Eamonn

Never?? I met Her Who Must Be Obeyed at Summer Camp. She wasn't on staff. Her Dad was the maintenance man and the Camp Director and his wife lived next door. Yes I was only 21 and yes I sneaked or is it snook in the quick kiss. At the end of the day it was my sexy knees that won her over!! Eamonn

Cute. Thank You. Eamonn

I have the promo on DVD. This was the one that I had to put my hand in my pocket for. Eamonn

I have just finished viewing the video of the 2001 Jamboree. I have plans to show it next month at a Jamboree Troop meeting. Have to admit to spending a lot of time playing with it, in order to pause it at the very small shot of our gateway. While I know that many of the people who are in charge of organizing troops have now filled them and in our Council we have a waiting list. If you are trying to recruit Scouts to attend this video is excellent. It really goes a long way to show how much fun Scouting can be and is. Does anyone know if it is available on DVD? Eamonn

Hi and Welcome. It could be that the SM that is now serving the unit that you are not whining about is a real nit wit? I don't know him or her so I am not going to pass judgment. It sounds as if the poor old Lad? has had this dropped in his lap. Let's try and give him the benefit of the doubt. First off he can't be all bad he did step up to the plate when asked? Sometimes becoming the Scoutmaster that even you want to be can take a little time. If the troop had been doing things wrong for a long time, to go in and try to change everything overnight is not always a good idea. Even if he has attended all the training in the world and knows what he should be doing it could be that he is just taking very small steps? Before I would get too many people involved I would have a word with the Unit Commissioner or if you don't know who that is the District Commissioner. Many of these people are skilled in acting in a very friendly way while at the same time getting things back on track. If you are a leader in the troop you might do well to start asking the Scoutmaster if he would ride with you to: Training's or Round-table meetings, maybe offer to help set up a in house JLT training. Offer to make refreshments for the next PLC meeting. Go out of your way to catch this Scoutmaster doing things right and give him a word of praise and encouragement. Try and be as empathetic as you can. It can be very lonely up there at the top when you are a little unsure of what you ought to be doing, the last thing you need is another enemy. You don't have to buy into the stuff that he is doing wrong or not doing, but you as just one person can work wonders in getting things to work by gently nudging and bringing more people on board to help, not because he is a nit wit, but because he is doing his best but needs a helping hand. Eamonn

Some little while back OJ,my 15 year old said that he was going to NLS. The OA Lodge was sending him. I spoke with the Lodge Adviser and he is full of what a great program this is. The way that he spoke about it made me feel that I ought to know all about it. Sad to say I have to admit too not knowing all about it and in fact know nothing!! I didn't even know what the NLS stood for. It stands for the OA National Leadership Seminar. It is a weekend conference on the skills and attributes of leadership. The weekend format is designed to complement the longer and more detailed Wood Badge and Junior Leadership Training Programs. It is being arranged and organized by the Region even though I never heard a word about it at any meeting of the Area 4 committee. It is being held at Camp Alpine in NJ. OJ is being picked up at 7:00 am today and seems excited, well as excited as a 15 year old will allow to show while still remaining cool. Still I don't feel that I know very much about this. Do any of the wise people in these forums have any knowledge or experience with this program? Eamonn

Man Oh Man, Am I green with envy. I wish I could spend the summer working at camp or take to the trail for a month or more. Anyways I hope you have a great Summer. Eamonn

BYU Now offers a degree in Scouting as part of their Recreation and Youth Leadership Department, which I think is part of BYU's College of Health and Human Performance. Eamonn

The British Scout Association has undergone a lot of changes over the past year or so. While nobody is saying it out loud for a while membership was declining and things didn't look good. While I really don't have that much knowledge of all the workings of the Association only what I dealt with first hand which was 20 years ago!! And what I have heard about the new changes. As we all know Scouting seemed to sprout up by itself. The book Scouting For Boys hit the streets and soon boys were asking church leaders and teachers to become Scoutmasters. One of the earliest mentions in Baden Powell's diary about seeing any form of an organized unit is a note where he inspects a troop from Wimbledon. He had spent some time in Wimbledon in a windmill mill writing Scouting for Boys. The windmill is still there and has a plaque saying that he wrote there. (I went to school not far from there!!) The early organization was a little haphazard. Commissioners were appointed and BP had an office in London. As the movement grew it followed along County and Borough lines. None of which had any professional staff the only staff were National Staff. In 1969 the Uniform changed and Boy Scouts became just Scouts, and just about everything changed. Still there were no professional staff at the District or County level. There was a membership fee of about five pounds and while there are no unit charters each Scout Group had to be registered with the association. Leaders had to have a warrant to be a leader. At the District level the top guy was the District Commissioner,who didn't have a commissioner staff as we know it just a bunch of Assistant District Commissioners. I never found out what the District Chairman did. He was normally a well respected old chap who had served for a long time. Our District had a real nice old Lad who had camped with BP and had been honored by the Queen with an M.B.E, He was a retired judge. The District was very much a self contained unit. Our District had its' own Scout Shop ran by a volunteer only open on Tuesday night. You could order uniforms and anything from the Scout Shops catalog. If you needed patches you saw the Badge Secretary, again a volunteer who was in the District Headquarters on a Tuesday night. Looking back it seems as if we had a lot of District Competition's. There was: The District Night Hike District Olympics. District Swimming Gala. District Five A Side Soccer. District Orienteering. District Cross Country Race. And the big one was the Campcraft Competition. Cub Scouts had a weekly inter-pack Soccer game along with some of the events listed. I had lunch with the Director of Communications at Gilwell Park (All the London Offices have now moved to Gilwell Park.) He tells me that the Association has changed and is trying to become more visible and is seeing that it has to have a better business outlook just like any other big charity. To this end there are more professional staff, mainly at the Regional level. These people seem to look after one section of the Association: Beavers (Tigers) Cub Scouts ... Membership has started to go up but Scouts is still number two. Girl Guides is number one. Many Groups are co-ed. And the little Beavers can join at five and a half. The staff are very busy getting ready for Eurojam in 2005 and the World Jamboree in 2007. Eamonn

Thanks for the kind words. My time as both a youth and an adult in the Th and Fulham district have a lot to do with who I am today and what I am today. I keep in contact with many of the Lads that were in the troop and a few of the adults that were around in my time. Sad thing is that when a troop folds there is no fanfare, no nice words, mainly because if there were people around to say them they might do something to save it. Still much as I now think that it is dead and ought to rest in peace. I can't help thinking about all the hard work that the good people put into it. The hours of fund raising. How at times they gave me a hard time when I wanted to spend some of the money. They never said no but they made sure that I knew that money didn't grow on trees. Equipping the patrol camp boxes and buying tents for a large troop was hard the boys never raised funds for camp only for the unit. The Committee took care of us they were great. Eamonn

Some little time back I posted that the Scout Group that I had been in as a youth and as Scoutmaster in (Scoutmaster for 11 years - So much for term limits!!) Had folded. This was back home in the UK. Things are set up a little differently.I am a trustee of the building that was our Scout Headquarters. It is worth a great deal of money. When the group folded due to lack of youth members and no leadership. The District said it would use the building for district activities. They would maintain the building and take care of the day to day stuff. To help pay for this the building was rented out to a company that provides a Day Care service. I received word now that the District is going to fold. In fact a very dear and close friend has the very unenviable task of making a report to the County Commissioner about realigning all the districts in Greater London Central. Due to the unbelievable cost of housing in the area the youth population has dwindled. I don't know how many Scouts and Cub Scouts we had in my day. I know that there was 12 Scout Groups all with a pack and a troop and 5 Venture Units. At one time the Th. Fulham (Pioneers) Our Troop had 89 Scouts and about 60 Cub Scouts. My friend tells me now that the District now has a total membership in double figures. He said that there was a meeting about what to do and that I would have felt right at home as it was still the same old faces. In fact the Chap who was my Cubmaster was there, sad to say that is about all that was there. The District has more money then it knows what to do with and is doing all that it can to protect it. I fail to see why? I can't help thinking of the Monty Python, dead parrot sketch. It is dead, it is no more. If the District goes or when the district goes our Scout Headquarters will be sold and the money will go to the National Association. While it would have been great to see the building last for ever full of youth enjoying a great program, I would hope that the money it brings in will do much the same thing. Some of the District Members are saying things like "Over my dead body". I feel sure that as time goes by they will try and drag me into all of this and they will be most unhappy with where I'm coming from. Still 3,500 miles is a safe distance. Eamonn

As ever Bob is right on the money. This was how I reorganized the commissioner staff. While some people thought I went a little over the top. I went and bought all the staff the position patch and had a ceremony where I informed them that it was my patch and they could keep it for a year. When it came time for the District Rechartering I looked over their performance and let go those who weren't doing the job. We all need to look at the rechartering of whatever we are in as a tool. Just as I as District Commish. Reviewed the Commissioner staff before passing the list on to the Council Commissioner, who had the names approved by the Executive Board, we can do the sane sort of things in our units. Eamonn

Cub Scouting is an age appropriate program the traits you list are for Boy Scouts. Cub Scouts are Cub Scouts not little Boy Scouts in blue uniforms. Eamonn

Some time back a wise member of these forums said that most of the time he got what he wanted by asking. While I firmly believe that the District does have a role to play in the relationship that our Chartered Partners and Scouting/ BSA. If you want your Chartered Organization to be more active in your unit talk to them, ask them for what you want. Be ready to work with them and for them to get what they want. Kind of like asking your boss for a raise. You could opt to not ask and all the while the frustration grows and you don't get the raise. Or you can in a nice polite way ask him for a raise pointing out all the good stuff that you do. He will more then lightly come back with the not so good stuff that you do. He might say no and tell you that you are fired, if that is the case you more then lightly were on the way out any way!! Or he might say that he will give you the raise but he wants something in return. You will never know unless you ask. But be prepared to do more. Eamonn

"If the program is designed to shape future leaders" I missed that part. Please show me where it comes from. Many years ago there was in Wolf Cubs the Grand Howl. Strange and wonderful words. DYB, DYB,DYD (Normally yelled by the duty Sixer) To which the rest of the pack yelled back: We will DOB,DOB DOB. This may sound like complete and utter gibberish as well as being old hat. The dyb stands for Do Your Best and the dob stands for do our best. While the program has changed and the activities may not be the same. The type of boy who joins Cub Scouting is a Lad who will do his best. Please note that it HIS best not someone Else's, not some criteria that he has to meet. At the end of whatever he has done only he will know if he has given it his best. Take a look at the Cub Scout promise and Cub Scout Law, the Lad who is willing to give these his best shot is the type of Lad that ought to be a Cub Scout. Eamonn

Hard and harsh as it may sound in a volunteer organization there comes a time when the best thing that can happen is for people to move on. I have to admit that when my term as Council Training Chair. Was up I was sad to have to go. However the new Chair is doing a great job and his "Fresh Eyes" are seeing things and areas that I neglected. It has also given me the opportunity to devote more time to the district. One of my main tasks at present is training the lucky fellow who will follow me in 20 months time when my term is up. Very often we see a person who has become embedded in a unit and if the real truth was known: He or She doesn't want to be there and at times is not doing such a wonderful job for the youth in the program. People will come up to me as the District Chairman and tell me that So and So has to go!! I remind them that the selection of Unit Leaders is up to the Charter Organization. When I became District Commissioner I did have the unenviable task of having to let some elderly commissioners go. Some of these people told me that they weren't visiting the units because they couldn't drive at night. The bottom line was that they weren't doing the job. This is a volunteer organization and if someone isn't happy doing what they are doing the best thing that they can do is leave. If a chartered organization came to me and said that they were unhappy with an adult leader I would tell them to let him or her go. On the District level I hold all the Committee Chairs. accountable, if they are unable to perform or can't get the job done after training and coaching there is no alternative but to replace them. Yes there are many adults in the program who do a sterling job and do it for many years. Still to my way of thinking one of the jobs they need to think about is bringing more adults on board and making sure that they are ready to step up to the plate. Eamonn

About eight years ago when I became District Commish. I noticed that as a District that we were not doing enough to cultivate a good working relationship with our chartered partners. I heard and listened to all the moans and groans from the units that things were not good. Sad to say I never got to hear the other side of the problem unless there was a problem. I did ask the Field Director to remind all the DE's that they should be meeting with the Executive Officer at least once a year. He said that he would. But nothing seemed to happen. Then something in the District was not working and the Scout Exec. made the mistake of telling me that it was my district. Now I of course know that this is not the case. However I thought that I would make hay while the sun was shining. I informed our DE (Who I think the world of.) That I wanted to see all the agreements that the Council and the Chartered Organization sign updated. She wasn't overjoyed and as it turned out there were Executive Officers that she had never met. Where possible I rode along with her and when we met with the Executive Officers I reminded them that their rep was invited to each and every District Meeting. I also set up a date for them to meet with the Unit Commish and where possible the District Commish. At these meetings the Commissioner Staff go over the high lights of what the unit has done: How many went to camp. Advancement reports and that sort of thing. We now send a post card to all the Chartered Reps. reminding them of the where and when the District Meeting is to be held. Even though it is the same place and the same time each month. If they are not there I send the minutes of the meeting to the Chartered Rep and the Executive Officer. I also invite them both to a Bar-B-Que that the district has during summer camp and we do a tour of the camp. All of this is a lot of hard work. But it is working. This year we don't have any dropped units and attendance of chartered reps. at the meeting has increased by 400%. I am working to see what the Relationships Department at national can do in the way of sending the Organizations updates and news that has to do with whatever faith or organization they are in. We have made a lot of progress with the VFW in our area. So much so that they have made me an honorary life time member. It is a long road but we are getting there. A real big part of it is open lines of communication. We are looking into a training for our charter representatives. Eamonn

It seems that I owe the cantankerous Fat Gent an apology. He wrote: "Perhaps you should visit a used book store and buy the last edition of the Handbook.." I read it wrong. I thought the Handbook that we have now was/is the last one. I couldn't fathom why I had to go to a used Book Store to buy a book that I could pick up at the local Service Center. I really wasn't trying to be a smart Alec. While I'm not employed in the area of education and by no means claim to have any expertise in that area. I have been led to believe that the trend in schools is toward more and more pictorial learning. When I was a nipper back home, reading books was a very important part of becoming educated as well as an enjoyable past time. A past time that I still enjoy. As a family we made weekly if not twice weekly trips to the public library. I spent a lot of time reading even getting into hot water at home for reading in bed with a flash-light. Television was not 24/7. Computers were bigger then a house. Visual aids at school were limited to a chalk board and maps on the wall. Our kids now take all the modern visual aids for granted. I spent a long time trying to master Power Point and went out and bought a projector. I was feeling very proud of myself and admit to being a little smug only to have OJ inform me that they had been using it since first grade. He can make things happen on a computer in a few clicks, where as I spend hours trying to find a way of making it do what I want. I wonder if Scouting For Boys were to hit the streets today if the youth would even look at it? How long will it be until the Scout Handbook is available as a DVD? And Scouts view the material they want or need that way? This may sound far fetched but take a look at the way we train our adults. A great deal of the material is on VHS tape. The last District Training material I received was on DVD. I presented part of it to our round table commissioners on my lap top. I love looking at the old books and old Scouting stuff and I am sure that some Scouts are as interested as I am, but when it comes down to using it as a tool I feel that just as many would be happy to use it in the manner that they are most comfortable with. I would also hope that we all agree that no material in whatever form will ever replace good leadership and strong presentation skills. Eamonn.

The way that that thread is going makes me think that counting the number of holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall wouldn't be such a waste of energy and that Question Time in the house of Parliament, back home is a good demonstration of democracy in action? You are of course right that people are free to not agree with my views and them being wrong is their choice. Maybe I am naive enough to think that Scouting related discussions used to not include all this legal mambo-jumbo. Still the very fact that the BSA now feels that there has to be a web page related to legal issues on their site is prove that the mambo-Jambo is on the rise. You are also right when you point out that I don't have to go there. I don't know the words to "We are the world," I do know the words to "On my honor." and would be happy to join hands with the cantankerous Fat Gent and have him sing along with me. Eamonn.

Wearing my parent hat. Very often I have in the past I have been guilty of being the check writer. The main reason being is that it is the easy way to go. To be really honest I never gave much thought to to the idea of the Fund Raiser being the activity. I looked at it as a way to reach an end.The end might be to go to someplace the money was just the tool to get you there.In most cases the amount of money needed wasn't that much. Now that His Nibs is older, I offer to pay half of anything and there seems to a lot of "Anythings" What with School, Scouts and the OA. How he comes up with his half is his choice. At present he wants a car. Being the green Meany that I am I have said that I will not pay for it and will not give him one of ours. He went and found himself a job at MacDonald's, but thanks to track isn't working very much. That is his choice. The troop is selling candy bars. He opted not to sell any again his choice. I was happy when he didn't arrive home with them as I end up taking them to work and the people there tend to forget to put the cash in the jar when I leave them in the break room. It is cheaper to send him then to feed them!! Trying to teach him financial responsibility at this age entails more work for us his parents. We are charged with getting him to where he needs to be when he needs to be there. Which at times is a chore on our part. Eamonn

Hey Dave, My Old China, GREAT To See You Back. I bet the patch looks good next to the "Darth Vader." Eamonn

I do have the latest copy of the Scout Handbook. Why would I go to a used bookstore to buy one when I can buy a brand new copy for $7.95? 97.3%? Prove it!! Eamonn

Like a moth to the flame I had to look in at what was going on in the Issues and Politics pages. I can't help thinking that we ought to have had a 48 day break - 48 Hours was way too short. Eamonn

I have just returned from visiting the Crew that OJ, belongs to. 11 Members camping for the weekend. I asked what they thought about Exploring? The answer was blank looks and "What?" They have no idea about Exploring and don't care. They were too busy building a bridge. The design for the bridge came out of an old English book on Scouting. They are happy to use the book to help them with the bridge but don't have any desire to be part of the pre 1969 English Boy Scouts. What they are doing is what they see as a Crew 160 Bridge Building activity. I have no idea why they wanted to build a bridge,I think it was just something that came up and they did it. As far as I know it isn't for any sort of requirement. To them it's just fun. We old people can see or read a lot of other stuff into it. We might see that they are working on team building and team leadership. We might see see all sorts of leadership skills. But the 11 Lads I saw were just busy having fun. Eamonn

How come there are 7,000 Venturers that are 21?I thought they were done on their 21st birthday. Eamonn