The Belgian Girl Guides
Legendary residents of Penrhyn hostel.
Dan Wilson had this to say about them in FRM-086:
A New EEC Surplus[edit]
The visit of the Belgian Girl Guides to Minffordd has left the Railway short of words. Belgian Girl Guides? It sounds as unlikely a gift from heaven to the FR as Afghanistani Matchbox Collectors. But Belgian Girl Guides are not Girl Guides as we know them; they are tougher, bigger and, ha . . . older. They camped in the oval field surrounded by the FR at Minffordd yard and had, they said afterwards, a whale of a time, tossing track about, trimming trees and driving Moelwyn. When we asked a permanent staff member whether they did much work, he looked dreamy. "Superb. A great deal. You could say there was a lot of very nice work indeed." The shortage of words is plainly not for lack of admiration, moreover the struggle to confine it within publicly admissible bounds. A rumour says that the Permanent Way Dept. are to buy the Belgians corporate membership of the Society, a tribute quite unprecedented in Festiniog annals. Eyes still glazed, the FR is making quite sure the field will be available next year for what it hopes will be a deeper dip into this wholly unsuspected European lake of talent.
- Someone must encourage Fred Howes to record his recollections of their visit in rather more detail than given above!