In honour of Blue Peter recently celebrating its 65th Birthday, The Chronicle spoke to two Berkshire women who turned their badge success stories into careers.

Ms Charly Lester, 40, from Pangbourne earned her Blue Peter badge for collecting all the girl guide merits. She now runs her own adult badge club, Rebel Badges.

She told The Chronicle that her motivation to learn as a child was earning merits. She was awarded all the brownie badges, then all the guides ones, and went on to win all the national awards.

Ms Lester was also a brownie leader until she was 28. By this point, she knew the mechanics of merit badge awarding, and two years ago she published her own merit badge book Rebel Badge Club.

The badges in the book are aimed at adults and can be earned doing things like cleaning the house and learning how to mix cocktails.

“The badges encourage people to use their spare time more effectively,” she said. “Doing stuff like spending time outdoors, or activities for self-care.”

Rebel Badges now boasts somewhat of a cult following, with 5,000 members in a Facebook group who regularly meet up for activities.

Ms Lester also recently hosted an adult summer camp where attendees enjoyed six activities a day which included archery, climbing, burlesque, and yoga.

The Chronicle also spoke with Mrs Ellie Osbourne, 39, who won her badge for placing as a runner-up in a national photography competition when she was 12.

Her photographic entry was of her friend show-jumping her horse, and now Mrs Osbourne is a full-time horse photographer.

Mrs Osbourne’s career started when she moved to the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy and used her camera to take photos of the saddle club horses there.

She then met the staff College Draghunt huntsman and followed some of their meets and was eventually asked by the masters to be the official photographer there.

Mrs Osbourne has now photographed various equestrian events, personal and brand shoots, and recruited new freelancers when others moved on.

She also has a book out on Amazon entitled ‘Equine Eye: An Introduction to Equestrian Photography.’