Category: Podcasts

Podcast number 11. This is the one where I talk a bit about the adult training programme and Woodbadge. See here for the Scout Association’s web site on training.

After a long gap here is a short podcast to show I haven’t forgotten about doing them! The topic I want to talk about has been held over, so this is a quick recap of what my Group has been up to recently and a few forthcoming things.

Please feel free to leave feedback – always appreciated.

Over the weekend I noticed that my blog has now had over 4000 hits since the beginning of last year! I’ve been writing here since April 2006, but until January 2008, I hadn’t put any accurate hit counters on the blog.

Also in August of last year I set up Feed burner to manage my RSS feeds and that now records over 2200 hits. There does seem to be a bit of a discrepancy between the two as I guess they record in different ways, but I’m impressed!

Although I don’t get nearly as many hits as some of my North American friends, I’m very honoured that so many people have read and want to read what I’ve written and to listened to what I’ve said.

So to all of you out there who read this, a very big THANK YOU.

And thank you to everyone who has left comments and offered support and ideas.

OK, so that’s enough self promotion and its back to normal.

Podcast number 9. This covers the Explorer and Network programmes which are quite similar and cumulate in the Queen’s Scout Award.

Next podcast will be on the adult training scheme and Wood Badge.

Podcast number 8. Finally got round to talking about the Scout section of the UK programme.

Explorers and Network section programme to follow soon (less than a month!).

I’ve just realised that it is nearly a month since I did a podcast talking about the Beaver and Cub programmes. The Scout one will hopefully be coming this weekend.

I know that you’ve all been desperate to hear the next instalment!

Podcast number 7. Here is the first part of the Scouting Programme here in the UK. I talk very briefly about the sections and then about the Beaver & Cub programmes.

Also, see if you can work out what I say in the introduction!

After putting out two podcasts in the space of less than a week, I’ve decided to pace myself a bit more and also plan ahead a bit.

One of the things I’ve thought of talking about is the whole Scouting programme in the UK. There are two reasons for this.

The first is that by revisiting all aspects of the programme, it will refresh it for me and help me in my role as a Group Scout Leader.

The second is that my perception of the people who read the blog and listen to the podcast are mainly from outside of the UK. So a question for you all out there, would this be interesting to you?
My thought would be to break it down into talking about Beavers and Cubs, then Scouts and finally Explorers and Network. Also I would probably talk about each of the sections as each country tends to do its own thing on ages, mixed Scouting etc.

The other thing that interests me is the use of language in the podcasts. I’ve noticed that I’ve slipped up a couple of times and said things like ‘me blog’ instead of ‘my blog’. Does this confuse or irritate? The other thing is if I were to say that we’d been doing x over a weekend and ‘now we’re all knackered’ would you know what I was on about (answer at the bottom)? These are examples of the way that I’d talk in ‘real life’, so I’m interested to know.

My plan is to put a podcast out once a fortnight or so and to keep them at a reasonable length of around twenty minutes.

I’m enjoying doing these podcasts and I hope people are enjoying listening to them and as I get more practise the quality can only go up!

Please let me know your thoughts on the above questions. Leave a comment on the blog or you can email me at the address given on the podcasts or at nawbus (at) gmail.com. If I’ve emailed you in the past, you’ll now know that I have at least three different email addresses but I use them for different things and for putting on here, Google’s email has much better antispam filters!

 

Definition of ‘knackered’. If I say I am knackered, it means I am tired. If I say that the radio is knackered, for example, it means it is broken.
Knackered comes from sending old and tired horses to be slaughtered in the knackers yard!

Podcast number 6. Here’s the second podcast about Scouting websites. I thought I’d get this done while it was still fresh in my mind.

The sites I mention are –

• Freeplay Music
• Flickr
• Fotopic (now closed)

Podcast number 5. I thought this time I’d talk about creating a website for the Group, Troop or Pack and include what I hope are some helpful tips.

The sites I mention are-

• Porthill Scout Group
• Escouts
• PTC Media
• OpenOffice
• The Scoutmaster Minute Show
• The Commish’s site

Podcast number 4. As it’s the end of the year, I’m talking about what my Group has done in the last year, where we are at now and what we (I) need to do in the coming year.

Happy New Year!

No, I’m not getting delusions of grandeur by trying to replace HM The Queen’s Christmas Message, but I thought a spoken message sounds more personal!

Happy Christmas!

Podcast number three! This time I talk about meetings. Not the weekly Beaver, Cub or Scout ones, but the other ones we have to go to to ensure we do everything correctly and plan ahead.

I think I’ve got iTunes set up so this podcast will go onto it. Just need to wait for it to be fully available.

I said it was frosty this morning, so here is a stitched together view from my loft window!

Enjoy the podcast and please leave some feedback.

UPDATE

I think the iTunes feed is working now (although this one doesn’t seem to be there yet) and you can find me by searching for Nick’s Ramblings or by clicking here.

I’ve done another podcast and this time it’s on the role of Group Scout Leader and the GSL’s conference I went on a fortnight ago (see previous post here).

As before, let me know what you think, I do appreciate all feedback.

I’ve been meaning to have a go at a podcast for a while now and so here it is! After appearing on Jerry’s Scoutmaster Minute show back in September, I thought it would be interesting to try myself.

It’s a lot harder than it seemed, especially as I’m effectively talking to myself. Chatting to Jerry on his show was a whole lot easier!

I’ve talked about my Scouting career so far and a bit about my Group.

Please give me feedback both positive and negative (or ‘areas for improvement’ as it’s called these days) and let me know of any topics you think I should cover. If you think it’s great or sucks, let me know.

Listen to it or download it below.