The Bloggers
Showing 151–200 of 308 · page 4 of 7. Each title opens the post in a new tab.
Kind of! One of the Scout's parents kindly knitted a little jumper and necker for Rachael when she was born and last night she wore it for the first time when she visited the Beavers and Cubs! She wasn't phased by all the noise, although she did jump slightly at the beginning of the Cub's…
I was looking at the Scout Association's website this morning and an article on the front page caught my eye. It seems that National Chairman of The Ugandan Scout Association David Bahati, who is a member of the Ugandan Parliament, is the author of a Private Members Bill which calls for the death sentence for…
One of the things my Scout Group has been considering for a while is getting a computer. We've been really lucky recently as I've been able to get a couple donated to us, so there is no cost to the Group.
As I mentioned before, the kind people at Random House have sent me a copy of this book to review, so here goes. Although it is produced by The Scout Association and the foreword is by the Chief Scout, Bear Grylls, it's not specifically targeted at Scouts.
Back on the 18th December 2007, I wrote about an Explorer Scout who had just spent a year living in a tent to raise money for a children's hospice. Unhappily, it appears this young man passed away a couple of days ago whilst walking in the hills in Scotland.
A few days ago I got an email from the publishers of the forthcoming book 'Scouting Skills: A Complete Guide' asking if I'd be interested in having a copy and maybe doing a review. 'Yes please!' was the reply, so it appeared in the post this morning.
This is a poster that was produced by the Ministry of Information in 1939 and was to have been used if Britain had been invaded by the Nazis. We weren't, so it wasn't! However a copy was rediscovered in 2000 ( read about it here ) and has since gone on to be quite popular.
Today, Monday 8th February 2010, marks the 100th birthday of the world's second largest national Scouting organisation, the BSA . So, a big Happy Birthday to the whole organisation and to its many members! I'm sure that there will be a lot to hear and read about from my friends in the USA whose blogs and…
The first part of the UK Scout Law states that 'A Scout is to be Trusted'. This law applies to both young people and Leaders alike, no exception. SM Jerry has posed something similar recently when he talks about honesty and setting a good example.
I found this site the other day which allows people to create their own videos by using old archive ones. So I had a look and came up with some that showed local Scouts in years gone by. There are, in fact, four videos here that I have stitched together.
I've recently found a few short videos of activities the Group has done in the past, so I've put them together and here they are. They are not that great and not to be taken seriously, but are quite funny to watch!
It's that time of year, where after the annual Census has been completed, it's now time to pay up! For each Scout (& Beaver etc.) and Leader, the Group has to pay an amount to the District, which is then passed onto the County and finally the Scout Association at Gilwell.
I've recently been bombarded with spam emails on my Scout Group's email account. Some of these have been particularly devious as they pretend to contain new settings for my email account. And one of these nearly caught me out! Now I'd like to think that I'm fairly savvy about these kind of things, but I…
The other day I got a comment on the post I made in February last year about International Scouting . As those of you who come by here often are aware, I am fascinated by the fact we're a worldwide movement and there are Scouts in virtually every country in the world.
I popped up to see the Troop tonight as we were pleased to have the District Commissioner join us to give out some awards. First of all, he presented a Chief Scout's Gold award to the first Scout in the Troop to achieve this award since we restarted the Troop in 2007.
In the UK, camping in snowy weather is somewhat unusual these days and we don't get the same opportunities to do so as, for example, SM Jerry's Troop . However, the Scouts from my Troop are currently at a weekend camp and are surrounded by snow.
Every year, each Scout Group has to complete a census. This is information that the Scout Association asks for each year to find out the numbers of young people and leader in each Group. Once the Group has filled in their details, the District then collates the information from each Group in the District and…
To everyone that comes by and reads and listens to what I have to say, I'd like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I was looking in my bookcase the other day and came across a book by a hero of mine that I'd forgotten I had. 'Great Contemporaries' by Winston S. Churchill is a series of essays he wrote in the late 1920's and early 1930's about famous people (Douglas Haig, Adolph Hitler, Franklin D.
My Group's Assistant Scout Leader popped round to see me last night to drop off some Christmas cards and let me know how the Troop was getting on in my absence (I'm taking a break from day to day Scouting for the next month or so for obvious reasons).
At some point on Monday, i recorded my 10,000th hit on my blog! This figure is based on the Wordpress stats that have been recorded since January 2008, although my Feedproxy stats give a totally different figure! So to everyone who has stopped by and read or listened to what I have to say – a…
Those fine folks at PTC Media have done it again and created a new podcast! The new one is 'Moms In Scouting Service' and is a podcast 'from the perspective of volunteering mothers'. Obviously, it has an American slant (odd that, as they are all Americans!), but it is still an interesting listen and puts…
‘I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello!' This is a quick update and Christmas greetings.
It's nice to be able to mention a couple of items of good news from my Group this week. First of all, one of our Scouts has just completed all the requirements to gain his Chief Scouts Gold Award . This is our first Scout to gain this award since we restarted the Troop in March…
At our Group's Leader meeting the other night, I put on the agenda that each of the Section Leaders were to report how things were going in their own section. However, before they spoke, I decided to go first. I had realised what a good position the Group is in and how we had improved…
Yesterday I went to the GSL Support Day run by the County. This was kind of a follow up to the one I went to last year and also to cover some of the topics for the GSLs who couldn't make it to the previous session.
While reading Lotta's blog about the District Training weekend she'd just been on, it dawned on me how much thought we give to food and drink within Scouting. It could be the good food that Lotta and her colleagues have at their training sessions, Scoutmaster Jerry's quest to come up with great, but light and…
At the Troop meeting tonight I didn't actually get to do much with the Scouts themselves (although there were a lot there and we seem to have a lot of Cubs joining the Troop at the moment!). Once I'd taken in the subs, I had a chat with a parent who is going to become…
After the seriousness of the last couple of days, here is something silly - On the Ning Nang Nong On the Ning Nang Nong Where the Cows go Bong! And the Monkeys all say Boo! There's a Nong Nang Ning Where the trees go Ping!
If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's…
Today's parade at church went really well! When I got to church this morning, the Scouts who were there to carry the flag and escort it, were already there and looking very smart. The Assistant Scout Leader and I then went to have a chat with the stand in vicar.
Tomorrow (Sunday), is Remembrance Sunday , which is an important date in the Scouting, and indeed the country's calendar. This is the time we remember those who have served and died in the armed forces in the various wars. As part of this people gather around war memorials and observe the two minutes silence at 11…
Not a very pleasant topic, but one we potentially have to deal with. A while ago I came back from a meeting having found out that my Group should have an anti bullying policy ( see here ). So I wrote one and the Group's Executive agreed it with some changes and it's now Group policy.
This coming weekend our Cubs are off to camp with another local Pack from our old District. We've been doing a joint camp with them for quite a few years now and it's always an enjoyable weekend and the Cubs make new friends and renew old friendships.
It's nearly a year since I produced my first podcast and since then I've produced another 19. A few thoughts so far. As I reflect on the podcasts I've done so far, I know that the quality has been variable!
Podcast number 19. This is part two of the conversation I had with Shawn Cleary from the True North Scouting blog and podcast. This time we talk about camp fire, songs & skits, Scouting both internationally and locally and the enthusiasm of the Scouts.
This kind of relates back to a post I made in July about Leaders refusing to accept girls in their Group. Well, it now seems that a different Group has been refusing to accept girls (despite having to since 1st January 2007) and that their District has removed them form their roles.
Podcast number 18. As promised last time, I've done something a little different – I have a guest! Shawn Cleary from the True North Scouting blog and podcast was good enough to join me for a chat on Sunday afternoon / morning depending on your time zone!
One of the items in the weekly newsletter I get from the Scout Association was that the SA's YouTube channel has been launched as Scout's TV . Here are all the SA's videos including the six episodes of the Everyday Adventure TV series.
Sorry, Joining Lists as we now call them! Just recently, I've had a handful of people get in touch with the Group, through our website , with regards to getting their children to join Beavers, Cubs or Scouts. The problem is that I've had to put their names on the waiting (joining ) list.
The Scouts have always had a strong visual brand, whether it is - The last logo represents the latest update from around 2001. Now the brand is being updated again. However, it's not a huge change this time but more of a 'tweak'!
Back in May I talked about trying to find an old photo that was taken of the Troop in January 1926 (as I now know). We had a vague photo of it and that was all. It was taken to be presented to the Church's Vicar, Fr.
Podcast number 17. A quick update of what my Group has been up to in September. I will doing another podcast within the next 10 –14 which will be somewhat different, so watch this space. I actually recorded this on Monday, uploaded it and forgot it was saved as a draft, hence the delay in…
The following was posted by Charlie Roper on his blog . I wanted to make a reply, but as it's limited to 140 characters, I thought I'd use my blog to put my own thoughts down. Every young person has had the experience.
I've just come back from helping out at the District's archery competition which 5 of our Scouts took part in. They all did very well and they came 4th out of 6 Troops. This is an improvement on last year as they were in last place!
It was a total coincidence that I happened to pop in to see the Beavers this evening and they were having a chocolate night! Honest!
In the school where I work, we have a diary system which is a web based one. All members of staff have access to it so they can record if they are going out, having visitors or record any other information that the members of staff might need to know about.
In the summer the Cubs wrote and starred in their own video for the Creative Challenge badge. They did it in the style of a news programme. I was a little delayed in being put together, but I got it on Thursday and put it on YouTube today, so enjoy!
This evening, I've been to the Beavers to talk to the parents about the forthcoming sleepover and also the family camp we're doing next year. They were all very interested, asked a lot of questions and the majority went away with Criminal Record Bureau forms so the can have their backgrounds checked, which will enable…
The Scouts have come back from a weekends camping at Consall with 12th Golden Hill Scouts. I couldn't go out for the full weekend, so I went to see them on the Saturday. Typically it was a lovely weekend and didn't rain once!
