Home again...

So finally two transit vans and several cars have returned to Leicestershire from Lincolnshire Showground.. wet tents are hung up drying, most of the kit is packed away till next time, and a mainly good time was had by mainly all..... which is good.... old friends were reunited, new friends made, and a lot of Norwegian smoked ham and flatbread, not to mention girl scout cookies, were eaten....and plans were made for next time.. and unusually the time after that... in transpires that in 2010 we may be heading off to Austria to celebrate another centenary with some of our Friends from Guiding, BP's daughter.... and it looks like being a doozy... now, at our Group we have a fairly close relationship with a Guide Group just down the road from us.. we camp together sometimes, invite each other to socials, and so on.. and very rewarding it is for all concerned.. some of our Scouts have earned Guide badges, and wear them proudly on their uniforms... which I personally have no problem with... but it would seem that not all think the same.. at Poacher one of our guys was questioned by a leader from elsewhere about his Traditions of Guiding badge.. and told in no uncertain terms that he should not have it on his uniform.... now, possibly, this is strictly true.. I've not yet contacted Gilwell on the subject... but whether or not it is, I won't be the one telling him to unpick it... after all, we can wear our DofE badges, NSRA badges, etc... so why not ones from Guiding?? But more than this, I will continue to let our Scouts wear such badges for wat I believe is the best reason in the world.. that they have earned them, and should be proud of thir achievement....of course, if one of them attempted to place an I heart Status Quo badge on his or her shirt, that would be a different matter... it wasn't all that long agao that we had to remove our Queens Scout badges at 25, a situation now thankfully in the past... which led to a bit of a barroom discussion.. why should leaders not be allowed to wear the highest award they achieved in Scouting? for example, should our Spoon be able to proudly display his Chief Scout's Award? Would it be so terrible if i wore my Advanced Scout Standard? and what about staged activity badges? if we had our 200 Nights Away badges on our arms, or a 100 hikes away there for all to see, might it not be a good thing? Now i know that Scouting isn't for the leaders to show off.... but maybe seeing that a leader has camped a lot, or is an experienced hiker, or even just that he was a Scout in the dim long ago could inspire the young people in our care? My son has always been interested in my old badges... few as they were... and is greatly joyful in the fact that although i never aspired to holding any office he is now an assistant patrol leader.... not only that, but an unfamiliar badge can provoke interest.. I have my Advanced Standard on what I like to call my casual uniform.. and many Scouts, not just my own, ask me what it is, and how i got it... which has to be a good thing...and on the subject of uniform.... one of our YLs came up with an idea the other week... based on a bit of confusion at a camp she attended.... apparently, scouts were approaching Network members about problems etc, and that network were doing there best to cope... but not blowing her own trumpet, our YL reckons that she could have dealt with them better.. why, I hear you ask? Because these nNetworkers (helpful and efficient as they were) had obviously had no Leadership training, where our YL had... but the Scouts were treating the Network guys as leaders.. why? becaus ethe uniform is the same... and when our YL stepped in to help, her Explorer uniform did nothing to reinforce the point that she was possibly more suited to handling the situation..so.. she came up with this idea.. why don't Network get a shirt the same colour as Explorers, with a Network insignia on i, and YLs, instead of the Explorer shirt, wear one the same colour as a Leader with a prominently displayed YL badge?? This would give our YLs a bit of authority, and help the young people recognise those with leadership training... for not all Networkers are leaders... just a thought, she said, and I think I'm in favour.. what do you lot think??
Bit of a long rambling post this time.. and also rambling is one of my best friends in Scouting... young Andy from Hinckley is leaving us for teacher training and the bright lights of London, and has found the ideal solution to his penury... the Capital's high rents will affaect him little, for he will be living in a tent on a scout campsite for the duration.... no matter what the weather... a great example of Scouting ingenuity and fellowship.... where else but in Scouting would something like this happen??? not only the tent living, but the attitude of the organisation.. no arguing, no hmming.. just the thought that here is one of ours doing his best.. so we shall support him.... Scouting at its best... and I shall be keeping you updated on his progress as soon as he updates me! But until then, enjoy what your doing, and keep Scouting!

Poacher.. I'm here, and so is it......

So, here I am at Lincolnshires own International camp, melting, leaking, trying to stay hydrated and looking like a windchime.. of which more later.. I'm in the odd position now of actually sitting in a room with people tapping at a keyboard, something which is usually a very private moment... but I digress.. So far, I've been made very welcome by all here, who obviously are aware of my worldwide fame as the official unofficial voice of Scouting.. or possibly it could just be that camps such as this are very welcoming places anyway.. food has so far been good, companyt fantastic (well, mostly...) and our Joe, a young ASL who has attempted to plan this whole week for us, has so far done a very good job.. but then he is bigger than me... Several of our scouts have ignored warnings about sunscreen, and have suffered the consequences (let this be a warning to all....) and but there we go.... but all are enjoying themselves, which is the main thing.... welcome is a word much used in Scouting and Guiding, and I hope that we are all aware that it is more than just a word.. Scouts are after all memebers of a worldwide family, and families in my experience support and welcome even long lost relatives who only show up when they think there's money being handed out.. but I digress.... families are strange entities.. we cannot choose them (except in certain circumstances, and even then we can't guarantee we get what we want...) but we attempt to love them.. we may not always get on with them, but even so, they are family... in the current heat tempers will fray, and we must try even harder to do our best to remember that we are family.. no matter where in the world we come from... so.. with more international malarkey on the cards, I must sign off... hope your summer camps go as well as ours, and keep Scouting!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poacher approaches...

so.. the big day draws neaer and nearer.. and our gateway, complete with monkeys is nearing completion.. which is nice.... and we're all looking forward to it.. i remember last Poacher as being one of te best cmps so far.. mainly due to a lackof hills, and me and Bill nearly sinking a boat on the old gravel pits.. and hello to Simone from Germany, if she's reading this.. this years Poacher promises to be a good one, although the activities list has thrown up some interesting questions.. such as why are 13 year olds allowed to glide and sub aqua, but not go on the ghost walk... makes me slightly worried about the last.. but I digress.. hopefully the internet cafe willbe available this year.. if so, I will update you all on camp!1 until then, keep scouting.. Kirk