SWINDON girls are filming the moral fairytale The Brownie Story to mark the centenary of the Girl Guiding UK movement.

The Third Stratton St Margaret Brownies not only acted in front of the camera but took the controls of camera and the clapperboard when they began filming in Waterstones book store in the town centre.

Sherylee Houssein, 19, from Stratton, is assistant Brownie leader, and it was her films that inspired the Brownies to make one of their own.

“We decided to do a cinematic version of The Brownie Story,’’ she said. “Every girl when she is enrolled into the Brownies is told the story and when she makes her promise we re-enact the story.’’ Sherylee was a Brownie herself and then a Girl Guide and now a leader, with the nickname Bambi, working with Brown Owl Chris Fisher.

The Brownies applied for a Lottery grant through the UK Film Council’s First Light Initiative and Sherylee brought Keith Phillips from Ideal Films on board. She and Keith have worked on a number of films together and scooped awards for two projects the latest being Rites of Passage.

The Brownies were awarded a grant as long as they got match funding so they appealed to the Brunel Centre.

Keith said: “All the staff at the Brunel and Waterstones were fantastically helpful, and the Brownies were brilliantly professional.”

So with the first piece of film in the can the Brownies and Ideal Films are looking for their next location which is a pretty cottage near some dark woods with a pond.

Anyone who can help should contact keith@idealfilms.com