It was a memorable occasion as hundreds of youngsters celebrated a special anniversary in style.

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

Young Rainbows from across Lowestoft and Waveney joined hundreds of others from units across Suffolk and Norfolk on Sunday as they marked their organisation's 30th birthday at an adventure park.

More than 630 Rainbows, their leaders and helpers travelled from units as far away as Kings Lynn in Norfolk and Sudbury in Suffolk to the BeWILDerwood Treehouse Adventure Park in Horning, Norfolk to what was believed to be one of the biggest days-out that the Anglia Rainbows have held.

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

And delighted with how the party in the woods turned out, organiser Sandra Clelland said: 'Rainbows, the youngest group in the Girlguiding movement, started in May 1987 and the number of units, catering for girls aged from five to seven years old, have been increasing ever since.'

The full day of fun for the girls was based on the adventures of magical characters from children's books written by Tom Blofield, the creator of the park.

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

These included a tree-walk maze, zip wires, den building, slippery slopes, tunnels, a broken bridge, boat rides and face painting.

Mrs Clelland said: 'We all gathered together in the afternoon with an hour of storytelling, dancing, singing songs and a special birthday cake. As we couldn't make a cake big enough for the 460 girls to share we arranged for each to decorate their own cupcake earlier in the day and some of our guests enjoyed the special cake.'

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

She added: 'It has been a fantastic day - we have had girls here from all over Norfolk and Suffolk, all having fun and mixing with other girls from other units. We wanted them to realise that we are a worldwide organisation and you can be a Rainbow wherever you live.

'Rainbows learn by doing things – they get their hands dirty, do sports, arts and crafts and play games. Being a Rainbow is all about trying new things with girls their own age and by doing so they develop self-confidence and make lots of new friends. 'At our birthday party they have certainly had a chance to do all of these things.'

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

Among the youngsters attending from groups in Waveney were 1st Beccles, 2nd Beccles, 3rd Beccles, 1st Bungay, 7th Lowestoft, 3rd Oulton, 4th Oulton and 1st Reydon.

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)

Eastern Daily Press: Rainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve WoodRainbow units celebrating their 30th birthday at BeWILDerwood. Pictures: Steve Wood (Image: Steve Wood Photography)