patbrown2

Thanks for your input, 'Nut

For folks doing it the way I've described, I'd still love your feedback. Thanks

My son has just joined a new Pack in his Web1 year, and I've offered to chair the B&G committee. The new Pack has decided they want to uncouple the non-WEB2 award component from the rest of the event for the first time, moving it to the end of the year Pack outing. However, we still want this to be a birthday party, such that the entire Pack participates.

Most of the reasons for the change have already been articulated in previous comments: a) it shortens a lengthy event, b) it magnifies the importance of the WEB2 graduation and c) it takes pressure off of the other dens to achieve their ranks in an abbreviated way, especially when winter weather can wreak havoc on schedules.

This is a grass-greener scenario for those of you who dislike their current format because it "ignores" the rest of the Pack. The hope is that the boys will grow to really look forward to the day when the spotlight is firmly on them alone as WEB2s. It also addresses some criticism I saw in my former Pack (we had very similar discussions about moving to this approach) where the WEB2 parents didn't feel the event focused enough on their kids. (IMO, this wasn't just whininess...I see validity in their comments)

But with the change comes the risk that we have trouble getting complete attendance from the Pack because the other dens are not getting their rank awards.

So....for those of you doing it this way....what "incentives" do you build in to the agenda to get everyone to attend the event?

It's been a while since the topic of Space Derby was discussed, but I'm cubmaster of a Pack in CT that is doing SD for the first time. I must say that this forum but also the various internet postings of units throughout the country (as well as the YouTube videos) has been very helpful in getting us stated.

One thing I continued to get steamed about, though, are the very sketchy instructions that come with the original kits. Because of their briefness, the YT videos really do turn out to be godsends. (BSA could do something to get the manufacturer to beef this up, but I digress)

After spending hours upon hours putting together a BestTrack track, this feels like a very stupid question....but are there any directions on internet re assembling the BSA-sourced rocket carriers? Of course, there are no directions in the kit box...