The woman who started the first Castlethorpe and Hanslope guide company in a cow shed 16 years ago [Joyce started the guide company on 27th May 1966 occasionally having to meet in the cow shed when the Village Hall had a previous booking. The unit was registered on 26th November 1966. Joyce received her Warrent 23rd. April 1967] was given her badge for devoted service last week.
Mrs. Joyce Markham from North Street, Castlethorpe, has been thrown fully clothed in a swimming pool, had a tent cut down on her and her underwear displayed during a camping expedition, says she has “loved every moment”.
“The minute I stop enjoying it and feel I can’t give any more I’ll pack up,” she said.
Mrs. Markham joined a Brownies pack in London and later a guide company before the Second World War. During the war she was evacuated to Welwyn Garden City. “They didn’t have a guide company there – much to my disgust,” she declared.
In 1967 Mrs. Markham came to Castlethorpe and as well as being a ‘full-time farmer’s wife’, she set up her first Guide Company in a cow shed. “We, started with about 20 girls from the village and things just snowballed from there.
Six years ago Mrs. Markham took up the post of District Commissioner for the Stantonbury district. This meant keeping an eye on an increasing number of brownie and guide units in the district and running her own Castlethorpe and Hanslope Guide Company.
During the six years she has helped five new companies get off the ground and will be launching another on June 9.
“It has been very rewarding for me. I see most of the girls growing up and it keeps me young and fit.

Note: Joyce first came to Castlethorpe in 1942 as a land girl working for the Markham family. Joyce married Jack Markham in 1946. When Jack resigned his comission from the R.A.F., he returned to Castlethorpe to continue farming. They moved to Dodford, Northants. where they farmed: returning in 1962 to Glenmore Farm.