A lack of leaders has spelt the demise of the Mosgiel Guides, a presence on the Taieri for more than 100 years.
The decision to close all guiding groups in the Taieri district was not taken lightly, guiding development manager Rosemarie Thomas, from GirlGuiding New Zealand, said.
''GirlGuiding New Zealand is dependent on the availability of trained volunteer leaders to deliver our programme for girls. At this point in time, we do not have volunteers who are able to deliver the programme in this district.''
There had been guiding groups in the Mosgiel district since early last century, she said.
The Mosgiel group served the Mosgiel and Outram areas and about 50 girls were affected by the change.
Parents had been advised of the situation and other units in Dunedin had been offered to them.
Aotearoa Region, which delivers a remote web-based programme for girls who do not have a unit close to them, had also been offered as an option.
GirlGuiding New Zealand hoped to be in a position to offer guiding in the Taieri district again as soon as it had volunteers available to do it locally, she said.
A family member of a guide contacted the Otago Daily Times about the closure to say she was shocked and disappointed by the news, which she said was delivered to parents at the guides' end-of-year break-up.
She did not want to be named for fear of embarrassing her relative, but said the girl had been involved for several years. She had planned to return to guides next year and was very sad about not being able to in Mosgiel.
The Girl Guides Hall in Gordon Rd was demolished earlier this year to make way for a supermarket development.
