Hundreds of girls are being turned away from the district's Brownie packs because of a shortage of leaders.

So many youngsters want to join the Brownies that there is now a waiting list of more than 240 keen to join the pack.

Some parents are even putting down the names of their daughters at birth in a bod to land a place.

A lack of adult volunteers to run activities is being blamed but the uniformed movement has been the victim of its own success because it is still so popular 91 years after it began, say officials at Girlguiding UK.

One pack that knows just how difficult it can be is the 2nd Eldwick Brownies, who meet in the village on a Friday.

Last year the group, which had been running for 30 years, was faced with closure if it could not find more helpers. But thanks to an appeal in the Telegraph & Argus and in a school newsletter, two volunteers stepped forward, said Brown Owl Angela Bolton. "I was so desperate for help that I was starting to think about retiring but thankfully help was at hand. We've had a waiting list for the last 15 years and our youngest is just six months," she said.

"There's a timeless magic about Brownies. We do so many fun things but at the same time we are shaping the young women of tomorrow - it's quite a responsibility."

Karen Hill runs two packs at 1st Ilkley All Saints and 5th Ilkley Christchurch and is also the District Commissioner for Rombalds. She is 47 now and has been involved in guiding since she was 13.

She said: "I'm absolutely bitten by the guiding bug. I've never looked back since the day I joined as a teenager. Every girl should have the chance to join, that's why we need more leaders to help make it possible.

"I try to have a team of helpers to get all the work done and that includes the parents."

Nationally the Guiding UK movement has 80,000 adult volunteers but would need an extra 8,000 to cut all its waiting lists. In Bradford alone it needs 40 new leaders.

A quarter of all eight-year-olds are Brownies and there are 600,000 in total involved in the entire guiding movement, from Rainbows to Brownies and Guides. Now Girlguiding UK is hoping a campaign will attract enough helpers so that no-one will have to be turned away.

The Brownies were an off-shoot of the scouting movement Army General Robert Baden-Powell founded in 1909.

Anyone interested in finding out more about becoming a leader or joining the Brownies should telephone 0800 1695901 or visit www.girlguiding.org.uk