Rows and floes of angel's hair....

I've looked at Clouds that way... or so said Joni Mitchell, many many years ago...and today we were all cycling along the Cloud Trail to the sunny city of Derby.... several Scouts, a Young Leader, three Leaders and a couple of representatives of Guiding... fantastic day out, even though teh Kirk had to quit halfway.. a mix of unfamiliar machinery, numerous technical problems and (mostly!) my standard GSL-level of fitness... it was being overtaken by a canal boat that really decided me.. but I digress.... now, obviously, in today's clime, a cycle ride to a busy city 22 miles away by track must count as risky, and it got me to thinking about risk... and assessing that strange necessity... for necessity risk is... without risk, or at least the appearance of risk, life becomes stale and boring... now, our leader in charge had of course carried out a full risk assessment of the outing, including stuff like falling in canals, falling off bikes, falling in love with the rolling English Road... all that sort of stuff... and to be honest, it wasn't the daunting task that some people would have us believe.. I once attended a Night Hike, the briefing for which included reading through a fifty odd page risk assessment that had taken many weeks to write... and I recall many there being put off organising anything similar by saiid assessment... and I'm sure there are many out there who are discouraged.. but lets be honest, assessing risk is something we all do every day, from opening the corned beef (more of which later..) to crossing the road, and from what I can see, as long as those responsible have had a look at the activity, thought what could go wrong, and prepared for it, that should be sufficient.. for example, taking todays ride as an example, our man said to himself.. "There's a few roads to cross.. we'll make sure the scouts are shepherded over by a leader..." and "we'll tell them to be careful by the canal..." and we had few problems.. true, we had a couple of falls... neither of which required the first aid kit.. but thats biking on mud for you... some would call that unacceptable risk, apparently.. I call it normal... but I digress.... what I'm trying to say is that we really should not be put off doing activities simply because there is a risk of injury, as long as we can show that we've taken reasonable steps for preventing it, and are prepared to deal with it if happen it does... but even more, we should not let a fear of risk assessments do likewise.... as for us, all enjoyed the ride, no one fell in the canal, and I've learned to use my own bike... and like Joni, I've looked at clouds from both sides now.. and I really don't know clouds at all.... which leads me to say, enjoy your Scouting, and have fun... until next time, carry on being prepared.... !!

So, here we are.....

So here we are.. blogging again, mind firmly on all matters Scouting.. which shouldn't be too hard.... !!! Tonight being Thursday ( as the day following Wednesday usually is..) Beavers was the order of the evening.. one hour of tying knots, and introducing the joy of rope.. which was fun... now, I'm led to understand that the lesser spotted GSL is a rare beast at section meetings... thankfully so, in the eyes of some section leaders... but I do see my job as supporting the leaders in my group, in whatever way possible.. plus I enjoy messing about with rope... but more on that another time... but it did start me wondering why GSLs are seen so rarely... I remember in my days as a Scout, all those many many years ago, our GSL, Trev, better known as Skip, was at nearly all the section meetings.. admittedly, we had no Beavers back then, and Explorers and Network were sort of combined in that mythical body, The Ventures, but upon becoming a Leader after a break from Scouting of ten years(I know, I know.. but getting my priorities wrong is a hobby of mine.. how do you think I ended iup as a GSL??) I was surprised that our GSL was such a rare sight that most of the Scouts didn't know who he was, or what he did... so upon finally becoming GSL at our hut, I made a concious decision that all the Leaders, Scouts and Cubs would know who I was... maybe they wouldn't have a clue what I do, but fairs fair.. I have no idea either... but they would all be able to recognise me.. so why do I keep hearing of GSLs who seem to have lots of contact with commitees, but little with our most important members.... so, with too much time on my hands, I came up with the following... it seems to me that some of us distance ourselves out of a fear of being seen as interfering.. and informal chats with some leaders (especially in the Scout section!) lends credence to this... SLs seem to get a bit nervous with the GSL breathing down their necks, and this gets passed on... of course, some GSLs come into Scouting from outside, with no experience whatever of the youth sections... which must be very daunting... and some of course have busy lives, and maybe can't find the time.... all very valid..... but its my experience that GSLs do their job a lot better with contact with the young people.. it keeps one in touch with what scouting is all about.. now, I'm not suggesting for one minute that we should all be like my old Skip, going to every section metting.. although to be honest i seem to be at most of them.... but if we just try to visit each section once a month, not to check up on our leaders, but to join in, and help them, we'd probably learn an awful lot... and the leaders would be glad to see us... possibly!! But I'm sure a lot of you already know this.. so I'll not dwell on it.. anyway, that's the first post out of the way, except for this ... three Scout Leaders walked into a bar.. you'd have thought one of them would have seen it... so until next time, enjoy your Scouting, and remember... be prepared..... you'll need to be!!!