth group for the deaf.

The Queen’s Guide Award is the highest award achievable in Girlguiding. It centres round setting personal challenges to your own pace and helps young women gain skills for life and work.

Heather, a Ranger Leader and mentor to other Queen’s Guides in Cornwall, said: “Through the Queen’s Guide Award I’ve grown as a person and gained valuable life skills, which make me the person I am today. It made me join a new guiding group, which in turn gave me the confidence to participate in a deaf group, something I never thought I would ever do by myself. I challenged myself and proved that the sky is the limit. It’s ok to have a plan B and use it, what matters is how you got there and what it means to you.”

Girlguiding’s Chief Guide Gill Slocombe said: “It’s been fantastic to meet the Queen’s Guides here today. I’m proud of these inspirational young women who have achieved the Queen’s Guide Award by setting themselves incredible challenges and taking positive action in their communities. They are our next inspiring female role models who have proved they are a force for good.”

Sally Kettle said: “It’s a great pleasure to meet the young women who have given so much time and commitment to complete their Queen’s Guide Award. It takes a huge amount of courage, as every element of the Award pushes these young women to test themselves and to try something new and different.

“It’s testament to their resilience and hard work that the Queen’s Guides will be receiving their Award at the Houses of Parliament. I’m extremely proud of them, and I hope they realise what fantastic role models they are to everyone they meet.”

For more information about how to get involved with Girlguiding, the leading charity for girls and young women in the UK, visit www.girlguiding.org.uk