The Bloggers
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No, not really! But if you read this article from Saturday's Daily Mail, you'd get that impression! I first heard of this story on Sunday morning, when one of my friends in the BSA retweeted another American chap's comment on the article.
Guiding is celebrating it's 100th birthday this weekend! I can't add any more than Chris has said on his blog , so please have a read. Happy Birthday to our sister organisation.
The other weekend the VFestival was held at Weston Park which is quite close to where we are. At the end of the festival, various groups are invited to go onto the site to help clear up. They are allowed to keep any equipment they want or get it sent out to people who are…
In May this year it was very pleasing to hear that our friends from the 85th Stoke-on-Trent & Newcastle, Milton Scout Group opened their new Scout hut. They managed to raise well over £100,000 to pay for their new building and it's very impressive.
While we were on holiday, one item on the local news caught my eye. The Mountain Rescue Teams in the Lake District have been called out more times this year than last and the Keswick team (where coincidentally we were staying) had 70% more call outs than last year.
It's gone live! The world's largest Scout Group's website is now up and running. Kind of! It is actually live now, but in final testing and will be fully operational for the Gilwell reunion on 5th September. All Scouts, from all around the world that hold the Wood Badge are members of the 1st Gilwell…
We've just got back from our holiday in the Lake District . Of course, being the Lakes, it rained, but we weren't too bothered as we had our waterproofs with us so we were ready for anything! As I now have a digital SLR camera, when we go away I take my laptop with me, so…
Podcast number 16. Talking about girls in Scouting and BBQs! The Scout Association's One Movement Pages here and here .
I've had an email from vinspired which talks about the awards they are doing for young people who volunteer. So please read on – My name is Laurence from Cake Public Relations contacting you on behalf of Youth Volunteering Charity vinspired.
When a potential new Leader attends their initial interview one of the things that happens is that they are assigned a Training Assessor. The TA's job is to take the new Leader through the training modules and assess which ones they need to complete and by which methods.
I was chatting to Scouter Jeff the other night (or afternoon in his part of the world – California) and he mentioned that he's started a podcast. So I checked it out. And very good it is too. He talks about about himself, gives a camping tip, a Leader's tip, his Favourite (ok I've used English…
I did something today that I've never done before. I spoke to Scouts in Oman , Jordan and Bali ! All this was courtesy of the International Rover Scout Net Moot. I first mentioned this last month, when I received an email about it.
As those of you who stop by here on a regular basis will know, I'm interested (obsessed?) in finding out the history of my Group. When you've got over 100 years to go at there is a lot interesting stuff out there!
Podcast number 15. Talking about remembering your Group's past whether it is 5 years old or 100 years old. Colin 'Johnny' Walker's Scouting Milestones
OK, I'm not going to go on about the song sung by The Beatles and Barrett Strong ! Yesterday I got round to finalising the Scout Troop's money for the last term. Now for reasons too boring to go into here, I look after the Troop's subs money.
Back in April on the Leader's Campfire show number 62 , there was a trivia show. At the end of the show, a competition was launched for listeners to answer the questions that the show's participants weren't able to answer. All the questions came from the BSA's 1984 Boy Scout Handbook.
With the current economic climate, the availability of jobs is getting less and when a job does become available, competition for the post is often fierce. Therefore, when companies are looking at candidate's Curriculum Vitaes, they are not only looking at the person's suitability and qualifications for the job they've applied for, but what they…
At the Group Scout Leader's conference I went to last year , one of the things talked about was a self review form that had been trialled and was likely to be rolled out across the country. I brought it back with me and thought it was a good idea.
Podcast number 14. A bit of a chat about camping and the Nights Away Scheme.
Last year for our centenary we finally got ourselves a new Troop flag . After the new one was dedicated in Church the old one was taken away and my Mum said she's do some repairs on it so it wouldn't deteriorate any more.
Podcast number 13. On this one I talk about the ways my Group spends and raises its money. If anyone has any other good ideas for fundraising, please let me know.
The Scouts have just come back from playing a wide game in Bradwell Woods. The idea had been to let off some rockets that the Scouts had made for their Astronautics Badge , but it was raining and there was quite a strong wind.
I've been meaning to mention more about this, but other things came up. On Wednesday 15/07/09, St. Swithin's Day, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers were in London to lobby MPs and OFWAT about the proposed Water Tax (read all about it here – explained better than I could!)
I was saddened to read that Henry Allingham passed away in his sleep early this morning. He was the oldest surviving British World War 1 veteran, the oldest man in the world, the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland , the last original member of the Royal Air Force and the world's oldest Scout!
I've been following and, to a lesser degree, taking part in a discussion on the Escouts forums about Scout Groups not accepting girls into their sections. Now first of all, I have to make two points - 1. Policy, Organisation and Rules ( PO&R ), rule 3.6 states – f.
I got another update on the 1st Gilwell Scout Group / Troop 1 Gilwell website today - The website for Members of the 1st Gilwell Park Scout Group is almost ready after a very long wait. There will be a testing period at the beginning of August which we will be sharing with you.
As anyone who reads these pages regularly will know, I find the combination of the internet and international Scouting most fascinating (hello USA, Canada, Sweden, South Africa, Bradwell (!) and anyone from any other location who happens to be passing by!)
I was talking to a colleague at work the other day and he brought up the subject of Scouting. He had seen us at our Annual General Meeting as we had hired my School's sports hall and he uses part of it to run his fitness business.
Bear was invested as Chief Scout at Gilwell 24 yesterday. Best wishes to him and lets see what the next 5 years bring!
Scout Groups who own their own buildings have been hit with a new charge from the water regulator OFWAT and the water companies. They will now be charged for the disposal of rain water which runs into the drains and sewers on their premises.
I was sorting through some stuff at my parents house last night with a view of chucking some of it out (told you I am a hoarder!), when I came across some stuff I'd done for a qualification in greengrocery when I worked at Asda .
Bet that got your attention! The reason for this is that today my Group got a cheque from Her Majesty's Customs and Revenue (the taxman!) as part of their Gift Aid scheme. Gift Aid is a scheme for charities which means that for every £1 given to the charity, the charity can claim back 25p…
I must admit that I'm a bit of a hoarder (ask my parents & my wife!) and I hate to throw anything away. This is a bit of a family trait to be honest. My Grandparents were all born in the early part of the 20th Century and were never what you'd call 'rich'.
Just a quick reminder that any podcast I do is available through iTunes , so please take a look and have a listen! And now the question. If a review or a rating is left on iTunes do you get any notification?
Podcast number 12. On this one I talk a bit about some of the stuff the Group has done over the last month and then about the Group Annual General Meeting.
Here are a few photo's from my Group's AGM last night. The rest can be seen here in the Group's photo gallery. One of the things we have to do is to elect a Group Executive Committee and each of the committee members got given a hat to show who they are and what jobs…
Tonight we held the Group's AGM and I'm going to do a podcast about AGMs soon. But one of the things we did was give out some awards. The first, and most important, was the Cub of the Year Award.
I've just come across an excellent site called Scouting Resources . This site is run by an Assistant Cub Leader from North East London and has LOADS of useful information and resources on it (hence the name). And while it has a UK slant, there is lots of stuff on there which will be of use…
Yesterday was Father's Day. To be honest, I've often thought that it was nothing more than a ' Hallmark Holiday' ! This is because it doesn't seem to have any historical context, unlike Mother's Day, which is based on the Christian Church's Mothering Sunday (at least in the UK).
I'm in the process of sorting out some of my photographs so they are better organised and backed up in more then one place, which is always a sensible precaution. Doing this, I've come across some of the oldest digital photos I have of the Scout Group, so I've put them into our Gallery.
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.
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.
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!
As a movement we are very prone to stereotyping in people's minds. Some people still believe that Scouts dress in the traditional Baden Powell style (some do, but most don't), we are lying in wait to help old ladies cross the road (again nothing wrong there, see the BSA ad !)
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…
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…
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.
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.
Podcast number 11. This is the one where I talk a bit about the adult training programme and Woodbadge. See here for the Scout Association’s web site on training.
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…
