My name is Rachel, I am 41 years old and I have lived local to Brighouse all of my life. I went to school in Lightcliffe as a child and now own the Red and White Stripped hut at Hipperholme, Rachel’s Unisex Hairdressers where I work.  I live in Bailiff Bridge with my 2 children Lucy and Jacob and like to swim at Brighouse pool, go to the gym , go walk and read when I can, because most of my time outside of work, is taken up with volunteering.

I have been Group Lead Volunteer at Hove Edge Scout Group for a few years now, but have been involved with the group as a leader for almost  8 years, since my Son started Hove Edge Beavers.   Before becoming a leader at Hove Edge, I  was already a Rainbow Leader at 1st Lightcliffe Rainbows and Brownie Leader for 2nd Lightcliffe Brownies.  Over the years all my groups have grown and a large number of local children attend on a weekly basis.  I run 5 evening meetings a week for Guiding and Scouting as a volunteer for both organisations.  Planning activities, running meetings and events,  maintaining the building, writing risk assessments, keeping records and awarding badges is all part of the job, there is always something i need to be doing.  I also arranged for all my groups to sleep out under the stars last summer and raised over 2  thousand pounds in sponsorship for Happy Days Homeless Charity.  This is something I m planning at the moment to repeat again this Summer as a fundraiser for another charity.   In addition to the weekly meetings I have run numerous weekend camps giving young people a wide variety of adventure and experiences and helping them to learn some independence. 

As a young child I was involved in Guiding and Scouting and I have fond memories of my time in Brownies and Scouts.  I was given so may fantastic opportunities, even a trip to Germany and being part of these amazing organisations I’m sure has helped me become the adult i am today.  Being kind, helpful and doing my best is always something i strive to do and i also have been encouraged from a young age to give everything a go and helped to see that you can achieve anything you want to do.  Now a days things are so much different for children growing up with influences such as social media and online gaming being so popular, I want to encourage children to join organisations like scouting and guiding and learn important skills outside of the cyber world.  Being part of a team like scouting and guiding instils important values and helps children grow in confidence, improving communication skills and encourages the ethos of thinking of others, helping others and generally promotes good will and kindness. My organisations are about having fun, building friendships for life and learning how to be part of team.  My roles are totally voluntary roles and I give up so much time as i feel it is important to keep a safe space, open for children to be themselves, and learn that they can achieve anything they want to do.  There is a shortage of leaders for both organisations and I do my best to juggle everything and keep all the groups open as children and families really benefit from the groups.  I’m so lucky to have am amazing team of helpers that support me in keeping these fabulous groups going.  My chosen charity is Hove Edge Scout Group as the £100 will go towards keeping  the hut running.

I’m absolutely delighted to be recognised for my volunteering and be chosen as this years Brighouse Gala Ambassador.  I couldn’t achieve any of this if I didn’t have an truly wonderful dedicated team of helpers working alongside me, including my own amazing parents who support the group and give up there time to help me keep the groups running.  I also have the  support of the fantastic parents that trust me to look after their children week in and week out. Most importantly I wouldn’t have any groups to run if i didn’t have so many amazing children that want to come and learn new skills, try new adventures build new friendships and push themselves out of their comfort zone to grow in confidence. So many children that come and make a promise that helps shape them in to amazing young people,  just like it did for me many years ago.