Closing a Scout Group is never a good thing. It means that local kids have less places to go and things to do, there is a loss of something that has provided a service for the local community and there is the sense of failure. It also doesn’t portray a positive image of Scouting when this happens.
However, some good can come out of a closure.
At our District Executive on Wednesday night the formal closure of the Group that was very close to us was approved.
This Group which was about ten minutes walk away from us had been around for nearly 50 years and was sponsored by the same Church parish as us. They were our friends and friendly rivals! In fact, it was a standing joke when I was a Scout, that when out at camp, if we got into trouble and asked which Troop we were from, we would say their name and they would do the same saying they were us!
The Group was one of the very first in Britain to have a Beaver Colony, and so I am told, our then DC was summoned to Gilwell to explain what they were up to! Everything was ok and their Beavers continued long before they became an official part of the Scout Association.
By the end of 2005 the Group was in trouble, there were disagreements with the Church, there was a lack of Leaders and leadership and the Group closed. The idea was to put it ‘on ice’ until early 2007 when the position would be assessed and it would be seen if the Group could be restarted. In the mean time all the Group’s equipment was split up between ourselves, the Group that the Scout Leader had gone to and the District.
Unfortunately, this didn’t happen and things were ‘forgotten’ (for various reasons – I do have to be a bit vague here as I’m sure everyone will understand) until I said something to the District Chairman at the end of 2007. After a lot of arguments and messing around the Group was, as I said at the beginning, officially closed on Wednesday 🙁
One of the main sticking points was what to do with the Group’s financial assets. These would normally go to the District, but members of the closed Group wanted it to go other local Groups so the cash is used to the benefit of Scouts in their old area. After a LOT of discussion, it was decided to split the money 50/50 between the two Groups where the old Group’s Leaders had gone. We are one of them.
The good coming out of this sad event is that we now get some more money to enable us to get better equipment for our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. In fact some hiking tents have already been ordered!
So although there is no longer a Group in that area, kids from there come to us and we can provide Scouting for them with the aid of the old Group’s equipment and assets.
There are obviously pros and cons… Two groups as close as you were and with the same sponsor sounds a bit ott. Here we sometimes wish for more diversity. As you may remember, the association my group belongs to is “religiously independent”, which suits me just fine, and I have fought to get us there in practise too, by not using church for ceremonies and events, but I know that some members, and some parents of cubs and scouts, would rather have that church tie. We’re not anti-church, or anti-christianity, but just want stay open to all beliefs without imposing christian tradition. There are so many ways to believe, and none should be better than the other, as long as they include respect for self and others, love for the world and a belief, may it be in God, Allah, Buddha, Bahá’u’lláh, the self, humanity….
I wish that there was a religious scout group in town too, that we could cooperate with, for those who wanted that closer connection with the church.
This wasn’t really what I was going to say, but now I’ve written too much already…
Oddly enough the two Groups so close together worked for many years. It was the lack of Leaders and Leadership that finished it off. The disagreements with the Church didn't help though.
The other Group that is still running is a similar distance 'the other way' from us and there are no issues there either. In fact they have another Group, other than us, close to them as well! We have a lot of Groups in a relativity small geographical area.
Our relationship with the Church is great. They are not ones to 'force' religion at us and are mainly interested in us having Scouting for the benefit of the young people in the local area. We attend some services, some more important than others (Mother's Day & Remembrance Day for example) and we raise some money for them as we don't pay any fees. We get a good deal and it works for us. But that is the important thing, you do what works for you and your Group! Faith is important in Scouting, but no one says which variety.
Absolutely right, and what I really intended to say was, that two groups so close together coompete not only about the kids, which can be an issue sometimes, but about leader resources. Unfortunately, it seems in this day and age that people’s time is less, and what there is often goes to less collectivistic activities, but is usually spent in yoga class, the gym, going on holidays to exotic places and other things, more to do with the individual’s own satisfaction. This ofcourse, because some people never get to find out how rewarding it is to be a part of a movement like scouting, or train a football team, because they THINK it’s so much work and no fun….
I think it’s a shame less adults get involved because, as you say, being a Leader, or having any involvement with Scouting is rewarding. There is a lot of hard work involved, but at the same time the rewards are great, the enjoyment is great and it’s done with friends.
We had a family camp last year and quite a few parents said that they didn’t realise how much we as Leaders did to run everything! I think we picked up a lot of respect that weekend!