Vesuvius....

so, on Thursday night the old hut was wrecked by massive floods of lava as vesuvius and Etna erupted, spilling red hot destruction over a large area... or possibly not... but its amazing what fun can be had with flour, water, newspaper, vinegar, bicarb and washing up liquid... and the beavers enjoyed themselves too..... to be honest, Beavers was never my favourite section to run, and i was never sure why.... but after running it now for a few weeks, I am seeing the appeal, and apparently seem to be doing alright.. well, we've had no one leave, and a few more join... so I must be doing something right! I often feel like Arnie in Kindergarten Cop, if any of you remember that film.. a few askance glances from parents, when they see the big hairy monster, but the Beavers themselves don't seem to worry... which is how it should be.... which, coupled with the lack of male primary school teachers made me wonder why we seem to be more comfortable with female leaders in the younger sections... in fact, I was once told that having a male Akela was a bad move.... but good old Blossom did admirably... our prersent holderr of the title is female, and does just as well.. and our Beaver leaders, in common with most of teh District, have always been female....yet it is seen as more appropriate for Scout leaders to be male..... is this something to do with the old 'infants need a mother, teens need a father" mythology, or is their another reason? I hera that some men are put off the idea of dealing with the younger age ranges through some fear of being seen as weird... and perhaps this is the case.. but long before the current atmosphere of fear, men had less to do with their younger offspring than women did... which i think was mainly duer to them being out at work.... so therefore, a societal thing rather than a genetic... but thats by the by.... personally I favour a mix of gender among the leadership team... but there we are... but due to family holidays etc I'm being forced to do something I've never done before... close a section for the half term holidays.. now, at Thringstone, we shut for very little.... Christmas day, New Years day.. Easter Monday... and thats only down to the fact that we know no one will come... but we still meet through the school holidays..... which so far seems to not be the norm.. unless you can tell me different..... in fact, we often find that our best scouting hapens when getting up for school is not a consideration... but unless all the beavers want to come to Wales on Thursday night..... which brings me to this.. are there any groups in the Caernarvon area meeting between Oct 18 and 23? If so, please feel free to invite me to one of your section meetings.... I'm always open to a free exchange of.. alright then, stealing ideas from others.... but I'll be at Dinas Dinlle for that week, complete with my PL son and a transit van..... who knows, you could be my first celebrity appearance! but as I'm waffling to no good purpose, I'll sign off... have a good week, and Keep on Scouting!!!!!!