Beaver/Cub/Scout Volunteering

Is there a Clive Myrie/Scouting link I’ve missed somehow?

Jason fox might interest/inspire some but…. why one chief scout?  Why not a group  …a naturalist, a scientist, a pioneer/bushman,  a chef, a sports person .. . There could be others of course.

Clive Myrie was a curve ball to get them to think broader, and it stuck.

Authority figure, sense of humour, had the balls to stand on the roof in Kyiv when the missiles were flying.

I still think Bob Mortimer would be great.

why one chief scout? Why not a group …a naturalist, a scientist, a pioneer/bushman, a chef, a sports person .. .

I think to answer this you have to answer the question “why have a Chief Scout?”

How about

To inspire kids and show them what effort can achieve. To be a ‘celebrity’ for award winners to enjoy and remember meeting.

If asked 40 years ago I might have said Ranulph Fiennes, I can’t think of a modern day explorer equivalent but there must be….

Fiennes, John Noakes etc. They would have been my pick back in the 80s.

Prior to Peter Duncan it was always a military man or some senior civil servant.

Good job it was Peter Duncan and not John Noakes – Blue Peter had started to do risk assessments by that point!

To inspire kids and show them what effort can achieve.

Does it do that though? Interestingly, we did a thing on culture and values the other week and as part of it asked them to name some people they see as role models and why. In the list we had Gandhi (for professing peace), Stevie Wonder (for success over adversity), Martin Luther (for standing up for his beliefs) and many others (including, I have to say me, which was quite I was quite chuffed about). Bear Grylls was not mentioned. He’s never mentioned.

I think it’s one of the may things in Scouts that (some) Leaders and above see as important, but the scouts themselves couldn’t really give a toss about. See, also, flags, uniforms, promises, saluting, the proper place to sew a particular badge, the list goes on.

[on a related note, I’ve recently become a payment authoriser on the group bank account, and our payment up to Gilwell was paid recently. I was gobsmacked at the amount. It’s a lot of money for very, very little in return] 

I think they may need funds due to a recent inquest…

Chief Scout? Shouldn’t it be Chief Volunteer?

How about Ben Fogle.

Inspire, he/ she/ they should I think yes.   Maybe Bear does for some maybe not for others. I’ve heard people say his motivational speeches/ shows are very good.  The guy did manage to get up Everest at a young age so has something about him.   I would guess being a personality means most kids think he’s worth meeting.

The military links/beginnings to scouting have always bothered many and I get that.  Others are inspired by the backwoods, exploring, ‘scouting’, team work, giving all for others.  Some are inspired more by top sportsmen and women…..Sir Steven Redgrave would have been a great option perhaps, others see those traits more readily in…a politician,  a chef, an F1 designer and more.

I think they may need funds due to a recent inquest…

Well, indeed.

As a thought experiment, if everything in Scouting ‘upwards’ from your group didn’t exist (so no district, no HQ etc), what would the impact be?

As a thought experiment, if everything in Scouting ‘upwards’ from your group didn’t exist (so no district, no HQ etc), what would the impact be?

Well, there is quite a lot of stuff, from insurance deals to “do we have to make our own badges now?”; Local Rules would go insane without POR… so on and so forth.

But I certainly raised eyebrows at one Appointments Committee when asked about District… I said something along the lines of “District comes and District goes…” Expanded to: it depends who is running it at the time. When it’s there and active, great, but when it’s not, we carry on running regardless.

why one chief scout? Why not a group …a naturalist, a scientist, a pioneer/bushman, a chef, a sports person .. . There could be others of course.

Try getting something done by committee.

But I certainly raised eyebrows at one Appointments Committee when asked about District… I said something along the lines of “District comes and District goes…” Expanded to: it depends who is running it at the time. When it’s there and active, great, but when it’s not, we carry on running regardless.

Districts are only expendable if you have well run groups below them.

Try getting something done by committee.

reminds me of this:

Committees of twenty deliberate plenty.

Committees of ten act now and then.

But most jobs are done by committees of one.

Well, there is quite a lot of stuff, from insurance deals to “do we have to make our own badges now?”; Local Rules would go insane without POR… so on and so forth.

Insurance – fair enough

Badges – if there’s a market, someone will make them

Local rules/POR – I suppose this is linked to the insurance thing; if you’ve followed POR for safety/safeguarding stuff, the insurance will cover you. But much of POR is about where to se which badges, what flags to use and when to fly them, all that kind of ‘officious’ stuff. That could all be stripped out and if local groups have local rules for that kind of thing, fine, let them.

Districts are only expendable if you have well run groups below them.

Maybe we’re in a well-run group, but I don’t know what District is for. And what difference would a well-run District make to a badly-run group?

Try getting something done by committee.

But the Chief Scout doesn’t ‘do’ anything, it’s just a figurehead position.

Current one carefully manages his brand…

Maybe we’re in a well-run group, but I don’t know what District is for. And what difference would a well-run District make to a badly-run group?

We support struggling groups with leaders/training. We have in the past acted as the badge buying point to get bigger discounts. We provide the oversight for training thats overdue (which should be a GSL job). We arrange district wide training events, again for cost and convenience. We provide a minibus that no groups on their own could afford. We arrange district events and competitions. We coordinate the Explorer groups/YL training and Network activities to try and avoid losing people at 16/18 years old.

All of which a good group can do, if they have the time and volunteers. If you don’t have enough, a district can fill that gap.

Our District is pretty switched on. We may grumble about the politics, but we couldn’t do the amount of stuff that we do without them.

Committees of twenty deliberate plenty.

Committees of ten act now and then.

But most jobs are done by committees of one.

“Decisions are always made in committees with an odd number of people, and three people is already too many,” Marshal Foch once said about decision-making. On the same subject, General de Gaulle declared, “I have heard your points of view. They do not match mine. The decision is therefore unanimous.”

All of which a good group can do, if they have the time and volunteers. If you don’t have enough, a district can fill that gap.

What about a badly run group that is anti-district? Asking for a friend.

We support struggling groups with leaders/training. We have in the past acted as the badge buying point to get bigger discounts. We provide the oversight for training thats overdue (which should be a GSL job). We arrange district wide training events, again for cost and convenience. We provide a minibus that no groups on their own could afford. We arrange district events and competitions. We coordinate the Explorer groups/YL training and Network activities to try and avoid losing people at 16/18 years old.

All of which a good group can do, if they have the time and volunteers. If you don’t have enough, a district can fill that gap.

I mean, fair play, and hats off to you, that’s all good stuff.

Just had an awesome night at beavers! I knew it would be,  I remembered it from last year so volunteered early.  We had Ben from https://www.spiritofthewild.biz/

Come along with some of his AMAZING animals! Kids and leaders overcoming personal fears to hold (big, hairy) spiders, very big snakes,  skunks, huge great wolves (well…husky, wolves aren’t legal) and lots of less scary cute ones like barn owls, chinchilla and meerkats.  Super proud of my 6yo who overcame a massive fear of dogs to call Ice the husky to her and get him to sit (the treat ice knew she had behind her back helped). And I got to hold a golden Eagle! One of only two world wide that meet the public close up.  Incredible.

I thoroughly thoroughly recommend Ben to anyone with beavers or other kids groups.  That’s the 3rd time I’ve seen him in the last year as I had him come to my 8yos birthday too . He is based near Stansted but happily comes all over South London so I guess does quite a distance.

Awesome.

I mean, fair play, and hats off to you, that’s all good stuff.

To be fair, we’ve just merged with another district to make sure we can keep doing it.

What about a badly run group that is anti-district? Asking for a friend.

Keep your head down and focus on doing the best you can for the kids.

Brilliant!

We had Viper and Vine who are local to us bring in some creatures a few years back.

Here’s me (on the left) well outside my comfort zone!

spiders, very big snakes,  skunks, huge great wolves (well…husky, wolves aren’t legal) and lots of less scary cute ones like barn owls, chinchilla and meerkats.

Christ, would hate to be in an RTA with his van on the way to an event

Harry that looks very like the red tailed boa Ben brought today,  and I had round my neck at my daughter’s birthday!

He also brings out a smaller black/ white/ red snake,  holds it firmly by the head and gets the kids to hold it while explaining bright colours are a warning…coral snakes are very venomous… nerve venomous… dead in 45 minutes…. the faces in the room are all turning white… then he says of course I can’t bring a coral snake,  this is a milk snake,  it mimics the coral 🤣

One of our gsl doesn’t like snakes and basically had to leave the hut for that bit!

We has a talk off MAG (Mine Action Group) a couple of weeks back. Very interesting.

Christ, would hate to be in an RTA with his van on the way to an event

I laughed too much at that!

Beavers and Squirrels were at the lical library this week for World Book Day and reading badges.

Last week they were at the Fire Station. Had to beat off parent helpers with a shitty stick. Where are they on a wet weekend to help take tents down?

Last term we took ours to Buxton Fire Station as they’d said on a previous visit that they’d do some first aid training for us. The chap welcomed us in and just after he’d introduced himself and said that they were a working fire station so could be called out, the bells went off. He gave me a very apologetic look and, understandably, scarpered.

So back to the hut for a very impromptu games night 🙂

Had the Guide Dog people in a few years back, which is great if you like dogs.

Haha. Yes our lot go to the local firestation and thoroughly enjoy it.  I took my kids to visit my brother…. station officer at a retained station in Essex for a personal/ private look around.  My 3yo nearly burst with excitement  🤣

We did a fire station visit.

One fire fighter showed the leaders their Trophy Draw full of items that they have had to cut off people. Mostly curtain rings and handcuffs.

We quite often get the PCSOs down to the hut so the kids can sit in the cars and play with the lights and sirens

Loving being a venture leader, at the pool today teaching them how to use a safety throw rope bag and then my first kayak roll in 30 years.

Sloppy, muscles are whining but a great laugh.

Took our cub pack on a visit to Metro Bank last night, they had a great time, even visited the bank vault.  https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/about-us/kids-zone/

Hoping to organise a safety visit to our local train station next term.

Our Beaver leader mentioned last night that they are doing a night hike next week. Time and location overlap with our Cycle for Health ride. 20 turquise ninjas, 20 cyclists on narrow muddy tracks in the dark….

Both groups are updating their risk assessments!