The Bloggers
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Here is a short video of the campfire we had at our last Cub Camp ( see here ). This one isn't the longest one I've ever done, nor does it contain much singing as the camera's batteries ran out and I was busy taking photos! Still you get the idea – it was a very dark night!
I recently came across this app for Android phones. It's a very simple (and free) one which shows the UK Scout Laws and Promises for the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. Useful, for example, for when a passing Group Scout Leader is randomly asked what the Cub Scout Law is!
This year for our Remembrance Day ceremony, we did something we haven't done for quite a few years, we actually paraded from the Hall to the Church. This was something we did regularly in the past, until we stopped parading around 15 years ago.
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, England mourns for her dead across the sea. Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, Fallen in the cause of the free. Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
At a campsite, with the Cubs about to start the fire for our campfire!
I read this article in my local newspaper tonight - SCOUTS wants to lease land where they can set up a new base after a church council kicked them out of the headquarters they have used for decades. The 21st West Stafford Scout Group has asked Stafford Borough Council to lease them a patch of land…
I asked which idiot is responsible for updating the website & found out it was you! So ran an email I got from a work colleague the other day (it was meant jokingly – I hope!) with regard to a work website.
At the weekend, my Group's Beavers went to Kibblestone for a sleep over (camp). The Leaders all went out the night before to get themselves settled in and everything sorted in advance of the Beavers coming out on the Saturday morning.
I saw this Tweet this morning from Don District Scouts about the book The Scouting Trail. The book is written by Scouts Ireland and is another useful book showing Scouting skills, and best of all it's available to download for free! Take a look here . Many thanks to Don District for publicising this book!
I was sent this list over 8 years ago and found the email again the other day. See how many ring true to you - I. The number of matches it takes to get the fire going is inversely proportional to the number that were in the box when you started.
I've been reading a few of my American Scouting friends' blogs and they regularly talk about their Boy Led Troops. Also, there is this post from Lotta in Sweden about their Group and District Annual General Meetings. In both these cases, Scouts are given the considerable responsibility of either running their Troops or having a…
This is a rather good new video from the Scout Association.
About 18 months or so ago (or was it longer?), I came across the website HalfEagle.com which gathers together news stories from all sorts of Scouting related websites and personal blogs. I thought it was a good idea and after picking up a lot more reading from it, I thought I'd submit this blog to…
Last night I was chatting to the Mums of two new Beavers. As our conversation progressed, one of the Mums whose daughter had just joined the Colony, asked me if Brownies still existed. Now I have to admit this kind of surprised me.
Of late various organisations, like Scouts, schools or local councils, have been stopping various activities due to 'health and safety'. The more ridiculous examples of this has been schools stopping kids playing conkers in the playground to the stopping of the centuries old tradition of cheese rolling .
The Microsoft founder is going to be presented with the BSA's highest honour of the Silver Buffalo Award soon according to this article . No no matter what you may think of Microsoft and its products (and they do have their pros and cons!), Bill Gates has ploughed an awful amount of the money he's made…
I was chatting to my Group's Beaver Leader about the forthcoming Beaver camp (of course Beavers don't actually camp as such, they have to stay indoors) and she was concerned about the costs. A little background: Beavers can only stay in indoor accommodation and cannot stay away from their parents for more than 24 hours.
In my last post I talked a bit about Escouts and the forums they provide. As well as the forums, until recently, they also provided free hosting for UK Scouting websites. This has been of enormous benefit to many Groups around the country who have been able to set up a sit without any cost.
One of the things that always impresses me about Scouting is the generosity of everyone who is involved. From the parent who is part of the cooking team at a Cub camp to the Leaders and so on. But it's the stuff that people do which is 'above and beyond' that is always the most…
If you live in the US, you'll know who he is, but if you live anywhere else, like me, you'll probably say 'Who?'. He is a TV host who hosts a show called Dirty Jobs, amongst others, and is someone who is promoting the importance on the 'blue collar trades' and the fact that there…
Back in March, the UK Government released some previously classified files about the relationship between Scouting and the Hitler Youth (Hitler-Jugend). As usual the media made a big fuss about, well nothing really. There wasn't a link between the two organisations and the WOSM put out a rather good press release explaining it all ( read…
Well all the schools have broken up for the summer holidays and the pupils / students and MOST of the staff (only 4 weeks until MY holidays – but that's a rant I don't want to go into here!) now have six weeks off.
At the Family Camp we held back in May, as well as taking a load of still pictures – see here , I managed to take some video with my little hand held Flip Video camera . I've finally got round to editing it all together and you can see the short version below (YouTube is limited to…
Last night was my Group's Annual General Meeting. As well as the 'formal' stuff, awards were given out. It was pleasing to see three Beavers get their Chief Scouts Bronze Award and the Cub of the Year Award presented (we really need to have Beaver and Scout awards as well!).
It's pleasing to know that one of my ex Scouts will be representing his Country, County, District, Explorer Unit and Scout Group at next year's World Scout Jamboree in Sweden (no pressure then!). To attend this exciting event is going to cost him about £2100 or $3145 or kr24,375.
Whenever you write a post on a blog or an article on a website, you want people to read it and hope that they find it interesting. Recently there has been a post on here that has proved to be quite popular.
Another video message from the Chief Scout, this time thanking the adult volunteers.
Last week I 'attended' an online course on internet safety for parents ( previously mentioned here ), which was set up by the Scout Association, but run by Microsoft. Ok, so I'll get my grumbles out of the way first. It was held at either 13.30 or 17.00 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, which is not…
On the weekend of 28th – 30th May the Group held its second Family Camp ( our first was for our Centenary in 2008 ). This time we stayed at Barnswood Scout Camp , which is near to Rudyard Lake . Everyone arrived on the Friday evening (the majority of families having put their tents up the previous nights) and…
In April 2006 I started this blog as a bit of an experiment to see what all this blogging stuff was about. Since then I have managed to write 500 posts which I'm quite impressed at! Back then it was very general, but now it's just about Scouting.
One of the items on my weekly update email from the Scout Association caught my eye this weekend. The SA in association with Microsoft are running an online training session on internet safety for young people. This is aimed at Leaders who can then pass it onto parents so they are aware of the dangers…
I came across this video of Scouts of the 2nd Kenton Scout Group, North West London, who set up a help bureau in 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War. It's really fascinating to watch. Enjoy!
A couple of weeks ago the Scout Association released the figures from this year's census and the reported that the youth membership was up by 3.45% year on year. These figures are very promising and show the greatest year on year increase since 1972!
If you want a piece of really special Scouting memorabilia, tomorrow you have the chance to buy, at auction , Baden Powell's Scout hat! According to an article on the BBC , Gilwell sold the hat some time ago and now its owner wishes to sell it on.
Here are a couple of updates on the last two posts I've done. First of all, here is a message from Bear Grylls, the UK Chief Scout, about the recent increase in numbers of Scouts in the UK. Secondly, there is a report about the 350 new Queen's Scouts meeting Prince Charles and Bear Grylls…
Today hundreds of Scouts will parade through Windsor to meet up at Windsor Castle , will then inspected by Prince Charles and finally attend a service in St. George's Chapel where they will renew their Scout Promise led by the Chief Scout , Bear Grylls.
Great news from the Scout Association today. The results of the 2010 census are in and the number of young people Scouting in the UK is up again! The membership now stands at 499,323, which is 3.45% up on last year!
Two of my favourite things! There has long been a tradition of naming locomotives with Scouting related names. In the 1930's the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) named 2 of their Royal Scot engines The Boy Scout (6169) and The Girl Guide (6168).
Back in October I mentioned that the Scout Association was setting up a Brand Centre for all the things we would need to be able to promote ourselves in a unified and professional way. Well it was launched a few weeks ago and as well as being able to download logos and letter templates, if…
It was nice to note the other day that Escouts was celebrating its 9th birthday (so its a Cub then!). Escouts provide free web hosting to Scout Groups, Districts etc. in the UK and have some great forums. Its grown to be a great resource for UK Scouter and if ever someone has a question…
On of the most useful skills a person can gain from Scouting is the ability to read and use maps. This skill is not only used when hiking, for example, but when going to a new place in the car.
Last weekend, we took the Group to one of the local supermarkets (M & S) to raise some funds by packing the customer's shopping bags (if they want us to!). We pack their bags and they give us a donation – at least that's how we hope it goes!
I've just watched the below video from Cheshire's Network (18 – 25 year olds). It's an excellent advert to show what they get up to and is very professionally put together. Very impressive! Just a shame that our County's Network (Cheshire is less than 10 miles from where I live) isn't as organised or proactive.
Bit of an own goal there Mr. Al-Fayed ! It appears that a Group of Explorer Scouts who were in London were not allowed into Harrods as they were wearing their neckerchiefs! They were asked to remove them before they could enter, but to the Explorer's credit they said no as it is a part of…
As we are all aware, life is getting more and more expensive. Running a camp site has never been a cheap task, but of course these days it is getting more and expensive. So it's interesting to read that on of my local campsites, Barnswood , will be hosting a music type festival aimed at young…
I wrote back in February about the sad death of Stephen Young. This is a news item about his funeral. This is a celebration of that young man's life. Thanks to Lotta for bringing it to my attention.
On Monday 8th March various previously classified documents from the 1930' and 1940's were placed in the National Archive. One of these documents concerned the relationship between the Hitler Youth, Scouting and BP. Of course all the media then blew up and started implying that Scouting was hand in hand with the Nazis!
Yesterday as I was reversing my car to leave work, I wasn't looking properly and hit a colleagues car! Luckily all I did was break my fog light and did no damage to the other car (phew!). However, what did shock me was that my colleague was genuinely surprised that I'd told her!
I had an interesting email from a Polish Scout the other day, and one of the things they asked was what kind of games do we play. I thought about it and put down the following – Elephant Hunt All the Scouts stand at one end of the hall and two leaders stand at either side…
With the publishing of the book 'A Complete Guide to Scouting Skills' happening this week, Chris over at Jabbering has been able to launch a competition so that 2 lucky people can get their hands on a copy! Take a look at his page here , check out the rules and then enter by answering a…
