Brownies: they're small, travel in packs and do magical things.

However, the reference is not to the mythical bearded elf, but the Brownies who wear yellow shirts, brown skirts and belong to Girl Guiding Bermuda.

Royal Gazette reporter Jessie Moniz recently spent time with a Brownie pack that meets every Friday at St. Patrick's Church Hall, in Smith's parish. Their group is followed by a group of older girls, Girl Guides, who meet later in the evening.

At first the place looked like a three ring circus. Girls raced around, hula-hooped, did jumping jacks, talked, and argued. But gradually order emerged from the chaos.

Girlguiding Bermuda Commissioner Denise Woodhouse explained that the girls jumping in the church hall were doing fitness activities. The girls outside were on a scavenger hunt.

As she spoke, a group of girls came inside. "I found something that is younger than me and grows outside," said one girl holding up a leaf. Ms Woodhouse nodded. The leaf met the requirements of the hunt.

Another girl held up something squishy. "I found something yellow and round," she said proudly. "Can I eat it now?"

Leader Jorge-Ann Costly, who is in charge of the St. Patrick's pack, looked alarmed. "No, you cannot eat that. Where did you get it?"

Sadly, the yellow, squishy candy did not count in the scavenger hunt, because it did not grow outside. The girls went back to scavenging.

Lauren Smyth, seven, lagged behind long enough to be nabbed by The Royal Gazette. You have to move fast to catch a Brownie.

"I've only been here a couple of weeks," she said. "Lots of stuff we do here is fun. I asked my mom if I could join because my friend is a Brownie. I thought it would be fun and I was right. It IS fun!"

Another girl, Lindsay Flood, nine, said she spent all week looking forward to coming to Brownies.

"We play games and we sing songs and we have pow wow," she said. "That is when we do our song and then we get into a circle. We get to say things about what we did during the week. Then we go around the circle."

Lindsay, Lauren and the others in the Brownie packs are some of the lucky ones. There are at least 60 other girls on the waiting list to join Brownies and Girl Guides.

"There is a huge shortage of leaders at all levels of Brownies and Girl Guides," said Ms Costly. "I have 48 girls here, and that is the largest group in Bermuda.

"You don't have to have been a Brownie yourself to become a leader. Anyone can be a leader, but you have to be vetted first. There is training in Bermuda and a number of requirements that have to be followed.

"There is a whole booklet of things we have to do to lead. It is not hard. It is fun."

Ms Costly has been a leader for two years and was herself a Brownie and Girl Guide as a child.

"When I was a kid I liked helping other people and that's the Brownie motto," she said. "As an adult, I like giving back to the community. I also like helping young girls because they are important, but they get left out of things a little bit. This is about helping them to enjoy and learn new things."

As part of Brownies, the girls work on a number of badges including fire safety, cooking, entertainment, agility and first aid.

"We do different activities that the girls can learn from," said Ms Costly. "We did a camp holiday in the summer. We are getting ready to celebrate Mardi Gras next month. They will learn why they have it, the different kind of things that happen. They will make floats. Our district commissioner will judge their floats, and then we will have a little party."

Ms Woodhouse said people in the community sometimes assumed that being a Brownie and a Girl Guide was a thing of the past.

"Unlike popular belief, Brownies and Girl Guides are very popular," added Ms Woodhouse. "It is very modern. Guides and guide leaders do communication skills. We do safe from harm skills. We talk about boys and drugs. We get right into it."

As Commissioner, Ms Woodhouse is not a leader, but because of the shortage of leaders she runs a pack in the East End.

"I absolutely feel proud when we see our girls grow up and graduate," she said. "They always come running over to talk with you."

She said the girls in Brownies and Girl Guides come from all walks of the community, private schools and government schools. Some of the children come from stable backgrounds, while other girls come from homes where their parents are on drugs or in prison.

"Some of the children have difficult lives," said Ms Woodhouse. "Sometimes Brownies is their only peace. When they come running up to you and say, 'I love Brownies' you feel good. We did circle time the other day and asked them 'why am I happy today'.

"One girl said 'I am happy today because I have two wonderful Brownie leaders'. That comes from someone who is six-years-old. That touched my heart."

Perhaps the biggest indicators of the programme's success are the girls who outgrow Girl Guides and stay on to become 'young leaders', helping to supervise the children coming behind them.

Christine Jack, 17, started at the youngest level of Brownies in 'Rainbows'. She is now a young leader, training to become a leader.

"My mom enrolled me at the beginning in Rainbows and Brownies," said Christine. "Then I decided to become a Girl Guide. At that age you know if you want to continue or not. I also did the Duke of Edinburgh programme. For that I had to do a service."

Because of a shortage of Brownie and Girl Guide leaders, Christine did her service as a young leader.

"For my Girl Guide group, three leaders left," said Christine. "They had new leaders who didn't know anything about Bermuda Guiding. Two of us Girl Guides stayed on to help them." She said the little girls definitely look up to the young leaders.

"At school they see me and they will say 'hi'," she said. "These little girls here can run their mouths a bit, but you stand up to them and they look up to you. Doing this is a privilege for me. Not everyone gets to do it."

Christine was a prefect at the Bermuda High School for Girls (BHS) and then became Head Girl. She credited the leadership skills she learned at Brownies and Girl Guides as helping her achieve these roles.

"It helps at school," she said. "I am doing our prom. Some people in our year don't take the initiative to do stuff. From Brownies I have learned that there has to be a leader somewhere."

She is now in the International Baccalaureate programme at BHS and hopes to go to university in Canada to study commerce. "I want to help with the Brownies and Girl Guides when I go overseas," she said.

Another young leader Morgan Smith, 12, said being with Brownies and Girl Guides helped her come out of her shell.

"I got a bit more confidence in myself," she said. "I was always shy and everything. Here you have to speak in front of everyone.

"The little kids look up to you. They show respect for us. They listen to us. Sometimes it takes awhile to get their attention."

To encourage the Brownies to be good, there is a system of 'Brownie bucks'.

"If they talk too much we take away a Brownie buck," said Morgan. "At the end they get to use their Brownie bucks. We bring in stuff like toys and they spend their Brownie bucks on that."

Morgan said she didn't have a problem with the organisation being all girls. "It would be a bit more crazy with boys here," she said.

Another young leader, Jessica Mihelcic, 12, said she enjoyed working with the younger children.

"I have been involved for about five years," she said. "I originally started because my friend did it and it sounded like fun. It did turn out to be fun. We play games and talk about things like recycling. It is really fun working with the little kids."

This month, the Brownies and Girl Guides will mark Thinking Day, an annual celebration of Guiding held around the world. It is also a way for the girls to thank their leaders.

The first Thinking Day was held in 1926, 16 years after Girl Guiding began in England.

February 22 was chosen because it was the birthday of Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement and his wife Olave, who did much for Girl Guiding during her lifetime. The couple visited Bermuda in 1930, and Lady Baden-Powell visited twice more after her husband's death.

"We do a fundraiser for Thinking Day," added Ms Woodhouse. "Last year we did very well. I am very proud of my girls. We raised $2,000 from a water point. This year I expect we will do well."

On Thinking Day, Brownies around the world talk about and do activities related to a special mission that in some way matches a United Nations mandate. The theme for Thinking Day 2009 is stopping the spread of AIDS, malaria and other diseases. In 2008 the theme was 'water' focusing on the aspects of water and sanitation that affect the health of girls and young women in all parts of the world.

At the end of the meeting attended by The Royal Gazette, the girls sat and discussed ways that they could raise money for the mosquito nets. The idea was to have someone to sponsor them to use their talents for a certain amount of time. One child suggested blowing bubbles. For some reason not a lot of the others liked the idea.

"Remember you don't all have to do these activities," said Ms Costly, standing in front of a large sheet of paper on the wall.

"You could eat two pieces of spaghetti really fast." This one was more popular but was vetoed by Ms Costly. Other suggestions included singing a song, crab walking, and doing cartwheels.

The girls got louder as they became more enthusiastic, but Ms Costly blew the whistle sharply, and gave them a firm talking to. "This is your responsibility. This is your troop. You need to pay attention."

Last year the girls were sponsored to only drink water and milk, no squash or soda for a period of time.

"This goes with the Guiding philosophy 'ourselves, our community and our world'," said Ms Woodhouse. "Last year, between all the units we raised $12,000 for water pumps in Somalia."

So it turns out that Brownies really are capable of magic.

For more information telephone Carol Hall at 292-0675 or email bgga@northrock.bm