UKC

I know they are not everyone’s cup of tea, are a bit jingoistic, have some historical issues and the occasional alarming people problems, but I dropped my kids in a Solihull carpark at 6am this morning with about 300 other Scouts and Explorers and now they are in the Forrest of Dean playing a massive game of hide and seek for the next 12 hours.

Where else do you get to do such brilliant, relatively cheap, well supported, outdoorsy things - I’ve a lot of love for Scouts today, not withstanding the fact that we are child free all day 🤣

DofE, Youth Clubs, Scouts, Guides, there’s so much good stuff out there for kids and I really hope that the current financial shambles doesn’t deprive them of access to these things.

It's dyb. Not dib...

DofE have been moving to each school being a directly licenced centre, rather than coming under an LA. Two reasons: LAs cutting DofE provision due to austerity, and DofE earning more money. Result: costs for participants go up.

Yes!

Very important stuff. 

Enjoy your day

The other result is that some smaller schools just can't find the time to do it at all. You can often just about persuade enough staff to volunteer to do the actual activity but giving up their time to get stuck into even larger amounts of dreary administration is a huge ask.

No. Sorry. The scouts have updated to a 21st century slogan, D.I.B., now.... "Do I Best"

Glad to help 

Scout groups are also a great place to take retired ropes, Lodge Jnr's Scout leader was always happy to take them on the understanding they could not be used for anything off the ground.

They usually got cut into lengths for knot practice or building rafts and dens.

But hands up who thought Sherbet Dip Dab was called Sherbet Dib Dab.

I am VERY sorry to inform you that it is called "dip dab". Could you please check the front of a packet. Thank you

Glad to help

Signed, profitofdoom, self-appointed master checker of sweet naming and labeling (labelling??)

Caps off to you, PoD!

Yes, the Scouts have been brilliant for the refugee kids who were staying with us. 

They gave them uniforms, involved them in everything from the get go. The unit have paid for their places on camps, fun days etc. They gave them the option to make their promise in Russian (the younger one, in Beavers opted to but the older, in Scouts, wanted to do it in English) and have just enabled them to get stuck in all the time. 

I cannot praise them enough!

I have some fantastic memories of being in the scouts, first experiences of  climbing, caving  and camping, I remember one very simple thing that at the time I thought amazing, on the last night of a camp in the Lakes because we had packed everything away for travelling the next day we slept under the stars in the open next to the fire, seemed magical at the time.

Like you fantastic memories of camping, caving and hill walking, all whilst based in SW London. However almost universally we had to hold our noses and ignore the nonsense about serving God and the queen, woggles etc.

I'm not sure as an adult I could stomach the mental gymnastics required to get involved, which is a great shame.

As a man who once had the job of putting the lollies in the sherbet packets, I'm over-ruling you! They were always known as dib dabs by everyone in the factory along with every kid ever (apart from some weird kid down South somewhere) regardless of the spelling (which is only put there to expose boring adults )

I also personally made sure that one lucky kid out there somewhere got a green lolly instead of a red one by bypassing several of the air jets that would reject and eject them. I used to like smuggling the double lollies in there that were stuck together too.

Fun times, frothing at nose at the end of each day from all the sherbet in the air!

I baulked at that, too. And especially when the answer was apparently "oh, you only have to say it, you don't have to believe it". Since one of the tenets of Scouting was that a Scout is honest and trustworthy.

I doubt I would have become an outdoorsy person without Scouting, to be honest.

Absolutely agree, also helped set me up as an outdoorsy person as a kid.  Even back when I was in cubs and scouts (70s/80s) it was slightly 'uncool', but I loved it and think this kind of thing is still (possibly now ever more than ever) important.

I never paid a lot of attention to the God and Queen stuff but I think the underlying messages - about being honest and straightforward, being a good citizen and doing good - have stuck with me.   

Really heart-warming to hear Girlymonkey's account of her local troop stepping up and embodying those values. 

My only real gripe would be their poorly-judged link-up with that total charlatan Grylls (undermines every thing they stand for).  But that's obviously another thread (or 20)!   

Probably lucky at the time (early 90's) but I had an DC and CC who were prepared to let me run a troop even though I didn't have a warrant, due to not saying or believing. Some posters have more recent experience, but I don't think you have to hold a warrant now. For helping, I've been asked about religion exactly the same number of times as I've been asked about the monarchy on DoE.

In terms od childhood memories. Dad said the the £80 it cost him for the  four of us the spend 10 days of the summer holiday on Scout Camp was the best "purchase" of his life and he didn't scramble round the Snowden Horseshoe or over Tryfan and the Glyders

It has changed now. There are various options for what you promise, one is completely secular, and then there are options for all the major religions. So you can say whichever suits you.

I guess they listened to voices like yours!

What about the Queen? Sorry King!

King is still in. Quite problematic in certain areas of Glasgow 😕

And Chester Le Street!

It sounds brilliant but can I make a small plea? Rather than see it as fantastically cheap and good childcare do think about volunteering to help on just 1 occasion.

I used to know a long suffering scout leader and he was rather ground down by the number of folk who dropped their kids off with gay abandon but were mysteriously unavailable every time the slightest assistance was sought. 

Troops round here have folded due to a lack of volunteers and there is a waiting list to join those still running. 

I salute all leaders in Brownies, Guides, Scouts, Explorers etc. You do an amazing job.

You do have a very good point, with Scouts I’m on the exec and help out as much as I can work and other commitments permitting and I hope I’m giving back as much as I was able to take out while I was a Scout/Venture Scout. This event was organised at county level so lots of leaders and county big-wigs supporting. Parental help was limited to kit check and team name checking off due to the number of DBS checks that would have been needed to allow parents/others to get involved if not already checked (last year at the end of Omicron we had a lot of people unable to help at the last min because DBS was overwhelmed/understaffed and checks didn’t arrive on time).

With Explorers, their leader is pretty much the adult in the room for the sake of it and the young people organise everything themselves so little or no external support needed, and they do a fantastic job from the things I’m seeing my son doing.

Funnily enough it’s not leaders and helpers that we have had a problem with. Our numbers dropped dramatically as you might expect over covid and all our effort has gone in to marketing our beavers, cubs, and scouts. We lost the throughput from one cohort to another as well as the beaver intake which is the foundation for everything. We have also changed our subs structure to a three tiered approach, pay termly (preferred) if you can, pay monthly, and PAYG. Cost of living is hitting hard.

Randomly - the videos that are popping up on my camera roll from my son’s Explorer team taking the p!ss out of each other yesterday are all of them parodying their great leader, much of it is brutal 🤣

Oooof.  So much to say here!  I wish I'd not made the thread I started six years ago titled something like "Tell me about your experiences as a scout leader" in the pub, as I'd love to look back on it now with my six years of experience, but it auto-destructed as I originally intended. 

If I find time I'll come back and say more (amongst other things have to unpick a thorny OSM badge problem and send out notifications for this week's archery/animation session) but in the meantime the text below really resonated with me.  It's a bit out of date (we spend time scouring the internets and forums now not on the phone, and record cards are a thing of the past) but sums the leader experience up quite well.

"We are only leaders – we are not experts – we are your next-door neighbours – we are not perfect. We don’t have any more spare time or energy than you do, we all work full time and juggle our families and our schedules and try to keep it all together as best we can. 

The only difference between us is that we believe passionately about what Scouting has to offer. So much so, that we contribute our time, our efforts and our talents to help our children – and your children – grow in Scouting. 

We complete authorisation forms, budgets and records and fill our homes with boxes of paperwork you will never see. We are required to take 13-20 hours training in our first year as well as planning meetings every month so we can meet our greatest challenge – providing a variety of programmes and activities which meet the needs and interests of very individual boys and girls. We try to involve parents who want us to understand that they don’t have the time to drive on outings or help at meetings. We rejoice in the generosity of others.

Sometimes we find ourselves going in too many directions – we run out of steam – we have memory lapses – communication lines break down – time slips by – but that doesn’t mean we don’t care. So many evenings we spend on the phone seeking help and advice from other leaders when disappointments or problems occur. “How do I hold my Scouts attention?”. “How do you cope with Scouts of different skills levels?” 

Our dining tables are covered in bits of rope, menus, permission forms and record cards for each and every member of the Group. A couple of them won’t show up and don’t think to call to let us know – sometimes we feel unappreciated. 

Yet these boys and girls can fill us with pride at their determination and accomplishments. Their smiles and laughter fill up a room, and when they say “thank you” it makes it all worthwhile. We help these boys and girls build relationships. Some struggle more than others. Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly….all these traits are encouraged by the Scout Promise and Law – and sometimes we too must learn these lessons over and over again with the Scouts – but we are willing to keep learning. 

Please be patient if we appear distracted or frustrated or overwhelmed at times. Forgive us if we are not always the kind of Scout Leader you would be – if only you had the time. Instead, provide us with your encouragement – a kind word, a thank you – or offer us your help. Keep us always in your thoughts and prayers. "

When I got unexpectedly landed running an Explorer unit we switched to using the Outlander promise which doesn't reference either God or the monarchy. I got introduced to it when I was an explorer myself (in an entirely different unit) and allegedly it was written by BP to use at international camps so felt like it had the right imprimatur even if it wasn't strictly official. Whether the district would have agreed I don't know but I was 21 at the time and I didn't really care what the old farts thought. Also by starting the practise of having investitures in the most random places we could find whilst on camp (on climbing walls, up trees, on ferris wheels, the middle of roundabouts) they were somehow never around to find out...

I went through cubs, scouts, venture scouts, and I was a leader for a while. It can be a bit hit and miss depending on the leaders but our group was outstanding. We went climbing, canoeing, up mountains, LOTS of caving, at least two week long camps per year, orienteering, mountain biking, backpacking weekends, learned knots and lashings, built bridges, zip wires, learned to cook on an open fire, etc, etc, etc. My university choices were based purely on whether or not they had a good caving club as a direct result of being in the scouts. I joined the climbing club too when I got there and my life changed at that point. I am so grateful my parents did this for me and my siblings. My brother once said that apart from our parents, joining the scouts was the greatest influence on his life whilst growing up. I will be forever grateful to those three amazing leaders. Si.

I feel exactly the same way.

MR have rescued many Scouts from the hills,  this week a group of explorers are helping lost souls off Lake District hills in the dark. Well Done.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-63693768

What is your point?

Did you even read that article? It was Venture Scouts that helped with the rescue, not scouts that had to be rescued.

Maybe I misunderstood what you meant? I'm not sure.

Yes; you misunderstood. Admittedly, the opening hyperbole could easily have led you to assume the entire post was negative.

My apologies in that case.

Si.

Admin support needed. Scout leaders are outdoorsy camp, walk, climb types but the world has gone form and paper mad. One of the reasons I left leadership was the hours sweating over risk assessments, bank accounts, permission forms, pir (the rule book that constantly changed), etc etc.  A parent handier with a pen and pc than a compass and matches is a God send.  More please.

You don't have to promise to serve god anymore. The King, yes.  Very little mental gymnastics required nowadays I suspect.  If you feel it's still too much there is nothing to stop you being a skills instructor that the relevant section call upon from time to time.

My venture scout leader told us he was there to make sure we didn't kill ourselves, anyone else, or end up in prison

At what age does this wonder happen?

I assume the Beavers won't take by eldest who's away for the day any time soon once she's six.

I was just looking up the scout family near me. There's no obvious mention of it being for boys or girls. Am I remembering this correctly that a couple of decades ago it was boys only? I was only in the scouts for a couple of years. I'm sure it was boys only, or maybe it was just that there were no girls that joined (if so I assume this is no longer the case as I'm sure my daughter would love it)?

We did the investment / promise etc but after that there was no mention of royalty or religion. Our three leaders were all atheists and couldn't have cared less about that crap.

Thank you

LBS - currently ACSL (again!), kids in Beavers and Cubs.
Formerly: Cub, Scout*, ACSL, CSL (Akela), HVSL, AVSL, DSL, Form M Climbing, Form W Kayaking, District Water Activities advisor, District Mountaineering advisor - some of these concurrently.

Have taken Scouts/Ventures to Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic and Kenya.

* Missed Venture Scouts to have a stab at DofE.

Like so many of the above sentiments.  The best times of my life.  The best friends in my life - my best man and the only people I still see from my childhood even though we are spread far and wide.

The child free weekend only starts with Cubs I’m afraid, beavers tend to go for day camps opposed to over night (though I recall my lad doing a night when his whole Group was away for the weekend), then cubs get one or two nights, and when you get to Scouts you get whole weekends and weeks of child free bliss! I was on county camp myself this year for the weekend and it was a blast - we even had a leaders bar/enclosure, Explorers ordering Uber Eats to the site, every activity you can imagine, and as much Costco bacon as you could shake a stick at!

All entry levels are mixed sex now, and I think both my kids benefit from it too in terms of equality of sexes, abilities and capabilities. Certainly I’ve never had either of them moan about X or Y gender not being good enough at such and such. 
 

My son joined beavers and rose through the ranks to now be in Explorers, my daughter joined at Rainbows, but she transitioned to Scouts when offered Guides and (no disrespect to Guides) she saw her big brother doing bigger and better things that challenged and stretched, and made for an exciting time. Jamboree this year is in Korea I believe, and whilst it’s tough to get selected and you have to raise a hell of a lot of money, again - this is one of the few organisations where these trips are affordable and available (and funded for those less affluent/on hard times). My time in Ventures saw me all over The Lakes, Scotland, France, Austria, and Poland, and just like everyone else in this thread I discovered all sorts of outdoor activities and life skills.

One thing I will say and some have touched on this a little, Scouting stays with you for life. At 51 my active involvement is still on my CV (it broke the ice for me in a particularly fraught interview for my current role with a rather obtuse Senior Partner who then lightened-up a lot) and I look for it on graduate and intern CV’s as it points to good team skills as well as leadership, problem solving, and creativity. It’s not the be all and end all, and it’s certainly not like Freemasonry, but it does give you an insight in to the sort of person you might be interviewing and potentially be working with. 

I lectured at Warwick Uni Business School recently, and whilst I was there to talk about all things Product Management I also answered questions on what it takes to get in to Big Blue where I work, and my key point was that it’s not just about the 1st class degree, Masters, and MSc, it’s everything else, hence Scouts, volunteering, Youth Club, D of E and so on. This somewhat surprised the future Elon’s and Zuckerberg’s, but it’s true.

From experience, I find this tends to correlate with the interests and experience of the leaders involved in each Guide section. Both my sisters did Brownies and started Guides, but weren't that enthralled and left. My daughter started Rainbows but was never that engaged (too wishy washy), lost interest when it went to Zoom meetings due to Covid. When it started up, we gave her the choice of Brownies or trying Cubs, as she had friends in both - opted for Cubs and never looked back. Didn't even bother with Rainbows for my youngest.

However, I was once involved as a climbing instructor with another local District who had a very outdoorsy set of leaders and were much more lively and less about the home economics - and I've known other similar groups, so it's very hit and miss.

In one classic trip, the Venture unit shared a coach to Europe with a Guide group staying in the next village and the units were like chalk and cheese - the Guides had the most up-tight leaders imaginable!

Not quite - Beavers do do Nights Away, or at least they do in my unit!  Only single nights in my experience though.  It's a big step for many of them spending perhaps their first night away from home and they don't tend to sleep much what with the sun coming up at five in the morning on summer camp haha! 

The best thing I have got out of it is the leader community - we have about a hundred in our smallish market town and you can't walk down the high street without bumping into someone you know, and they are often not just casual acquantainces but folk you have worked with in novel and sometimes stressful environments, bit like the Army but without so much shouting or shooting : )