Eamonn

I hate hats and caps. Unfortunately I have to wear a ball type hat for work as it is part of our uniform. Fortunately a couple of years back we were allowed to wear wooly type hats that do keep your ears warm. I do own a campaign hat. Bought it on line. Can't help thinking it was from this site ?? Back in the day there was an area that you could buy stuff ? But maybe I'm wrong!! I have the BSA head band and seem to have lost the chin strap and rain covers. It has lived very nicely hanging in a press for a good number of years. Up until a few weeks back when I did the BP presen

Have to say that this thread has got the little grey cells working. Thinking back to when the earth was young and I was a little fellow. I became a Boy Scout (And yes this was before the change in the UK and we became Scouts.) My aims were to do something with my pals, away from the watchful eyes of my parents and nosey neighbors and spend time away from the city. I remained in Scouts because I was having fun. Sure enough along the way, I picked up a fair amount of skills. I was very fortunate in joining a Troop that was very active and we were camping, participating in stuff that he

Maybe I was lucky that I met my wife at a Scout Camp ? We still laugh that it was my sexy knees that attracted her to me !! One of the hardest things to do while serving in Scouting is to say "No". For many, many years Her Who Must Be Obeyed was a Scouting widow. There were weeks that I was attending some meeting or another almost every night. It got so bad that she started marking the nights and days that I wasn't around on a calendar. I was taken back and a little surprised. Sure I'd argue that I wasn't hanging around a bar (That didn't hold much water as I owned two of them !!)

Much as I hate to admit it. Even though the site of the Jamboree is not far from where I live, to date I have not been there. To add to my ignorance I have to admit to not knowing anything about the 2019 event. I will however add my two cents. Back in 1975, I was one of the Assistant Scout Leaders for the Greater London Central contingent for the WSJ in Norway. Back then I was very young and think that my selection had more to do with not only my willingness to attend but with my being a very good friend of the son of the then County Commissioner. The event was being hosted by the

Due to a very hectic work schedule and overwhelming laziness, I have to admit that my involvement in Scouts, Scouting and this forum has fallen away over the past few years. Sure my name is on a few committees that do very little and only see my happy smiling face on rare occasions. I still do my bit with a few checks to support the cause. Every now and then my in-box lets me know that something is happening here on the forum and I look in, just to see what's going on. A few months back I got the wonderful news that my son and his wife are going to be parents and I was going to be the G

Much as maybe I hate to admit it, I'm a lazy toad! Many fund raising events depend on the parents carrying the load and doing the bulk of the selling and annoying family and friends. I hate being the pest, the person who people avoid because they soon learn that any meeting with me will mean that they will leave having departed with them being a little poorer than before.. I don't have the time or the inclination to be bothered with selling stuff, collecting the cash and sometimes feeling that I'm guilty of having ripped them off, selling stuff that is way over priced. My time is valuab

The time, effort, hard work and sometimes personal treasure that so many volunteers willingly donate to serving the youth in the communities near where they live is something that has always amazed me. Thank you Cubmaster 35 for all that you have done and are trying to do to serve the youth in your area. Trying to understand and navigate your way through the workings of the BSA is a real chore and can be very frustrating, especially if you are not an old hand at this. In an ideal world everyone in the BSA would do what they are supposed to do, units would be set up as they are supposed

There are parents and there are parents. We, who ever we might be? Never know who is going to step up to the plate. The really nice Selection Stuff that the BSA is good and given half a chance does work. However, here where I live the main criteria for a new leader is that he or she has a warm body. This begs the question: Are we asking the wrong people to do a job that they really aren't suited for? Put that aside. I'm guessing, I don't know! That should my son ever have a son, there is a good chance that this little fellow will join Boy Scouts and my son will tag along. OJ, my

Congratulations. I agree very much that it is your ceremony and should be your choice. I can also see why having the ceremony at a more "Public" place might help promote Wood Badge and maybe make more people think about taking the course. So why not do both? There is no reason why you couldn't have the Winter Camp ceremony with your Patrol and then just for show do it again. Eamonn

The little grey cells have been working! Like it or not, in just about any situation one option that you always have is to do nothing. Sometimes doing nothing is the best choice. - Not always but sometimes. For some little while now, here where I live Scouting is very much on the decline. Other then having the odd moan and groan when I meet other old-timers, I have done nothing. I think what might have really got me thinking was when in the obituaries the other day I read of the passing of a local Scouter who received the Medal of Merit a few years after me and I'd been on the se

Speed up? Not sure I'm understanding. Scouts and Scouting is all about relationships. People who stay in the area where I live tend to hang around for a very long time. Most of the SM's have held their position for a long time. People who live in the area have a fairly good idea of what type of fellow he is. - We don't have any female SM's. The kinda get a feel for what their son is in for. I do realize that in different parts of the country this isn't the case and people are on the move a lot more. Different Troops have different ways of doing things. I have visited every Troop

Yoga? No I don't think so. I m thinking that an inflatable board would be easy to transport. The idea of just standing on the river watching the world go by is appealing. I enjoy kayaking a lot but it can be a real chore and lately I'm finding that it really takes a toll on my back. Eamonn

I'm wondering if anyone has tried stand-up Paddle Boarding? Next month we are touring some of the New England states. I have been looking at some of the L.L Bean Adventure School day long courses that introduce paddle boarding. In the past I have done a fair amount of kayaking and sea kayaking. I really enjoy being out on the water in or on just about anything that floats. My thinking is that where I live we have access to a lot of rivers and just spending a day out would be fun. It really doesn't seem that expensive. For about $1,000, I'd be ready to go. I'm thinking that some of the

I get a yearly clothing allowance for work, I think it's $400.00 a year It has always seemed a little sill, as we are provided with uniforms : Shirts, pants, jackets, hats and raincoats. The pants and shirts are made by inmates. Our uniform policy states that we are to wear white crew neck t-shirts and black socks along with black boots or shoes. I'm not a great lover of boots. For work I like Dr. Martin shoes. They are not the same quality as they used to be, but I'm unwilling to try anything new. I do have several pairs of hiking boots but often go for good quality leather shoes. T

Free? There is no such thing. We looked into a lunch box as a promotion tool for School Sign up Night. The idea being that we could fill the box with information and useful stuff. The cost was something close to about five bucks a kit. The hope was that a local philanthropist would pick up the tab. Sadly the old chap passed on before he could give his OK. - So it didn't happen. When I was Cubmaster we worked out what the cost per Scout would be and the parents were informed. They could participate in Fund raising events or write a check or mix it up. We didn't care how the cost was

Buying stuff is sometimes hard. Her Who Must Be Obeyed will not allow any ketchup other then Heinz to darken our refrigerator. Cheap paper towels are most of the time a big disappointment. I'm not sure why? But for some reason a little while back she bought a different brand of t/p. I wasn't happy. I kinda sorter believe that very often you get what you pay for. This isn't always true but even a frugal little fellow like myself who is sometimes called "Cheap"! Tends to avoid the really cheap stuff. I did when I was young dress in what was in style. A kid growing up in London can get

To be very honest, I have never had much time for Venturing. Maybe because I have been so involved in traditional Boy Scouting and the structure it just wasn't a good fit for me? I do believe that we do need something for our older youth and that was my reason for starting a Sea Scout Ship. Back then Sea Scouts were part of Venturing but we just didn't tell anyone! (Joke.) Some of the Venturing Awards were really good - I'm thinking about the Ranger Award. Some Councils have somehow made Venturing work and work well. - Sadly that isn't the case where I live. Without wanting to go i

I really enjoy the time that I have spent and sometimes still spend doing Training. I think that over the years I've been involved in just about every Boy Scout and Cub Scout course that has come down the pike. Even the old Cub Scout Wood Badge! (I never staffed very many Venturing courses.) Our Council is part of a cluster when it comes to Wood Badge, we work with six other Councils. While it's nice to get to be at other camps and get to know adults from other Councils. There is something really great knowing that when you work with people close to home that you are helping the kids in yo

As you know I use it a lot. I never knew that BP used anything like it. I started using it after reading the books and later watching the BBC TV series Rumpole of the Bailey, by John Mortimer. Rumpole, is a crusty old British barrister. My little sister is also a barrister. I have a wonderful story about her getting an evidence tape caught in her home VCR (Pre DVD days) She was appearing in the High Court in Oxford She went to VCR repair shop to get the tape free, which took longer then she thought it would. Oxford is a pedestrian friendly town. She was seen running through the town,

By far the biggest challenge a District faces is recruiting the right people for the job. For a very long time in the area where I live Commissioner Service has been really poor. At a Philmont conference on Commissioner service the group was asked what our biggest challenge was? A District Commissioner from San Diego said that his was Scouting in a harsh political environment ! I said that it was the age of my Commissioner Staff. Some of the older guys were unable to drive at night! Without knowing what was going on in the units, it was hard to know what help they might need.

I haven't kept up with what National expects a Council Camp to be? Right now buying the land might seem like a wonderful idea. I'm feel almost sure that there is a group that is doing everything they can to keep this camp open. The really hard part is trying to look down the road and think what the future holds? What happens 25 or 30 years from now? Who is going to do the up-keep and maintain the camp? Is the goal to raise enough money so that there will be funding in some sort of an endowment fund, that will pay for the insurances, electric and water bills? What part if any will the Co

One thing that is for sure about the Methods of Scouting is that just when you think that you have got it! Something will change and your going to have to start over. Sometimes this is because the boys in the Troop change. Sometimes new adults come along Sometimes you see that your understanding of what they really are all about changes. If things aren't changing? There is a very good chance that the Troop is in fact dying. As a Scout back in London, I never knew anything different then what is now called the Patrol Method. We cooked and ate as Patrols. We slept in six-man tents.

There is another thread running at the moment about Training. I really don't want to tread on anyone's toes. But... It is a real shame when we waste peoples time. While on line courses are very convenient, I'm not that sold on them. But having sat through some really bad courses (Both in the real world and in Scouting.). I have to admit that having people give up their time only not to meet their expectations is a very bad thing. I wonder what might happen if we did away with the Commissioner Staff, Unit Commissioners, District Commissioners the entire Commissioner staff and replaced

Why Mr. Gates was brought in? I don't know -Above my pay grade! Over the past 30 years or so I have at different times sat on our Council Executive Board. A lot of the time they put up with me because I was willing to put my money where my mouth was and donated a fair amount to the Council. There were times when I looked around at the members of the board and seen very few people who knew anything about Scouts and Scouting. A good many belonged to big or fair sized companies in the area and their belonging was something that would look good on their resume. It was expected that all B

Happy to say that the Lodge I belong to is very much youth led. Sure we have the older guys who don't seem happy unless they can moan and groan about just about anything and everything. But no one seem to take any much notice. Working with our R/T Commissioner, we tried t get the Troops and Patrols more involved with the planning of District Events. We invited all SPL's to the R/T meeting and had them be part of the planning, along with members of the District Camping Committee. We got a fair turn out of SPL's. Asking them "What do you want to do?" Seemed to get us that Deer caught i