Captain Picard Likes Scouting

I came across this video on Youtube from 4th Golcar Scout Group today. Being a bit of a Trekkie, I was very impressed that they had managed to get Patrick Stewart to record it for them.

I wonder if we could get someone famous to do a video for us??

But It’s Boring…..

…is the kind of response you get when asking the Scouts (etc.) to go to St. George’s Day Parade on a Sunday afternoon. And in a sense, they are right! It’s not the same as hanging off a rock on a rope, paddling down a river in a canoe or even spending the night in a tent for the first time away from Mum and Dad.

However, when asked to attend, they do and do so in numbers! Last Sunday it was very pleasing to see so many of the young people from my Group had turned out for what was a rather soggy parade (the rain had been on and off all day and naturally was chucking it down when it was time for the parade!) through the centre of Newcastle. In fact the whole District had a good turn out and it was an impressive site to see virtually the whole of one ‘street’ (the Ironmarket) filled with Scouts and Guides. There were people watching on either side of the parade and they were not just family and friends. This is where such things as these parades come into their own as it shows to the general public that we’re still here and that a lot of young people are involved in Scouting!

The other good thing was that we got to show off our Drum Corps again. This time they had the junior section (the Cubs) with them for the first time and they were great. Hopefully, they will be at the front of the parade next year!

See piccys and video from here.

 

Scouting Grows In Numbers

It was very pleasing to read yesterday that the number of Scouts in the UK had risen again for the seventh year on the trot (see here). It was also pleasing to see that the number of 14 – 18 year olds showed a 6.8% increase.

Watching the social medial etc. it was quite noticeable that a lot of Counties and Districts were making quite a noise about the increase in numbers and trying to promote Scouting as the positive movement that it is. It’s just a shame that the total silence from my County was deafening! A couple of adjacent Counties were really pushing the good news and one County Commissioner was on their local TV. Us? Not a peep. I got my Counties figures from my DC (still waiting for a reply from the County…) and our figures are up. The County grew a modest 1.7%, but that is still growth. One of the Districts even grew their numbers by 13%, so well done to them.

The other downer yesterday was that the National Secular Society decided to start moaning again about the Scout Promise (see this from 2008) and the faith bit. Anyway, rather than going over old ground again, see what Chris at Be Prepared has to say – he makes a lot of sense.

Anyway, back to numbers! My District did actually lose a few young people over the past year, but that was mainly due to the (hopefully temporary) closure of a Beaver Colony due to the usual reason – lack of adult support. My Group increased its numbers by 19% on last year, and I’m sure it’s a lot higher now judging the number of kids I see at meetings!

I’m sure that this time next year we’ll be celebrating the huge increase in numbers across the District and in my Group (we’ll need more room to meet in if this goes on!).