Tag: Scouts

The Beavers and Cubs have spent this evening walking round Westport Lake to raise money for the animal charity the PDSA.

Of course, there was a bit of concern doing this today in light of the tragedy on Tuesday, where a Beaver drowned in a river. We were walking by a lake on one side and a canal on the other (in some places).

However, we had the correct amount of Leaders and a number of the parents said they would join in as well. We have a standard risk assessment for walking and so we had all the safety areas covered.

No matter how much you plan, things can go wrong and it can be a case of ‘there but for the Grace of God, go I’.

The Beavers walked around the larger lake and then the small one and then played some games while the Cubs walked around the large lake four times.

We’re not sure how much money the Beavers and Cubs raised yet, but we’re sure they have raised a considerable amount. It is nice to think that we have been raising money for a charity other than ourselves. I believe the Beavers and Cubs chose the charity themselves.

We all had a great evening out.

I’ve just read the awful news that a Beaver Scout died last night while walking along a river in Suffolk with the rest of his Colony.

There is no news on how this tragedy happened at the moment, and I will make no speculation or comment.

See here for more info – it will be updated as more information becomes available.

My thoughts and prayers are with the poor boy’s family, friends and fellow Beavers.

This in itself is not a very unusual news item. Indeed we invested three new Scouts at the weekend on camp.

However, our newest member won’t be joining us every week as it is a bit far for him to travel! He is a Scout from Catalonia in Spain and is staying with one of our Scouts who is a friend of his. He was able to join the Scouts on their recent camp at Gradbach.

Therefore we decided to make him an honorary member of the Troop and gave him a red necker, all the investiture badges, a one Nights Away badge and an Outdoor Challenge badge.

A welcome addition to the Troop.

With all the recent good publicity that’s been generated in the UK from Bear Grylls appointment as our next Chief Scout, it’s been quite interesting to see the reactions generated. Looking at the forums on Escouts for example, the views from here in the UK are very positive (of course not everyone agrees, but why should they?). And talking to members of my Group, both adults and youth members, the reaction is again positive.

Looking farther afield (ok the USA, but that’s only where I’ve looked so far), there are positive comments from SM Jerry, Commissioner Keith and Scoutmaster to name just three.

The BSA are very good at producing videos to promote themselves and now thanks to Twitter, I’ve come across a couple of other interesting videos of the heads of the Canadian and New Zealand Scout Associations (thanks to Chinook Council & Scouting New Zealand) promoting their programmes either on YouTube or on TV. Take a look as they’ve all got the same positive message as Bear, despite being many miles and time zones apart and it proves that we’re all not that different!.

Watch New Zealand National Commissioner Stuart Fleming on NZ breakfast TV.

Seeing what Scouts around the world are up to (in these cases all English speaking, sorry Lotta!), is to me a fascinating experience and gives me a greater understanding of how other Scouts do things.

Over the last few weeks I’ve done a lot of work teaching our Cubs, Scouts and another Troop’s Scouts how to use knives, axes and bow saws correctly and safely (strange how it all happens at the same time!).

It is traditional that when you join the Scouts (I mean the Troop here), you get a knife of some kind. Most of our Scouts have Swiss Army Knives or cheap copies. It is our job to ensure they know how to use them properly and to realise that they are tools and not toys.

The first thing we have to consider, unfortunately, are the legalities. There have been too many occasions of young people carrying knives and using them to stab other people. The law in the UK regarding knives is –

•  it is illegal for any shop to sell a knife of any kind (including cutlery and kitchen knives) to anyone under the age of 18

• it is generally an offence to carry a knife in public without good reason or lawful authority (for example, a good reason is a chef on the way to work carrying their own knives)
• the maximum penalty for an adult carrying a knife is four years in prison and a fine of £5000
• knives where the blade folds into the handle, like a Swiss Army Knife, aren’t illegal as long as the blade is shorter than three inches (7.62 cms)

You can read the full explanation here.

We then teach the Scouts how to use the knife safely and with respect. It is common that all Scouts enjoy using their knives, especially whittling pieces of wood to produce shavings for fire lighting. It also keeps them good for hours as well!

We also go over the correct use of axes and the bow saw and ensure the message has sunk in by watching them using the exes etc.

It has been interesting to note that all the Cubs and Scouts I’ve taught recently have paid careful attention to the proper use of these tools. Sometimes when going over ‘less interesting’ subjects, attention seems to wander, but not with this subject!

By ensuring the Cubs and Scouts know how to use these tools, especially the knives, correctly, we ensure that they will be used safely and that also they won’t feel the need to carry knives around with them.

It is comforting to think that we haven’t had a serious accident with knives, axes or saws, to my knowledge, since around 1985! This was when one Scout was sawing a branch with a bow saw and wasn’t holding the saw correctly and hadn’t secured the branch he was cutting securely. The branch was bouncing, so the saw bounced and he cut himself across his knuckles. He needed to go to hospital for three stitches in his hand. He was ok and came back to camp, but never forgot to treat the saw with respect and to use it properly.

This story does act as a useful teaching tool as when I have told it, I can show the scar I have on my right hand. Yep, it was me!!! However, they all remember how to use the saw correctly (so do I!), so I guess it was kind of worth it.

The knife and axe part of camp craft is an essential one and one that has been in the programme since the start of Scouting. Indeed BP himself writes quite a bit about axes in Scouting for Boys – see Campfire Yarn Number 8.

Over the last few months we’ve been building up a good relationship with another of our local Scout Groups. They have very kindly let us use their climbing wall and use their Scout Hut and grounds to camp at overnight. This has come about because our Assistant Scout Leader has been doing some climbing training with their Scout Leaders.

As part of one of their conversations they had, they said that they didn’t know too much about the use of axes and knives, making fires and knotting. They do know a lot about archery however!

So last night 4 of our Leaders, including myself, went to their Scout Hut to show the Scouts and Leaders how to safely use knives, axes and bow saws and how to light a fire. We also took a hurricane lamp for them to light as well.

We all had a good evening and both the Scouts and the Leaders learned a lot. We were happy to go and show them and it was even better to note that everyone went home with the same number of fingers as when they started! They learned how to use everything safely, which is what it was all about.

Their Scouts will now be joining ours on a camp at the end of August where all their new skills will be put to good use.

It’s great to be able to help each other out like this as we all get to use new resources, learn new skills and make new friends. That’s Scouting!

The Scout Association has a number of awards that it presents to Leaders and adult helpers for long service, good service and gallantry.

The only awards given automatically are those given for long service. So, for example, I have my Chief Scout’s 15 Years Service Award, which was presented to me in 2007. My Group’s Cub and Scout Leaders both have the Award for Merit and the Chief Scout’s 20 Years Service Award. The Cub Leader is getting the Chief Scout’s 25 Years Service Award at our AGM later this month, though she doesn’t know it yet!

The good service awards have to be nominated and a case put forward as to why the recipient is worthy of receiving it. I often wish I was in a position to do so when my Mum & Dad retired from Scouting as they got no official recognition after over 25 & 30 years service each, although we did make a big thing of it at Group level.

Now the point of all this is that I got an email from my District Commissioner last night saying ‘Congratulations on your award’. My reply went along the lines of ‘thanks Steve, but what award????’

Well, the reply came back. But here I must point out that I don’t want  to get big headed, but it seems that I’ve been awarded the Award for Merit!

This is given for –

outstanding service of not less than 15 years. It implies keen, conscientious, imaginative and dedicated service over a sustained period.

So I’m quite chuffed to be honest!

It’s nice to think that someone (I’m guessing it’s the DC) has taken the time to nominate me for this.

I’ve just had a message from my friend in Sweden, Lotta, who read in the Swedish newspapers yesterday of the shooting of some unarmed Scouts. Three were wounded and one later died. Here is what she posted –

Swedish newspapers reported yesterday about a governmental official in the Kayogoro district of Burundu having been arrested for his involvement in the shooting of 3 young boys, one of which later died in hospital, who were at camp, preparing to give their scout oath.
The boys had been forced to lay down on the ground before the police opened fire on them. The police at first claimed that the scouts had opened fire on the police, and that they had shot the boys in self defence. This was later taken back, and five police men have been arrested and admitted having been involved in the incident. One is still in hiding.

http://www.burundirealite.org/news_view.cfm?ID=2895&LANG=F

BBC seem to mention the incident at http://www.bbc.co.uk/greatlakes/news/story/2009/05/090525_bdiscoutpoliceapology.shtml but I can’t find any English source of confirmation. Can the international friends of scouting do anything to support the group?

As far as I can tell there is only one story in English on the web and that’s here. Hopefully something else will come out soon.

If anyone does find anything else please let me know.

UPDATE 01/06/09 – No real updates as such, but another site with the story here .

At the weekend I had a great time camping with our Cub Pack at Kibblestone.

We had a great time and the weather behaved itself and there was no rain!

As the days are longer and it stays lighter later, when we had our campfire it was still light. I took advantage of this and recorded a few of the songs on video.

A couple of things to keep in mind. First of all, the quality of the video isn’t great as it was recorded on my stills camera.

The other is that the very poor singing on the first song and giggling on the others is me – couldn’t be helped!

It is with great sadness that I have heard of the death of Bill Webber. Bill was for many years the Divisional Secretary and held many positions within our old District, Burslem.

He also wrote a regular column in the our local newspaper, which promoted Scouting to the people of North Staffordshire.

Bill was of great help to my Group when we restarted the Scout Troop in 1983 and managed to find our old flag at the old Divisional Office.

I believe he retired in the early 1990’s.

Of course, most people who read this will never have heard of Bill. However, it is safe to say that without him Scouting in our area would not have been so successful and so well run, and so I believe it is worth mentioning his passing here.

I offer my condolences to his family. He will be greatly missed.

Back in October last year, I wrote about the 1st Gilwell Scout Group getting its own website. It should have launched at the end of 2008, but by the beginning of 2009 it had been delayed.

As it’s now May and nothing more has happened I thought I’d find out what was happening.

I emailed Gilwell and this is the reply I got –

Hi Nick

Thanks for your email and I can understand the disappointment of not yet being able to see the website, especially when we thought it would be completed by now.

We have just about all of the content ready to go but there are internal problems which means we are probably going to use an external company to do the background work! The new date for the website is likely to be by the end of August in time for Gilwell Reunion in September.

We will be contacting everyone who is currently signed up to hear about the website to share this information in the next few days.

It’s a shame that it’s going to be so late, but hopefully it will be an excellent site to reflect the worldwide nature and size of the 1st Gilwell Park Scout Group / Troop 1 Gilwell!

The UK’s new Chief Scout was announced today and he is Bear Grylls!

Of course, he is only Chief of the UK Scout Association, as there has not been a Chief Scout of the World since THE Chief Scout, BP!

The SA have also appointed a UK Chief Commissioner, Wayne Bilpitt who will work in conjunction with Bear to grow Scouting in the UK.

This seems like a good appointment as he’s a well known figure who leads an adventurous life. Listening to some of the interviews he’s given so far today, he’s really pushing the fact that we’re short of adult help and this seems that it’s going to be a theme of his term as Chief, which can only be a good thing.

It seems the PR team at Gilwell have been really on their toes and the story is all over the news and press today and it all appears to be positive! See here.

So does this now mean we’ll have an Everest climbing badge??? 😉