2010 GGC centennial merchandise is here!

After eagerly awaiting its arrival, the Girl Guides of Canada officially released its pint sized group of 100th anniversary merchandise a few weeks ago. The capsule collection includes two different patches, a metal pin, a metal cell phone/key chain charm, and a comfy 100% cotton t-shirt (which is available in assorted youth and adult sizes).

For those of us – both Canadian and international collectors alike – these pieces, which feature a colour pallet of blue and white, are long awaited treasures that help to commemorate the milestone anniversary that the GGC is celebrating this year.

All of the 2010 anniversary items can be purchased online from the Girl Guides of Canada’s ecommerce site or through this latest edition of the GGC catalogue. I’ve not heard any numbers in terms of how many centennial items have been produced, but given the interest that such pieces tend to generate, I’d highly recommend grabbing your anniversary merchandise as soon as you can.

{This lovely, cheerful patch is one of two different celebratory 100th anniversary designs that are available from the GGC this year; it’s available for $1.95 (CND) from the GGC's website or catalogue.}


If you’re going to buy some of these wonderful items, I'd definitely suggest picking up a few extra, as they will no doubt prove to be popular trading items both this year and in the future (especially with fans of GG/GS anniversary patches and pins).

Should you want a patch or pin of your own, yet live outside of Canada or do not want to order online or from the current GGC (paper) catalogue for whatever reason, please feel free to email me. I plan on placing an order for centennial items in the near future and would be happy to pick up an anniversary piece or two for you (you can either repay me for the cost of the item(s) via PayPal or we can work out a patch swap).

I’m delighted that the GGC has put out items to celebrate this momentous event! It’s not every day that an organization – let alone one as profoundly important as the GGC – reaches the venerable age of 100. I can’t wait to see what the future holds in stores for the Girl Guides of Canada – and WAGGGS members worldwide – in the coming century of Guiding life.

Geocities is no more

A few weeks back a reader kindly emailed me to say that it seemed like some of the links in the Patch Collectors’ Directory were broken. I immediately looked into it and it turns out the links she was referring to were all Geocities websites. It wasn’t that the links weren’t working so much as that the websites in question no longer existed.

(A once popular and well known personal website hosting provider, Geocities recently closed its doors as a free service.)


In 2009, Yahoo, the company that ran Geocities, shut down the free personal website hosting service after offering it to users for numerous years, citing that they wanted to focus their attention on other sectors of the Yahoo web sphere.
Though it is my understanding that Yahoo gave their Geocities users fair warning in advance of their shutting this service down, its cessation still caught many users – and a substantial number of web viewers the world over off guard (I heard about the matter throw my husband who works in the IT industry). This closure, which you can read more details about in the official Yahoo page on the topic, also means that nearly everywhere a Geocities page was linked to from an external website, said links are now defunct.

Thusly it was time for me to once again prune my way through the Patch Directory, removing all of the “dead” links (be they Geocities or otherwise) and bringing it up-to-date just in time for the New Year. I like to weed out any defunct links on that page at least once a year, and hadn’t done so for several months, so it was actually not a hassle in the least to update the page today.

To those who lost their Geocities websites (be they Guiding, Scouting or otherwise related) as a result of this closure, I’m sincerely sorry. While I realize Geocities was no longer as popular as it once was in the nineties, many people will still utilized its services, and I feel Yahoo should have at least offered to keep hosting any and all existing Geocities pages for free (and simply closed new sign-ups, if they wanted to cap user numbers).

With Geocities gone, there are now far fewer personal Guiding and patch trading related sites on the web, but I hope that at least a portion of those who lost their pages will rebuild them or start new sites elsewhere (if you’re looking for a free personal website hosting service, I’ve heard positive things about Jimdo.com, but have not tried this site myself).

If you’ve launched a new Guiding/patch collecting related site (or simply have one that isn’t in the Patch Trading Directory already) please let me know and I will post it in the directory at once.

I sincerely appreciate the reader’s email that reminded me about Geocities shutting its doors, and always welcome correspondence regarding any element of this blog or the Guiding/Scouting realm.

Celebrating my second blogiversary with an open call to trade patches

Two full years have passed since I first began this wonderfully fun blog, and a tad more time than has rolled by since I began to collect Girl Guide and Girl Scout patches (and badges, and pins, and silks, and...) again for the first time since I was a Pathfinder. Over the course of those two years many things have transpired in my life. I’ve moved homes, experienced very rough periods of health, adopted an incredibly precious cat (Stella), had a marvelous visit (last spring) with my mom and step-dad who flew out to visit my husband and I here in Ontario, experienced my first (two!) operas (which I hope are the just the beginning of a lifetime of live opera performances), began a second blog (devoted to my lifelong love of the past called Chronically Vintage), become an avid photographer, and experienced many other memorable events both large and small.

In that time I’ve also had the true pleasure of meeting (in the online sense of the word) and swapping patches with many fantastic people from across the world. Getting to know some of my fellow patch collectors, learning from your years of GG/GS collecting wisdom, and sharing my thoughts on all manner of Guiding related topics with you has been nothing short of a joy. Some swappers and I have interacted only once, others several times, and a handful of badge collectors have become cherished friends. No matter the duration of our correspondence, I can say with absolute sincerity that every one of the people I’ve swapped with has definitely exuded the spirit of the sisterhood of Guiding, and helped to make me even happier that I rekindled my love of patch collecting!

On that note I am issuing a call to swap to one and all! I know that our ranks have dwindled as of late, but at the same time I know there are many people across the world who are also still actively collecting and trading patches. Whether we’ve swapped before or not yet had the pleasure, if you would like to trade, please swing by my Dupes and Traders list to see what catches your eye then zip an email my way letting me know what you available to swap.

Today, on this lovely second blogging anniversary, and always, thank you to one and all for your friendship and the wonderful swaps we’ve shared. I look forward to many more years of trading and sharing in this terrific hobby with you!