Cambridgeskip

Eagledad, that's what everyone said would happen in the UK as well, it didn't happen. The reason is that different types of girls want to be scouts rather than Girl Guides. Best summed up the time my scouts had a joint wide games night with the Girl Guides who use our HQ. My girls dressed like the boys, walking boots, fleeces and not a hint of pink. The Girl Guides had pink wellies, flowery patterns on their hats and jumpers and had a general air of girlieness. Over 20 years on and girls still make up only 15% of scouts.

No help on the original question. But on the canvas v nylon debate it depends what we're doing this side of the pond. For summer camps we mostly use canvas patrol tents. If you've not seen them your side of the pond they are very common over here. Typically green canvas, ridge pole and two uprights, normally wooden. They come in different sizes but we reckon on being able to fit 6 cubs or 4/5 scouts in one depending on size. They are built like tanks and almost indestructable. We retired one last year that was getting a bit battered that we reckon is 40+ years old. They look like this http:

Comment from across the pond..... We run cubs differently over here, running as a complete pack every week. In 2009 I switched from running cubs to running scouts and the generation I took with me from cubs to scouts were and always will be a special bunch of kids. They have now moved onto Explorers (Our 14-18 year old section) but to me they are still an amazing bunch of kids to me.

As above. Decide what you actually need (Treasurer, Secretary etc), identify who would be good, then go and ask them. Massed invites are just to easy to ignore, forget etc. And at times people think "it doesn't apply to me". When actually asked in person folks are far more receptive.

While I think this is a very well made film I’m not entirely sure what the point was. It is clearly aimed at youth recruitment but youth recruitment is not where the problem is. We currently have nearly 40,000 kids on waiting lists across all age ranges. What we need are more adults to open new groups to clear those waiting lists. TSA clearly understand that which is why most of their media presence is geared up to appeal to adults, and because of that I think very few youth members have even seen this film.

Kind of. There has never been a requirement for a youth member to have a religious belief, just make the Promise, all versions of which referred to a deity of some description. The consultation on an alternative Promise then started 10 months ago. It was done with so much fanfare that to be honest the conclusion was never really in doubt. I welcome it. (And I write that as a Christian) It means being fully inclusive and removes the last barrier to adult recruitment.

Just came across this on Youtube and thought I'd share Properly inspiring stuff.

Sounds like we're a bit ahead of the game here! The impression from responses is that world jamborees aren't as popular with BSA members. Any particular reason why?

Berliner - did you manage to get out to Gilwell Park while you were in London? Far more worth a visit than BP House. I have to confess to not being entirely clear what people mean by Car Camping? Can anyone explain?

So my older scouts are currently applying to be part of the UK contingent for the Japan 2015 world jamboree. And for my local area this is running late. In some areas interviews and selection weekends have already happened. So I'm curious, are we the only country to start the process this early? Or is it the same with you as well?

Eamonn, from what Berliner wrote I can concur, New Zealand scouting sounds very like the UK! Given the historical links I guess its not surprising. My group in Cambridge UK has links with a group in Cambridge Canada and they are also very similar. The empire may have (rightly) ended many decades ago but the cultural links still remain.

Thanks chaps! Sounds like its not just our side of the pond that people act like idiots. Although I guess hackers could be from anywhere on the planet.

Some of you know that I am a british scout leader who surfaces on here from time to time. Most of the time though I lurk on escouts.org.uk the Uk equivalent of this site You may see me here a bit more for a while. The reason being that earlier this week escouts got hacked by malicious hackers and it has been taken down while the damage is being repaired. So I'm going to have a rant. What was the point? Why? What did the hackers get out of this? I understand hacking government or military sites and such like because, if you are so minded, you may find out something I interesting. I understa

I did have a quick chat with my German scout but alas there is nothing that she is aware of. Sorry! That's not to say that there isn't. Let's face it, teenagers can be a little oblivious sometimes.

Now then.... One of my scouts is half British, half German and spends a lot of time in Germany and when she is there goes to a German scout troop. From talking to her I can tell you that scouting culture in Germany is quite different to the rest of the world. Germany's history means that there is a big mistrust of uniformed youth organisations and because of that scouts is a lot less formal than in the rest of the world. Uniform is worn generally only on very formal occasions and the whole structure and culture is very informal. It wouldn't surprise me if there were few if any formal publicati

Merlyn - if I went fact checking on every single story in the Daily Mail that I considered dubious I would spend my entire life doing it. I have neither the time or inclination to do so.

Moose - I cant confess to having seen any other news source report this story but neither have I gone looking. Neither have I set out to research the story to debunk it. Time and inclination frankly don't allow it. So, you may ask, why have I been so bold as to suggest the truth is something else. Experience. Every time the Mail prints something about a subject I have a decent amount of knowledge on I find myself able to rip it apart with out so much as lifting a finger. An example. Take this story in the Mail where to read it you would think that scouts in the UK were banned from using kn

You see your problem here is that you've taken something written in The Daily mail at face value. Alas this paper has a similar reputation in the UK as Fox News does in the USA. It is so biased and utterly dishonest on pretty much everything that it is referred to as The Daily Hate. I'm not sure what the truth of this matter is but I'd put a sizeable bet on it not being what was written here.

It's quite common in the former eastern bloc countries. I encountered some Hungarian scouts in 2005 at a jamboree in the UK. There were about 40 scouts with just 3 adults, the eldest of who was 20ish (if memory serves). They were all keen to exchange neckers and I still have a Hungarian one sewn on my blanket!

I'm not quite sure what the monarchy has to do with it (which for the record I think we should get rid of) however I can assure you quite categorically that it was the kids themselves that protested and wanted to keep them. Similarly the Girl Guides have actually re introduced them in recent years by popular request having gone through a period where they didn't have them. Again at the request of the girls. It's the same across nearly the whole scouting world.

The necker may have little practical purpose but the kids this side of the pond love them. A few years ago there was a proposal in the UK to get rid of them. There was near insurrection from the kids! It's a symbol of being a scout, each troop in an area has its own colours and the scouts show great loyalty to them, it helps unite and bind them together. In a practical sense if you are at a large event like a jamboree the troop necker helps easily identify your scouts in a crowd!

Do you have an equivalent of what we in the UK call a Troops (or Pack, or Unit) Assistant? We have SLs which is like an SM, ASLs which are like an ASM. But a troop assistant is rather different. They are basically there to turn up and be pointed in the right direction on a week to week basis. It's quite broad as well. Some chose to be uniformed some don't, some get involved in background planning, some don't. All in all it is a basic entry level position. If you don't have the equivalent it sounds like you could do with inventing one!

It all becomes easier to recognise when you take a step back and consider what the bible actually is. It is not one text. Instead it is a collection of 68(?) individual texts that were put together in an anthology in order to tell the story of man, God and their relationship with each other as Christians believe it. Yes there are common themes that the reader is intended to derive from it, but when each individual text was written down it was for a different purpose. Some are books of law, some are histories, some are letters to individuals or letters to groups of people. Some have purpos

Over here in the UK we found ourselves camped next to a troop from BPSA back in April. We found them lovely, welcoming people. They follow a very traditional programme very similar to the one originally used when scouting first started and with the same age ranges too. They have the same ethos as the UK scout association though so we found them very easy to get on with.

Skeptic, it's simply a case of what constitutes news. Most people are unfamiliar with day to day life in Afghanistan where as they know what scouts do in the average American community. Simple as that.