Highlights of the year

One of the questions on the Area Healthcheck questionnaire asks 'what was your highlight of the last year?'

 

Looking back I couldn't narrow it down to one...!

 

- paddling the Wye Canoe Cruise for the first time

 

 

- a fantastic survival camp for Explorer Scouts at Cae Llwyd

 

 

- our Explorer Scout Unit reaching 38 members

 

 

- being present at Bear Grylls' investiture at Gilwell 24

 

 

- seeing our Scouts and Explorer Scouts presented with awards at Area evening

 

 

- raising £700 by selling a load of old tat at a car boot sale for our trip to Switzerland next year

 

 

- helping out at Operation Christmas Child

 

 

- becoming a shooting instructor

 

 

- growing our own vegetables in Scouts

 

 

- holding our own international summit at the Scout hut with red carpet etc

 

 

- cycling from Rhos-on-Sea to Prestatyn with the Scouts on a fantastic sunny day

 

 

- a great morning spent on the Flash rafting, sailing and launching water rockets

 

 

- hugely successful link camp between Scouts and Explorer Scouts

 

 

- sitting round numerous campfires over the year chatting with other Leaders until far too late

 

 

- travelling down to Gilwell Winter Camp despite the snow and having a great weekend there

 

 

- our Scout Troop's quick response to the Haiti disaster which raised £1,300

 

 

It's been (as usual) quite a year!

 

I wonder if more adults would join if they knew what a fantastic time we have as Leaders?

Districts, Area and Wales

The vast majority of the 500 plus adult volunteers in Clwyd work at Section level, and lots of them are happy just getting on with what they do with their Colonies, Packs, Troops, Units and Networks on a weeknight.

 

Those of use who have appointments at District, Area, Wales and UK levels are often frustrated that the support we're trying to give those at the coal face seems overlooked if not ignored. When you think about it though, how often do we ask those who we are supposed to be supporting what support they want from us?

 

Well, if you keep an eye on your doormat this week, you should get a questionnaire which asks exactly that. Hopefully we'll get enough back to be able to make sure what we're doing at District and Area level is what the majority of adults want and value.

 

 

At Wales level, this weekend it's Team day. To lots of adults this is unfortunately a complete mystery. It's a really good, democratic day though when hundreds of representatives of local Scouting come together to discuss all sorts of things. How much of it impacts those running a Cub meeting on a Wednesday night is up to the Akelas to judge!

 

Here's an interesting graph from the BBC which illustrates one of the key issues for 'managers' in Scouting today...

 

 

It shows our numbers of adults and young people over the last 15 years. You can see that our numbers dipped in the 90s but are on the up again, but interestingly for those who say recruiting adults is difficult, is shows that over the last 10 years the number of adults per Scout has been going up and up.

 

The article does explain that there may be more adults, but they are able to volunteer less time.

Five evenings of Scouting

It's been one of those mad weeks when Scouting has taken up every night for me!

 

Monday: DIY night with K2 ESU. We got a couple of parents in to help out and did bases on bricklaying, wallpapering, woodworking, plug-wiring and tap washer changing.

 

Tuesday: was to be an Area Team meeting, but forecast heavy snowfall meant it's postponement. Instead I had chance to concentrate on writing an article on Scout Active Support for the Focus supplement of Scouting Magazine.

 

 

Wednesday: a visit to our Group's Beavers and Cubs to drop off some letters I'd done for the upcoming REXJAM, then up to Coedpoeth to visit Atlas ESU who've just been given an award. I was keen to get a good photo of the Explorers using the equipment they'd bought with their grant.

 

Thursday: tonight it's the Clwyd Area Explorer Scout Forum which I chair. Hopefully it'll be a good meeting. They've certainly got Explorer Scouting in the Area moving since they began, with quite a few Area events happening now.

 

 

Friday: in Scouts we're doing shooting and map reading down Cox Wood campsite. We've booked the new shooting gallery, and the classroom for the mapping.

 

Phew!

Sharing local initiatives

I've been working on a couple of things recently for our Scout Troop and our Explorer Scout Unit which may be of interest.

 

The first is a four year programme plan for our Scout Troop.

 

A while ago we identified, via comments from older Scouts about to move up to Explorers, that we often repeated things annually and that there was a danger that a Scout in their fourth year with the Troop may get a little bored of doing the same thing again and again.

 

We often went through a phase of doing one activity - bike rides were the example - year in year out because it seemed to work the year before.

 

 

So, we've looked at all the things we offer and worked out a plan to make sure they are spread out evenly over a four year period. This should ensure that every Scout will experience the full range of activities during their time with the Troop.

 

Obviously lots of things will be repeated annually, some termly, but others need only happen once during the time the Scout is with us - for example Gilwell Winter Camp, which we've decided just to offer once every four years.

 

You can have a look at our plan here. It isn't a complete programme plan for 4 years, otherwise we'd have no room for input from the Scouts and Leaders, but does fill up a fair bit of the programme.

 

The other thing we've been looking at is in Explorers.

 

Our Unit has been running for 3½ years now, and we've identified that those Explorers who don't wish to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award get very little recognition for taking a full and active part in our packed Monday night programme.

 

Most of the Explorer Scout Activity badges are only attainable at weekends or in the Explorer Scout's own time. There aren't Challenge Badges like in the first three Sections.

 

 

So, we've introduced the K2 Challenge. It's closely modelled on the Scout Challenge badges. So far it's working really well, showing gaps in the balanced programme we run, and identifying if Explorers are missing certain types of night.

 

We've proposed to award a special version of our Unit badge to Explorers who complete the requirements - this has to be approved by our District Exec.

 

Yes, this isn't an official HQ award, and I'm usually against making local rules, but I think there is room for investigating how we can make Scouting work better for us, so long as this is shared, and all the relevant people are kept in the loop.

Turning 18

This week, I was invited along to the 18th birthday of one of my Explorer Scouts. It's got me thinking about what we offer for those of our members who are entering adulthood.

 

 

We're now coming to the stage in our Unit that the first batch of Explorers who joined at 14 are now reaching 18. Sadly, in Wrexham District, there isn't an active Scout Network that they can join. It's conceivable that they could set one up, continue meeting, and achieve their Queen's Scout Awards. However, with some probably going off to university, it won't be anything like the active Explorer Scout Unit with 30 plus members that they've been used to.

 

 

There are, of course, other options open. They can become an Adult Leader, which will enable them to continue with their Scouting and put something back in, and also there's the new Scout Active Support. I think this is going to be a really powerful force, a very flexible set-up that allows those who have lots of time on their hands, and also those who can only commit once every six months, to be part of Scouting.

 

Personally I think we need to look at a far more holistic approach. Perhaps a Section that follows on from Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers called 'Adult Scouts'. Those who are under 25 could work on their Queen's Scout Award and Explorer Belt, as present, Adult Training could be managed as part of this Section, as could those wishing to provide active support - but the whole thing would work together, with adults being able to move between different roles and activities more easily.

 

I think one of the key factors in the success of Explorer Scouting has been it's flexible approach. Members can be part of a regular Unit just having fun for themselves, they can be a Young Leader helping others, they can work on Awards, or they can do all three.

 

Would this approach work for adults?

Moz's Musings

Moz is Assistant Area Commissioner for Communications and International, and is also a Leader with 1st Rhosnesni Scouts and K2 Explorer Scout Unit. Look out for the bits in bold - they're links to resources and further information that readers may find useful.