“We're actually good friends with the Criminal Records Bureau [CRB],” says Denise King, chief executive of Girlguiding UK. This may seem surprising after recent reports that waiting lists for Guides had grown to 50,000, partly because potential leaders were put off by lengthy criminal records checks. Not true, King says. “There are barriers to people becoming leaders, but we've no evidence to say CRB checks are among them.” In fact, Girlguiding UK has an excellent relationship with CRB and is working to ensure the new Independent Safeguarding Authority is also “streamlined” rather than “heavy-handed”.

This misunderstanding, based on comments made by Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the Children's Commissioner for England, to the Home Affairs Select Committee, is perhaps indicative of the challenge King faces in renewing the organisation's reputation. Many people still associate Guides with presenting a perfect cup of tea to earn a “hostess” badge, she says. But actually the organisation has moved on vastly in the past decade, and, as it approaches its centenary next year, she wants to ensure that people realise how relevant it is to the 21st century.

Over the past ten years, a renewal programme has helped the organisation to find more “modern packaging”, she says. Units of Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Seniors are now based in locations from the Western Isles to inner-city Birmingham. The hostess badge is still offered, but alongside activities on construction and football. Girls may even experience hot air ballooning at Mount Everest, or twinning schemes with Eastern Siberia.

Moreover, she challenges notions that Guides remains a middle-class activity. Membership is broadly as diverse as the communities they are based in, she says, although leaders are sometimes less representative. With the support of a grant programme, 800 new units have opened in the past 18 months. Many are based on flexible new models, such as extended schools or Saturday sessions, which attract new groups to Guides.

It's a grand life in academia

Academics have a shorter working week, more annual leave and better parental benefits, pensions and sick pay than the rest of us

BACKGROUND

• How many nurses in a ward?

• A champion for the modern girl

• The key to winning an award

• What worked for us

Related Internet Links

• Public sector jobs

• Snakes & Ladders

A lottery-funded programme - Switch - has also established 14 different pilot projects for women in deprived areas. “Sometimes it is a group of young mums, sometimes a group of Asian women and sometimes people isolated in rural areas. It is about giving each community what it wants,” she says, adding that the organisation's secular nature helps ensure inclusivity.

If any supposedly stereotypically female elements remain in Guides, it's because girls want it that way, says King. Activities around cooking, chocolate and shopping remain very popular and new groups have sometimes requested to wear uniform. Units have stayed strictly female, because members “have repeatedly told us they want a girls-only space, to really be themselves”.

Significantly, the organisation now places more emphasis on “giving girls a distinctive voice. We want to stimulate debate and awareness for people in policy positions,” King says. A report earlier this year generated headlines, after finding that girls as young as seven worry about their body image. King sees this role as vital if the organisation is to support girls and young women.

So can we expect to see Guides move farther into lobbying or service delivery? King is reluctant. The organisation is happy to be consulted. But King is not keen on the organisation being commissioned to provide services, because of the bureaucracy and impermanence surrounding such work. “Government schemes and initiatives will come and go, and I'm confident after nearly 100 years that that Guides will stay around.”

Born: August 23, 1966, Oldham.

Career: Trainee accountant at Cheshire County Council, 1988; executive for the Europe region in the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, 1990; joined Girlguiding UK to oversee youth activities, training and international projects, 1995. Became chief executive in 2001.

What she says: “Girlguiding is about finding what it is that inspires and excites today's girls and young women and gives them confidence.”

Little-known fact: She recently did the Edinburgh Moonwalk - a 26-mile overnight power walk to raise money for breast cancer - with the chief guide of Girlguiding UK.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive