<insert here the international code :-) >The concept of the GROUP

HI all

I was catching up on about a week of SCOUTS-L the other day, and I noticed
that one person from I think Spain had signed off as Group Scout Leader.

I remember that when I was in the US I was puzzled as to why there wasn't a
formal group concept employed within BSA. We had sort of created one
between Pack 49 and Troop 49 (Thunderbird District, Monmouth Council NJ) as
we shared the same scout hut and 'sponsoring' (that's not the right term I
know) organisation. Nevertheless it never ceased to amaze me that we had to
duplicate a lot of the committee structure to run what, in Australia, would
have been combined into the one group.

For the BSA members not understanding this: in Australia Joey mobs, Cub
packs, Scout troops, Venturer units, and sometimes Rover crews are formally
associated into groups with one group committee (parents with a key role of
fund raising etc) and a Group Leader ( watching over the progress of each of
the _sections_ activities). Apart from the economics of this arrangement,
there are significant benefits in encouraging the bridging of youth members
from one section to another and sense of the continuum that is scouting.

I know that we inherited this structure from our original links to scouting
in the UK, but I'd be interested in what other countries employ this concept
and comments on its benefits - or disadvantages.

Bill Blair
'Blinky'
SL Mt Painter Troop
Canberra ACT

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