In the words of Alice Cooper, School's Out for summer! Well, if you can call the awful weather we're having 'summer'!
Only four weeks to go before I'm on holiday 
. At least it's quiet and I can get my work done!
A Scouter
I hope Gary, the Lone Star Scouter doesn’t mind me lifting this directly from his blog, but I think it’s so true –
If you are paid to do Scouting, you are called a Professional.
If you are not paid to do Scouting, you are called a Volunteer.
If you pay to do Scouting, you are called… … A Scouter.
History of a Group
I was reading this thread on the Escouts site the other day, which was talking about the history of Scout Troops / Groups. The chap who’d started the thread stated –
I know there is a cracking history section at a Group in Staffordshire but I’ve lost the link.
So I replied that I thought it might have been ours and it was! 
Reading through the rest of the posts, there are some fascinating histories out there and it’s very important to remember where our Troop / Groups came from. When I started to look into our Group, I didn’t have much info going back before the 1960’s and couldn’t prove when we started. I can now!
It’s quite humbling to think that the info on my Group has inspired someone else to look into theirs. It’s also really interesting researching the history and I spent a good part of Saturday afternoon reading some old District minute books and I’m going to the library tomorrow to look something up in the local newspaper!
A few interesting histories –
Troop 68 – The Early Years – A video history of Troop 68, Melrose, Minnesota, USA. Steve B their Scoutmaster, is very good at Scouting videos.
Whitley Beaumont Camp Site – Written by Ewan Scott who posted the original thread.
Anyway, lets remember our past, but always look to the future!
Strike
Apparently, I’m supposed to be on strike on Wednesday and Thursday over pay (or lack of pay increase)! Apart from a letter from UNISON’s HQ and one from the local branch, I’ve heard nothing. There has been no mention of it at work!
Having said that, I won’t strike anyway as I don’t think it’s right to strike in a school – it’s not fair to the kids.
It will be interesting to see what, if anything, happens! We’ll see…….
A Scout belongs to the world-wide family of Scouts.
Number 4 in the Scout Law.
It’s a very true statement. I have regular contact with Scout Leaders in the US, I’ve chatted on line with Leaders in New Zealand and in the real world, I’ve camped with Greek and Swedish Scouts. Some of my Scouts will be going to a camp next month where they will be hosting some Norwegian Scouts.
Isn’t it a good idea to belong to an organisation where you have friends all over the world who share the same beliefs?
1st Gilwell Park Scout Group
I was presented with my Wood Badge last night at our AGM, so I’m now officially a member of the largest Scout Group in the world! 1st Gilwell is the Group every Scouter belongs to when they get their Wood Badge.
Me getting my beads from the District Commissioner
Ralph for President
I was reading this post by Jerry of the Scoutmasterminute.com on the qualities needed for a US President. He was saying that if the President and politicians followed the (US) Scout Law, then he or she couldn't go too far wrong!
A very good idea I thought, until my mischievous side remembered seeing this –
Ralph Wiggum for President in 2008!
I decided not to post this as a comment on Jerry's blog as it would detract from his sensible comment. So I hope Jerry can forgive me for the slight mickey take!
Bye Bye Beeb.net
Back in 1999, I signed up to beeb.net to provide my dial up internet connection. Since then I continued to use the email address that was associated with the account as it was easy to remember and was my name. However, the BBC decided to close the service and it was shut down yesterday. 🙁
The thing with this email address was that I never had a single bit of spam through it. Not bad for 9 years use!
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!
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.
Learning About Other People’s Needs
Despite the fact I work in a special needs school, I'm not very conversant with the conditions some of the kids in the school have. Working in the IT department I don't really need to, to be honest.
However, last week I was informed by the Scout's County Office of a meeting concerning children with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder). So I went along and coincidently it was at work! I have had a Beaver and a Scout with Asperger Syndrome in the Group before, but it helps to learn more.
It was an interesting couple of hours and I learned quite a bit. So when the next child comes along with ASD, we'll be better prepared!
Keeping it Simple
It occurred to me last night that sometimes the simple things are the best.
The Beavers and Cubs couldn’t meet at the Hall last night as the Church were setting up for their summer fair. So we took them down to The Marsh to play some games (I say we, but what I actually mean is the other Leaders took them. I stood around, watched and chatted to the parents!). The weather behaved and it was a lovely sunny evening (the forecast was rain – unsurprisingly).
They played a couple of relay games, a quick game of cricket, did games with a new play parachute and finally had a quick game of football.
Nothing difficult, complicated or taking ages to organise there. The Beavers and Cubs (and Leaders and parents) had a great time and enjoyed running round and playing the games. What could be better?
Old Scouting Books
I’ve stumbled across an interesting Canadian web site that hosts PDF copies of old Scouting books. This obviously has a Canadian slant, but it has loads of the Gilcraft books and books by BP himself. Well worth a look for Scouts of any country!
My Blog Header Image
The photo at the top of my blog was taken on my then mobile phone, a Nokia N80, on a Saturday morning in November 2006. I was with our Cubs at Barnswood and took the photo after I’d taken some rubbish down to the bins. The sun was rising and I thought it was too good an opportunity to miss. I rather wished I had a real camera with me at the time, but you can’t really carry a camera around when emptying bins!
I took about 7 or 8 photos and thought I’d be able to put them together back at home to form a panorama. When I did, I used Photoshop and this came out.
Not bad I thought! I wasn’t too happy with the join lines, but still it gave the right idea.
Then today, I was looking up some other info for something I wanted to do in Photoshop and I came across a little programme called Autostitch. This takes the individual photos and combines them to form a panorama but without the join lines! Reading a bit more into the site, I found out that this application is incorporated into Windows Live Photogallery! So using that, I came up with this.
No join lines! So after cropping and resizing to the correct dimensions, I’ve now got the improved image as my header.
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.
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 🙁
4 Scouts Die in Tornado
Sad news this morning. Four Scouts in the US have been killed in a Tornado.
It’s very sad to think they were camping and having a good time and ended up being killed. All our thoughts and prayers must be with their families and with those who have been injured.
