Eamonn

Have to admit that I have not been keeping up with all the changes that have been going on. Today the mailman left a copy of Scouting Magazine in my mail box. I was interested to read the "Cub Scouts: The New Adventure". From the very little that I seen, I kinda think some of the changes are good. However, just like all of Scouting's programs, while the content might be good or even wonderful? We all know that it all depends on the delivery. The delivery depends on the people who are tasked with making the rubber hit the road. At the risk of being wrong. My guess is that most of

Thanks for the more then kind words. Have to admit that one of my main reasons for not being around was, after the change I got fed up with things not working. Don't tell anyone! But I put most of this down to me not liking the changes. It is nice to see so many familiar names and nicer to hear that there is a feeling of friendship. More then once I think that I might have commented about how the parent or worse still a youth might feel if they stumbled here by accident and seen the lack of friendship..

Hi, Not sure how or why? But today in my mailbox I received a note saying that someone had commented on something that I'd posted. I followed the link but once there got a notice saying sorry. I'm thinking that it has been at least a couple of years since I visited or posted anything here. That's kinda strange especially when I think about the amount of time that I used to spend here. I really haven't looked around the site that much. But have noticed some very familiar names. There are of course a lot of new names and that's as it should be. While maybe old timers like myself mi

There are times when I can't help smiling. Her Who Must Be Obeyed will be telling or re-telling one of our many family stories and I know for a fact that she has it "Not right." One great thing about being Her Who Must Be Obeyed is that you never have to admit to ever being wrong. I honestly do believe that she believes that what she is saying is the truth and she has nothing to gain or lose from what she is saying. While maybe there are times when she might be impressing someone? A lot of times the stories go the other way and do anything but impress. I'm not su

I'm not sure if I really ever had a plan for what comes next. For some time I have been upset with the state of how bad things are, as far scouts and scouting go in the area where I live. I'm egotistical enough to think maybe even know that I am able to do a far better job then what I've witnessed over the past few years. The problem has been and is that I have become very lazy and unwilling to find the time to do anything about it. I think somewhere in the back of my mind I had this idea that when the time came, I'd retire and start over with my grandson. Long t

I have in the past posted a quote from one of my favorite bartenders. One night when I was upset about something or someone she said "Take plenty of no notice." There have been times when after looking at all options. - This has been the one that worked best. While the media seems to want to scare everyone and seems to like telling us how we all are facing nothing but doom and gloom. The truth seems to be that no one is taking that much notice. It's a lot like having a box of fireworks that have got damp. You light the fuse wait for the big bang and .... Nothing happens.

Tend to agree with not messing with it. Kind of. Much in the same tend to think that its more then just about hygiene. Same as "Straight." isn't about a direction. Each and everyone of us has our own take on what the Oath and Law is about. We take ownership of it. I don't think that it is possible for us adult members to force or impose what we believe it means to the other adults or youth we serve. We can explain what it means, but this is where having the youth be around different adults comes into play. A Lad can look at us and take what he like

Respect was in there back when I was a Scout in 1969. I'm too lazy to look up what is was before. I do remember : A Scout smiles and whistles thru all difficulties" Don't know about anyone else. But I can't smile and whistle at the same time. The only change that I see in the UK Scout Law is #4. Back then it was A Scout is a brother to all scouts. But back then we didn't have female Scouts. Eamonn

I served on an Area Committee for a while. We were the group that were supposed to work with Councils that were had hit a rough patch. The meetings were about as interesting as watching paint dry. I was the youngest member on the committee. At that time our Area Committee covered 11 Councils. Other than the people who knew or who had first hand dealings with a Council. For the most part all the Committee members knew about the Council was from reports. These reports covered finances, membership, total available youth. To be fair. There were Committee members who were involved w

I've never been to New Zealand. There was a Scout Executive in Erie PA. Married to a girl from NZ. He had lived and worked over there. From what he said to me NZ Scouting was very close to UK Scouting. Eamonn

For my sins I have served as a District Training Chair. Council Training Chair. Been on a lot of Wood Badge courses -Boy Scout, Cub Scout and the 21st Century course serving as CD before I was put out to pasture. My feeling is that the problem isn't the number of courses. It's the quality of the trainers. As Training Chair. I really didn't see my job as organizing and putting on courses. Like many roles in Scouting my role was more about training trainers. So far all the "Train The Trainer" courses that the BSA has come up with fail to do the job. The best train the trainer cou

My first thoughts were: If it's not broken then don't fix it. But on reflection. I like clean. While it's OK to get dirty. It's not OK to be dirty. Back when I was a young teenager, I thought that cussing was cool. Back then I was warned (And warmed!!) About having a dirty mouth. At school one of my masters found my stash of Playboy magazines. He must have known that I wasn't reading the articles. He said they were dirty magazines and would lead to me having dirty thoughts!! My Mother was informed and she said that this was just filth. I am able to get past a lot of t

Help!! How do you start a new topic? I have pressed the new topic button till I'm red in the face! While I'm at it why do I have to go to the top of the page to go to the next page. Please Help!! Ea.

acco40. Like you I was at Fort AP Hill back in 2005. Looking back, it's easy to see the things that didn't go as well as they might have or maybe should have. I've only ever been to 3 Jamborees. Two BSA National and one World Nordjamb back in 75. I'm far to lazy to look up how many Scouts were at the Nordjamb event in Norway. -But our Scouts (I was an ASM at the time) got to hike and mix with Scouts from all over the world. I don't think our Scouts would like the very primitive bathrooms -A trench with poles lashed together which offered a place for you feet and your back! Not sure

I'm OK with going along with the people who have posted that MB's go along with the skills of the day. I'm just not so sure about " Low-Rent". Here in the area where I live, the units that are viewed as being good tend to be in the areas where rents are anything but low. Not for want of trying. We don't have anything that might be seen as a unit that caters to any ethnic group. Walk around our Summer Camp and it's rare to see a face that isn't white. Eamonn.

Seems to me that one sure way of upsetting someone is to tell them that they are doing it all wrong. Lord knows that I've done more than my fair share of book thumping and when it comes down to being right? I'm your man! I thought I was wrong once, but I made a mistake. A good many of us do what we do, because that's the way we do things. Or because that's the way it's always been done. I strongly dislike MB classes, parents who are MBC for their own kid and the idea that a Lad can earn just about every MB out there without ever going outside of his own Troop. But... It happen

Thanks for the warm welcome. I got really fed up and annoyed posting and writing stuff, only to get an error message when I tried posting it. About the same time, I found myself getting very annoyed and a little fed up with what seems to be an overall acceptance that Scouting in my area is in a free fall and no one seems to want to step up to the plate and fix what's wrong. As if this wasn't enough? The debate about gays seemed to have consumed and over taken the forums. As often happens (At least for me!) I read what was posted the good, the bad and the ugly. It seemed that p

Nearly all the problems that I've had with advancement have been due to parents and people who fail to grasp and understand the methods of scouting. There are times when I read about some poor little Lad who is held up on a pedestal for becoming "The youngest Eagle Scout" or "The youngest Scout to earn each and every merit badge" I say that he is a poor little fellow, because to my way of thinking he has been cheated or maybe even robbed of the opportunity to enjoy the journey . Some years back when I served as District Chairman, one of my goals was to update and make the List of Dis

How very sad. I kept meaning to take the time to visit him at the Haggis eating festival held near where he lives in September. I haven't been around much since the site changed and I was unable to post Eamonn

Does a "Burner" email kill bed-bugs? Eamonn

I still get that Error Message. That's the main reason I've not been around this past week or so.

I do like the idea of people being uniform in uniform. Something that seems to no longer being the in thing with the BSA. There were a lot of different Sea Scout Ships wearing all sorts of uniforms. Some just wearing the old working uniform. Some wearing both the working and dress whites Some wearing dress blues and whites. Some wearing black pants and white shirts..... And the list went on. Of course being as Sea Scouts came under Venturing all of this was OK. However some Sea Scouts attending big events were made to feel a little uncomfortable at times for not fallin

Kepp getting "Error while saving content: SyntaxError: Invalid character" Have no idea what it means?

Think I'm going to need to have to duck?? I like it!! Ea.

Just thought I'd mention that while maybe some of the other Moderators might be super? I'm still just me. I now return you to the important stuff. Ea.