All Change Please

As I’ve been blogging more and more, I’ve noticed that the majority of my posts have been Scout related. And as the people who have been good enough to link to me from their blogs are also Scout related, it made me think that the majority of them aren’t all that interested in me waffling on about trains etc (correct me if I’m wrong someone).

So I’ve decided to spin off the non Scouting bits to Nick’s Other Ramblings Blog and keep this on just for Scouts. All the previous content will stay in place here and the other categories will survive as well and I may duplicate some posts on both. But generally non Scouting related stuff will be on number 2.

Lets just hope I can cope with two!

Arrow

US Presidential Election

I’m getting fed up hearing about the US Presidential Election on the radio, the TV and in the newspapers. It’s been dragging on for over a year and won’t properly finish until January. Now I’m all for hearing what’s going on in the world, but this is getting silly.

Can I vote for a US President – no. Does the US President affect me directly – no. Does the US President affect me indirectly – maybe. But I still can’t do anything about it.

The thing is the coverage is disproportionate. There’s about to be a general election in Canada next month, but is there any mention of it – no. Would the US media pay this much attention to our next General Election – no.

Does the average American know who Gordon Brown, David Cameron or Nick Clegg are? I doubt it, but we know all about Barack Obama and John McCain.

I think a bit of perspective is needed here. Yes, let’s know what’s happening in this election, but not to the point where there’s nothing else in the UK media.

 

I hope that none of my friends in the US take any offence to my above rant. If I have offended anyone, I’m sorry, but it’s something that’s been getting on my nerves for a while now.

Normal service is now resumed!!!

Photography is now Banned (Apparently)!

There seems to be an increasing trend that people who take photographs of landscapes, buildings, transport and general everyday scenes are now considered potential terrorists or paedophiles.

There was a story in the media this week of a chap who was getting abuse for taking photos of buses! This is despite the fact he’s done it in all innocence for many, many years.

It’s quite common to read in the train mags of officious jobsworths stopping people taking pictures of trains on stations as it’s against ‘regulations’ or a ‘health and safety issue’. This is despite Network Rail issuing clear guidelines that say it’s not a problem as long as the rules are followed. Mind, I read the other day that a Train Operating Company had employed someone to do work for them which involved taking photographs on their stations, but when he went to do his job the station staff banned him from doing so! Again ‘health and safety’. Great own goal that I think!

I used to enjoy standing on a station for hours on end taking snaps of the passing trains, but now I’m quite reluctant to do so. Having said that, I’m less likely to do so as things are more boring these days!

501 Image04

A class 501 EMU at Gospel Oak taken around 1982 and a class 86 entering Stoke station around 1980

So there we go, two photos I took many years ago, when photos could still be taken without suspicion!

In fact, things have now got so silly that the MP Austin Mitchell has now tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament about this issue.

Oh, Not Again!

Scouts refuse to allow boy who won’t swear to Queen.

An eight-year-old boy has been told he cannot become a Cub Scout after refusing to swear allegiance to the Queen.

Matthew McVeigh objected to part of the Cub Scout Promise which includes the line, “I promise to do my duty to God and the Queen”.

His mother Tracy wanted the pledge changed on religious grounds to: “I promise to do my duty to God and my country”.

But Matthew was told by the 1st Neilston Scout Group in Renfrewshire that unless he took the official oath he could not become a fully-fledged Cub.

Mrs McVeigh, a Roman Catholic, complained the 1701 Act of Settlement specifically discriminated against her faith because it only allowed Protestants to take the throne in Britain.

She added: “Why should we make an oath to the monarchy? The monarchy actively discriminates against Catholics.

“It’s an absolute disgrace in this day and age. We are supposed to live in a multi-cultural age, but this just flies in the face of that.”

The Scout Association allows young people of different religions to replace the word “God” with other deities, and also allows people of other nationalities in the UK to swear to do their duty to “the country in which I am now living”.

But Chris Foster, spokesman for the association, said the rules stated that British nationals must pledge allegiance to the Queen.

He added: “It is simply UK Scout Association policy that all British subjects must promise that.”

Its rules state that scouting is available to all faiths and takes account of the different religions of its members.

In the case of the Scout Promise, which adds the words “On my honour,” at the start of the Cub Scout pledge, Muslims may choose to substitute the phrase with, “In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful”.

Mrs McVeigh, 29, a mother-of-three, said her son was an intelligent boy and did not want to make the promise “just for the sake of saying it”.

She added: “I was gobsmacked that the Cub Scout commissioner said that if Matthew didn’t say the promise he would effectively be out the door. He said he could still go along to trips, but he would not be insured.

“The Cub Scout Promise was worded way back in 1907 and, let’s face it, times have moved on. Matthew absolutely adores the Cub Scouts.

“I am not asking for special treatment, I would just like him to be a Cub Scout without compromising what he believes in.”

Matthew said the decision was “not fair”, adding: “I really enjoy the Cubs and don’t want to feel left out or different to everybody else.”

Fr Jim Byers, Scouting chaplain of the local Catholic diocese, said he had never heard of a case of religious objection to the promise in 20 years, but urged the Scouting authorities to look into the case.

Cubs have to recite the full promise, which states: “I promise that I will do my best, To do my duty to God and to the Queen, To help other people, And to keep the Scout Law.”

After reciting the verse they receive a badge, woggle and neckerchief and become a fully-fledged Cub Scout.

 

From today’s Daily Telegraph.

OK people, it’s simple. Scouting has a set of rules and one rule is that you make the Promise (or Oath). If you don’t want to, go away and join a youth club! Harsh, I know but that’s the rules.

Sounds to me like Mummy is putting words in the lad’s mouth. The eight year olds I know wouldn’t object to doing their duty to the Queen. I’m certain that there are no problems of this sort at our local Catholic Group just down the road from us. Mummy is now threatening to go to court as it infringes his human rights.

For what other Scouts think see here.

Mind you, putting things in perspective, this is quite petty, silly and unimportant when compared to the poor Scouts who lost their lives in the tornado the other day 🙁

The Local Newspaper

A few weeks ago, I sent a press release to my local newspaper asking for people to come forward who had been members of my Scout Group so I could get their memories and possibly copy and old photos they may have.

The first journalist ignored it, so I sent it to two others. The first one rang me to interview me and put a small piece in the paper. She didn't use anything I'd said however, just used the press release!

Then last week the other one rang me asking me for an interview. He asked me one question and left it at that. There was a small bit in last night's paper, but it had been mangled!

He called the Scouts a society and even got my phone number wrong! I do wonder about these journalists sometimes!

Etruria’s Gone!

Well not the whole area, but the remains of the station. Thanks to the Dft‘s shortsightedness another bit of public transport in North Staffordshire bites the dust! Only about 9 more to go and then we will have no more stations!

Well to be fair, Wedgwood, Blarlaston, Stone and Norton Bridge are all effectively closed as no trains actually stop there, just buses! Stone is pretty safe, but the others aren’t. Angry

Behaviour of Scouts

I’m depressed.Sad

Last night the Scouts were being little sods (I’m being extremely polite).

The Scout Leader had spoken to the Patrol Leaders and Assistant Patrol Leaders about what they wanted to do for this term’s programme and that they were now to take more responsibility for their patrols and to help teach the other patrol members what skills they had learned. They all seemed to listen and react in a positive manner.

However, while we were making a bridge without rope with our pioneering poles, a group started messing around, ‘play’ fighting and hitting each other with their neckerchiefs. After being told to stop messing a few times, the Scout Leader had to tell them off again and they ignored him and were laughing while he was talking. This ended up in tempers being lost and the net result was that the Scout Leader went home.

I’ve now had his resignation.

He’s said that there is no point in carrying on if there is no respect from the Scouts. The thing is they all like him, it’s just that they don’t really respect any adult figures. For example, they all like camping, but don’t want to do any of the work associated with it. Ask them to wash dishes and the sulks are massive. However, ask them to put wood on a fire and they’re all there.

It seems to me that they all get everything done for them at home and they don’t have to lift a finger which is why they only want to do what ever they want.

So how is respect taught? I don’t know, but it’s certainly difficult to do so in an hour and a half each week, especially when they don’t seem to have to respect or learn social skills anywhere else.

So now I’ve lost a very good, experienced and capable leader.

I’m not a happy bunny!

Oooo, it’s snowed & the tent is on my face!

We took the Scouts to Consall camp site over the Easter Weekend. The weather forecasts were causing us some concern as it was said to be very cold and continuous rain and snow. After some umming and ahhing we went.

Now Consall is a rather exposed site and cold wind can blow through. However, we were in a more sheltered bit, so it was too bad and it didn't rain, but it was cold! However, we did have to nag the Scouts about putting more clothes on to keep themselves warm. We would see one looking cold, so we'd tell them to put another shirt, jumper, whatever on. They'd go away and we'd see them a bit later still shivering away, so we'd ask if they'd put extra layers on and the reply would be 'no'! So again, they'd be told to put some more clothes on and they would go away but not put more on and later complain that they weren't feeling well!!!! So we made them put on more clothes, a hat and gloves, gave them warm drinks and off they'd go. A bit later they'd be running around as happy as Larry.  Sometimes I think we might as well talk to the tents!

Anyway, on Easter Sunday morning, the Scout Leader woke up at about 6.15 and said to the rest of us in the tent 'I think we have a problem'. So I wake up and think 'what's that weight on me', open my eyes and notice the tent is actually on me! Someone else said 'it's snowed!' and it had!

100_2719 (Large)

After pushing the snow off, the tent popped back to its correct shape and we got up. It was a complete contrast to the previous day and everywhere was white. We got the fires going and eventually the Scouts woke up and got up quite quickly once they realised there was potential for snowball fights!

I have to admit that's the most snow I've ever seen whilst camping. I have woken up some mornings and had to scrape the frost off the inside of the tent, but this is different and it looks prettier!

Of course, by the time we were due to go home after lunch, there was no sign of the snow as it had all melted! Good while it lasted though.

Military Wearing their uniforms

There is a story in the media today about service personnel in the RAF being told not to wear their uniforms in public to avoid abuse by civilians. What narrow minded fools these civvys must be.

It shouldn’t matter what you think about the armed forces serving in Afghanistan or Iraq or whether or not you approve of the reasons for them being there, these people are doing very dangerous jobs and need everyone’s support.

It’s very different in the US. Returning military personnel wear their uniforms with pride and people support them irrespective of their views on various campaigns.

90 years ago in the First World War, young men who did not wear uniform out in public were given white feathers by women as it was assumed that they weren’t in the Army etc. This did cause some problems with young men back from the Trenches whose uniforms were being washed and deloused!

Another Scout Bashing Organisation

From today’s Daily Telegraph

Scout’s oath ‘is religious discrimination’

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent

The Scout Association has been reported to the equality watchdog for allegedly discriminating against atheists by making them swear an oath to God.

Ever since Lord Baden-Powell founded the 100-year-old organisation, the promise by scouts to do their duty to God and the Queen has been as much a part of their movement as jamborees, woggles and the three-fingered salute.

BP

Scouting for Boys author Lord Baden-Powell: “discriminates against atheists”

Now, however, it has become the latest target of secularists when the National Secular Society and the British Humanist Association complained to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

They are furious that the Scout Association is refusing to scrap the pledge required of every new member, which they said was excluding “a growing number of children without belief”.
Members in Britain, where there are nearly half a million scouts, have to promise to “do their best to do their duty to God and to the Queen”, to help other people and to keep Scout law.
To accommodate the movement’s 28 million members around the world, the words can be modified to encompass non-Christian faiths.
The Scout guidelines state: “The phrase ‘to love God’ and ‘duty to God’ implies belief in a supreme being and the acceptance of divine guidance and therefore the word ‘God’ can be replaced by ‘Allah’, ‘my Dharma’ or others as appropriate to suit the faith or religion of the individual concerned.”

But the two secular bodies said in a joint letter to Derek Twine, the chief executive of the Scout Association, that the requirement for members to have a faith should now be made optional.

They said that the Association’s stance was “completely unacceptable” for an organisation “that is so committed to personal development of young people and that claims to foster mutual understanding between different beliefs, which of course should include those of no belief.”

They also criticised it for claiming on its website that it was “inclusive”, and called on it to make ambiguously clear that it was a religious organisation. Scouting leaders said that they had no intention of changing the oath drawn up by Lord Baden-Powell, a “muscular Christian” who believed that faith was an essential element in the development of young people.

Stephen Peck, the Association’s director of programmes and development, said: “It is fundamental to scouting that young people are helped to understand their spirituality. It is in our lifeblood.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which was set up in October and which is headed by Trevor Phillips, said it was committed to a vision of fairness, but it was too early to comment on this case.

Scout Oath (or Promise)

On my honour,
I promise that I will do my best
To do my duty to God and to the Queen,
To help other people
And to keep the Scout Law.

I give up Angry

Why is it people are always negative about Scouting? Stuff all the positive thing we do!

I don’t see them having a go at the Guides, Boys Brigade or Girls Brigade. I guess we’re just a big target! So I’ve grumbled to them!

Dear Sirs,
 
I am rather disappointed to read about your joint attack on The Scout Association and religion.
 
First of all, let me state my position. I am a Group Scout Leader with a very long established Scout Group (we are 100 this year in fact). We are a Group which is sponsored by a local Church of England Parish. Being sponsored by the Church means that we get the use of the Church’s hall facilities free of charge and occasional financial support for Leader training. In return we help out at the Church’s Summer and Christmas Fairs to help raise money for the Church’s upkeep. We also attend Church services four times a year.
The vicar of the Church will pop in to one of our meetings occasionally to say hello and speak to our young people.
At no point do we ‘force’ religion down our young people’s throats or try to ‘convert them’ to believe in Christianity. Nor do we or can we force our young people to attend services and we will not penalise them for not doing so.
 
Scouting is open to all young people without prejudice to their faith (or lack of), sexuality or needs. The general idea is to have fun, do new things, to learn new skills whilst doing so and to be well rounded citizens.
 
If a young person wanted to join us and specifically stated that they were an atheist that would be fine. When explaining the Promise, I would say that Duty to God means their own personal God. If they do not believe in a Supreme Being then I would say that it refers to their personal beliefs and morals. I assume that not believing in God does not preclude the person from having strong moral and ethical beliefs.
 
I notice that your complaint is just about the Scout Association. Why not the Guides, Boys Brigade and Girls Brigade? As I understand it, the Guides operate a similar position to the Scouts and the Boys and Girls Brigades actually promote Christianity.
 
Please do not make frivolous complaints about organisations whose primary concerns are the development of young people and those young people enjoying themselves. Your complaint can only detract from this and cost all organisations involved money which would be better spent on young people. 
Bet I get a wishy washy reply.

Preserving Our Past

At the weekend I went and did a bit of research on our Scout Group at the County Records Office and in the Scout Divisional and County archive.

At the County Records Office, you are not allowed to take bags in the reading area, you can only use pencil to make notes, books etc. are put on cushions to protect spines and everything is carefully preserved. In fact, you're not even allowed to photocopy items!

It was quite interesting looking through all the Church minute books. Especially when in the 1940's, names I recognised start to appear. Also in the late 1950's the writing gets much easier to read as it was written by my Grandpa! Again in the late 1960's reading becomes a lot less trouble as my Dad wrote it! I can tell when he's getting tired from the writing getting worse. Also, there seems to be a lot of scrap paper related to British Rail…..

Contrast with the Scout Divisional / County archive. It's all kept in random cupboards and boxes in a very damp, cold and dark room. Some of the minute books even had mildew on them – yuk! It was rather depressing to see albums full of newspaper cuttings from the last 60 – 80 years, specially recorded 78 rpm records of Gang Shows, audio tape, cine film and various minute books and photographs  let literally lying around and not cared for.

These are the records of what our predecessors got up to and in a couple of cases record the start of Scouting in North Staffordshire.

I've spoken to a Divisional high up about this and I think something may happen to get the archive organised and safe. We'll have to wait and see.

On the plus side, I found some old Burslem District minute books, some interesting newspaper clipping and a book listing all the Troop in existence in 1908, names of the Scout Masters and even the names of the boys in the Patrols! Existence in 1908 proved!!!! We are officially 100 this year!!!

 

Merry Non-Denominational Winter Festive Period

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive and gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday as practised within the traditions of the religious or secular practices or traditions of your choice or, if none, without regard to any religious or secular practices or traditions at all. We wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically healthy generally accepted calendar year 2008 with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make this country great (not to imply that this country is a country you are part of, nor that it is necessarily greater than any other country, or is indeed the only “your country” worth referring to) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting these greetings you are accepting the following terms. These greetings are subject to clarification and withdrawal at any time and imply no promise by the wisher to the wishee to implement any of the wishes herein. These greetings are freely transferable on the express condition that there be no alteration of the original greetings. These greeting are void where prohibited by law and are revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. These greetings have no guarantee or warranty of any kind. These greetings are valid for a period not to exceed one year or until the issuance of subsequent greetings or until clarification or withdrawal of these greetings pursuant to the terms of these greetings, whichever comes first. The sole remedy for any dissatisfaction of the wishee is, after service of written notice on the wisher by the wishee, clarification or withdrawal of these greetings or issuance of new greetings, at the sole discretion of the wisher.

I think what I meant was Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It makes me laugh to think that we are not supposed to celebrate Christmas in case we offend other religions and non believers. This is despite the fact we are supposed to honour the festivals of other religions!

The leaders of the main religions have all said that they enjoy the Christmas festivities and respect Christmas. Even Richard Dawkins says he enjoys singing carols!

So stuff all the PC brigade, remember Christmas isn’t just about shopping and think of those who have to work over Christmas!

Local Rail Services 2

After I'd received the reply to my e-mail from East Midlands Trains , I thought I'd reply –

Thank you for your reply.

I have to say that I'm not over confident that the Crewe Derby route is going to be treated as a priority. You talk about the fact that ‘We will link stations progressively over the next few years and this will enable passengers to speak directly to an information controller….' Being cynical and based on the fact of the lack of investment and interest in the route by previous companies, I feel that the Crewe Derby route stations will be amongst the last to receive these improvements!

Of the 70 ticket machines you talk about, will Longport be included?

I also hear on the grapevine, and please correct me if I have misheard, that you are to run the single coach Class 153 units on the route, thereby reducing the seating capacity and moving the two car units to other areas.

My final worry is that you are expecting local authorities to pay for the upgrading of your stations! Why should they pay to improve your facilities when it is in your interests to improve services etc. to increase passenger numbers?

I'm sorry if this all seems a little negative, but local train services in North Staffordshire have been eroded away over the last 15 years or so and your predecessors seemed to treat this area as an inconvenience!

Yours sincerely

And the reply –

Thanks again for your email.

We will not be installing ticket machines into the Longport station.

We are proposing to run single coach Class 153 units on the Crewe-Derby route from December 2008, however, this has not been finalised. We are currently consulting with stakeholders on our proposed December 2008 and their feedback may have some bearing on this decision.

We do have funds to undertake station improvements however, we are also looking to local authorities to assist. We will be looking to invest in stations where we can make a valid business case for it.

Kind regards
David Horne
Mobilisation Director
East Midlands Trains

That reply doesn't exactly instil confidence does it? The trouble is that it's an East Midlands franchise serving the West Midlands / North West. Time will tell I guess, but I'm not holding my breath for improvements.

Hospital Superbugs

I notice there is a lot in the news at the moment about superbugs in hospitals. This is quite a simple and easy problem to solve – clean the hospitals properly!
It seems the hospital trusts and their chief execs seem oblivious to this concept. As long as they can cut costs left right and centre and keep their huge salaries and benefit packages then it's 'I'm aright Jack'. But the best bit is that the high ups seem to make an utter pigs ear in one area, then move on to another and do the same. What are they and the people who employ them thinking?????

The Post Office

Seems as if the Post Office / Royal Mail is now set to self destruct.

The Communication Workers Union have called strikes, which means that, in all probability, we won't get any post now for a week!

Royal Mail themselves seem to want to self destruct and annoy as many people as possible at the moment.

They're closing Post Offices, stopped the majority of mail going by train (despite the increase in road congestion , pollution etc), closed their own dedicated underground railway in London, stopped second deliveries and started to deliver mail later and later in the day.

The union seems to be just as bloody minded and awkward. This is the union that goes on strike for having its members suspended. Now, if the rules are followed and fair hearing occur, that is fair enough, so why a strike?

Admittedly, the Government haven't helped by moving services out of the Post Offices, but it does seem that there is some massively bad management going on and some very rigid uncompromising staff within the business.
Will the Post Office survive? Who knows, but I bet my Great Great Grandfather, William Wood who was a postman, is spinning away merrily!