ianwilkins

Farnham Explorer Scouts, and no, we didn't even exist in 1995. Never been to Youlbury or Kingsdown (sadly while still a campsite that has special rates for youth groups, Kingsdown got sold off a while back, so isn't a scout campsite anymore - HQ needed more money, sound familiar?). We created that necker design when we were formed in 2002. And sorry to correct you but neckers are definitely not unique to one group in the UK, I think our rules suggest they are unique within a district (which could be anything between 3-4 groups to 30-40 groups), so that when you do district things you can

Looking back at this thread it seems I mentioned my impending trip to Brownsea, so it seems right to feedback... We actually did it. It's probably only a 2 hour drive from us, but I'd never, in 42 years of scouting (on and off, man and boy), been to Brownsea. Executive Summary: It was glorious. Okay the weather helped but...And had just enough of the heritage side of things, and "the feels" to be a great nights camping. We only went for one night, right at the start of our week long summer camp. There were 42 Explorer Scouts, aged 14-18, 18 girls, 22 boys, and 5 leaders. We had

UK story...last year I was on a plane with 56 other scouts all in matching t-shirts and neckers, on our way to summer camp. We clearly and obviously and unmistakably had girls amongst our number. There was an angry man on the plane. Got on red faced and cheesed off. He sits behind three of ours. I'm not sure what happened but I was sat across the aisle and a seat or two away in the same row, and I not infrequently heard him spluttering "****** boy scouts [inaudible muttering]". He was quite old. In the UK we dropped Boy from Boy Scouts in 1967. Nineteen sixty seven. Actually 50 years previous.

Holy Thread Resurrection Batman! As a child my first summer camp was in north Wales, near lake Bala apparently, I was 6, tagged along with my parents. A farmer's field. As a child and then a scout, then a Venture, then a Venture leader farmer's fields in Brecon Beacons, south Wales Gower, south Wales North Devon Dart Valley, South Devon - where we could see a preservation steam in action across the valley As an Explorer Scout leader Collard Bridge, Barnstaple, North Devon Broadstone Warren - Sussex Corf Campsite - Isle of Wight Tansley Wood, Matlock, Peak D

And also, if you want to look at old scout books, The Dump is your friend. pdfs of loads of scout books. Pertaining to girls in scouts, there's a chapter at the end of this one... http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com/21years.pdf I only had a brief scan but it looked pretty relevant. Ian

5. Identify trees and parts that are "useful" for bushcraft/backwoods activities. e.g. birch bark, pine for resin or needles, for fire lighting.

...scouting.

Small point of order, I'm not sure where or why the friendship knot started or gained traction, whether it was in the UK or what, but there are still plenty that are more than happy with woggles (slides you say? How odd. ) over this side of the pond*. Though it does seem to have either come down from above, not sure when it started, but a desire to be seen as more "action" and less "stuffy". If memory serves I think it started getting traction in the UK around the World Jamboree in 2007. It may seem like it comes from the higher-ups as they're more likely to go to these international junkets.

sounds like what we in the UK call skittles, 9 pins in a diamond, small balls, though looking a wikipedia, only a superficial similarity. Seems there's a nice wide variety of "let's chuck a ball at bits of wood".

Hi Matt, If you want to submit photos, you can either email them to us info@jambowlree.org and I'll put them on facebook, or what a lot of people do is just post them straight onto our facebook page. If you just want to look at some of the photos, said facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Jambowlree/ is the place to go. If you are logged in you'll see everyones photos, but even if not there will be some there. What I've learnt is bowling alleys look more or less the same all over the world. Garish carpets and dazzle camouflage backwalls especially. Cheers,

I'm running Jambowlree again this year, and it would be great to get some more teams involved from the ten pin bowling motherland Jambowlree is the (unofficial) Worldwide Scout Ten Pin Bowling Competition, Dec '18 - May '19. Entries open to all sections from any country. You'll definitely be taking part in an international competition, check out the website under "global" for maps of where teams have entered from. Premise is simple... Go bowling Enter your scores Wait See if you've won Ok, it's a tiny bit more complicated than that

Indeed. I have recollections of a UK reprint of a badge book from the 1920s-1930s that had a Mining proficiency badge in it. One of the requirements was to have spent "at least six months" working down a pit. Those were the days eh?

What country are you based in? There may be BSA overseas organisations in that country, or other English speaking overseas scout organisations, or, indeed, local National scout organisations. Any of which could be worth reaching out to for help.

Yes, I met some scouts from France a couple of years back, I don't know what branch they were in officially, they self described themselves as "we're like the hippy scouts of France", I think they were non-denominational. Lovely bunch. I guess in France if there isn't a branch that fits what you think scouting should be, you start a new organisation, and all the others just give a gallic shrug. Suing other organisations seems like a much more sensible use of funds than using it to improve your own offering [eye roll]. But them I'm British, so I probably just don't understand, I'd p

Kandersteg. If you want to meet lots of scouts from lots of different countries, and have high adventure, this is the place. I haven't been myself, but everyone I know that has been has raved about it. One of my ex-explorer scouts was staff there, a "pinkie", he loved it. Of course, you'll all need passports. And you'll probably have to fly via New York or something. A quick google suggests 12-16 hours on planes and in airports, then it's another 2-3 hours from Zurich to the campsite.

I think sharing a similar sense of humour is important in a relationship. In which case, luckily, it seems qwazse and WinsconsinMomma are not in a relationship, as far as we can tell.

We have some, well, we call them teepees, because it's easier, because everyone thinks they are teepees, and it would be tedious to explain it to every new person that sees them. We have some lavvus, in modern fabric, they are kind of like a bell tent with no walls, and one central pole. We can sleep up to about 8 in them. In theory you can have a wood-burning stove in them, but we're not usually brave enough to let the explorers do that. I have seen a few groups over here with german black jurte tents, I try not to covet them as I go say hello, look in, and see a kitchen set up on one s

Okay, so mostly we tend to do things differently in the UK, so this wasn't cubs but Explorers, aged 14-17. Our last summer camp was in a farmer's field, for a few nights we had them cooking for themselves, with food we supplied, and a few nights because of timings of activities we had a small group of them cooking for everyone else (i.e. making a meal for 50 people). The couple doing all the food shopping did 90% of it online, not only that, they got it delivered direct to site in the supermarket's lorry, so it was all kept chilled and frozen, and was a lot easier! Delivery location was someth

I believe you. But it doesn't matter really. I just treat all my Explorer Scouts as individuals, and I seem to get by with that, so the more mature get treated in a more mature way, and those that haven't matured yet don't. I treat the exuberant ones different to the quiet ones, etc etc. Much as I assume most of you do with your boys at the moment.

That sounds very, hmm, struggling with a scout-like phrase! That doesn't sound ideal. Good luck with that. We get the same sometimes, the leader you invite along to camp that turns out not to get it, mothering teens that should be being left to get on with it themselves, not teaching, but taking over. It can definitely be...frustrating.

That's the age I went on my first week long scout summer camp, with my parents, dad the scout leader, mum running the stores, and looking after me. My memories of it are patchy at best. I know I knocked around with another couple of leader's kids, and the farmer's field we were in had a damp bit that may have been a pond in winter, and a hollow tree in it. I would guess the scouts were all in patrols, as they usually were, and did all their cooking and stuff themselves, as well as coming together for activities and games and so on. I guess it's possible, probably even, that I wandered over to

You're complaining about having an enthusiastic leader?

Aye, in both cases some sort of overcoat would have been advisable.

Internally, 4-5 years maybe. Externally, decades.

Bingo! From what I've experienced in the UK, that's exactly how it works. You don't join the football team to play basketball. We get the girls that like the running around and poking fires and camping. Okay, we get a few girls that are being sent by parents because they want their kids to be more outdoorsy, but plenty of boys are sent for the same reasons.