Cambridgeskip

Highlights of the term are The annual monopoly run. An evening of chaos as the troop are let loose on an unsuspecting Cambridge public to complete various tasks round the town centre. Christmas trip to the local pantomime (I understand this is a peculiarly British thing so nudge me if the concept needs explaining) Inter Patrol cook off. Not sure what format this will take yet, a couple of the PLs are planning it. Although I am personally a fan of getting some tins. Taking off the label and getting each patrol to take one blind to include in their recipie! Ooh I'm 'orrible to the

If it is anythnig like this side of the Atlantic the reminders will need to go on for longer than that. 27 Years since we had local option, 13 years since my group went for it and 11 years since compulsory coed we still get expressions of surprise that girls can be scouts. Despite girls featuring one way or another in pretty much all publicity the message has still not fully got through.

The biggest danger to any child in the western world is traffic. It simply wasn't a thing in BP's day. These days it is the single biggest killer of children aged 5-16 in the western world. When my scouts do something unsupervised by adults it is them being hit by a car that is top of my list when it comes to things that leave in a cold sweat. I'm not saying don't let kids off the leash, just teach them to cross the road safely first!

I started writing this post with quite a lengthy response to quite a few of the comments above. Then I deleted it. Instead I thought I’d post this link. http://12thcambridge.org.uk/blog/2018/08/26/summer-sun/ Its the photos from my troop summer camp which also included the cubs from our group for half the week. as a group we have a well above average number of girls. (For those not familiar with my comments on here I’m British so used to fully coed scouting) They come to us because they like what we do. So summer camp this year meant hiking, caving, rock climbing, pioneering, a

I think one thing worth adding to Ian’s comments is that prior to scouting becoming coed here the scouts association traditionally had quite a strong relationship with Girl Guides. From everything I have read here it was, and indeed still is, stronger than that between BSA and GSUSA. The point being that many events were, and indeed still are, joint between the two. Where I grew up in Hertfordshire, just north of London, it was almost unheard of for county events to not include Girl Guides. Similarly in the more rural areas of the country it was not uncommon to see official joint scout an

I think you're over thinking this. A scout has asked to be known by a different name. Unless the parents specifically phone the SM to object to using that name just go with it. If the parents contact you to object then deal with that then. At that point a conversation with them and the scout involved is needed. Until then I'd advise simply don't worry about it. Frankly if some other scouts left because I respected the wishes of another scout then I'd be sad to see them go but there's a lot of kids out there who can replace them. I currently have a scout who prefers a different name.

If BSA don't provide guidance then your only real option is to wing it but try to do so with some humanity. First up if the scout wants to be known by another name then just go with it. It's really no different to those who develop a nickname and it sticks with them. I've had Jude known as Pod, Matthew known as Baguette his sister Marina known as Mars Bar, George known as Pyro. When I was a scout everyone called me Batman. That's just life. Second I think that speaking to their parents is also a good idea. Importantly though I would tell the scout involved that that is what i plan to

It may sound basic but make sure you get enough sleep. The days will be long and busy and you'll probably have the opportunity to take part in all kinds of stuff 24 hours a day. If you're not getting enough sleep in though you'll probably find yourself keeling over 3 or 4 days in! That doesn't meen being a recluse. Far from it. This is your chance to meet like minded people from across the planet. Take the opportunities! Just don't be that scout who ends up in hospital after a few days with exhaustion. Take a set of flip flops for the showers. You won't regret it! A particularly

It's not just about big ticket events though. I also mean that summer camp where you make friends with someone from 50 or 100 miles away. Or you go on your own to a specific course with scouts from all over the place. Or you develop that fun rivalry with the neighbouring troop from across town. All things that are just easier and more common in a large organisation. It's not the only reason of course to chose an organisation. It;s in response to someone asking what opportunities someone might miss out on.

Whatever the attitude of your particular troop the fact remains that going to a much smaller organisation does, by definitition, reduce the opportunities to go on the national and international events. My troop love the events where they mix with scouts from elsewhere. They don't want to do it everytime by any means but there's a PLC on 3 Sept. I know that the first thing they'll put on the program is Winter Camp. Winter Camp is a weekend jamboree style camp at Gilwell every January. For me it's a nightmare. It's normally a total mudbath and the logistics are hardwork, getting 3000 people

I'd suggest that the larger scale of BSA/WOSM lends itself to being able to access more events at a regional/national/international level. From what I have heard of Trail Life the more week to week stuff is perfectly capable of looking like a regular scout troop. What its members may miss out on are those opportunities to mix and meet those from a wider area. It's a long way from the be all and end all of what BSA offers certainly, but it is something that is missing.

A memory from over 20 years ago.... As a scout and venture scout I had been on a series of mountaineering courses run by my scout county in the scottish highlands which covered, among many things, avalanche awareness and how to assess a given slope for avalanche hazard. I went on a trip to the Cairngorms in Scotland with my university mountaineering club one February. The group I set out with initially seemed competent. The first steep slope we encountered they took a long look at and dug an avalanche pit and we all agreed that it was safe to head up. So far so good. Note that this w

We see this in the UK quite a lot as well. Our highest mountain Ben Nevis, modest by your standards (4400 feet), is very easily accessible from the town of Fort William unlike many of the more remote mountains. There is also an easy to access and navigate path to the top which was built in the 19th century to service an old observatory that was built at the top. The combination of the two means that we get many people hiking to the top who simply don't understand the potential dangers. The summit is lost in the cloud typically 300+ days a year and is typically 12-15C colder than the town

Question out of curiosity... do troops, packs etc in the states tend to have mascots? A few groups over here have one and I just wondered whether it happened elsewhere? My lot have Dafydd the dragon, photo from summer camp here. He's well loved and is at his most popular with home sick cubs although the scouts like him as well (who tend to be a bit rougher with him, he's a bit scared of the PLs) Anyone got anything similar?

Put enough teenagers in one place and I guess this kind of thing happens. Real pity it had to end up in the national press rather than just being dealt with internally.

So.... following an expansion of the group in recent years and some attrition in our older tents I convinced the exec committee to release their grip on the purse strings and buy some new tents. We have some very nice tents that we like, namely Vango Omegas, you can still buy them so we bought some more. If it ain't broke don't fix it. As we like to say this side of the pond. Cheapest source of them is Amazon. 8 new tents. About £1700 spent. This evenings scout program wasn't going to fill the whole evening (second half of pottery for creative challenge involving firing their cr

Certainly this side of the pond adults, and I mean adults in the widest sense, parents, teachers etc discourage risk taking. Non scouting adults are often genuinely shocked at what we not only allow but actively encourage scouts to do. I met a teacher once who was literally speechless that we have 10 and 11 year olds using axes. Doing something that is a bit risky, where there is a bit of peril to it, is something that I find boys in particular really respond. The best example I can remember was building a pioneering monkey bridge. It was something they enjoyed doing it as a mock up on a field

David I can assure you that I for one was not seeking to attack a religion. I am Christian myself, why would I? The simply point I was making was about life experience and how I found reality somewhat more straight forward and easier to handle than what I had expected.

I find this a really interesting experience and kind of ties in with my own experience, the first time I (knowingly) met anyone who was transgender. I would have been about 21 at the time. I'd just finished university and was looking for my first "career move" job. In the mean time I had a whole series of short term jobs that kept the pennies trickling in. And I met a varierty of interesting people in the process! One of those jobs was I had a few days as temporary staff working on the railways here, specifically in the buffet car on intercity trains between Newcastle and Glasgow. I quite

On the BP front, no idea. Sorry! As for myself, no garters or tabs for me. If it's too hot for long trousers then it's too hot for long socks as well! Besides my legs are so hairy (my family call me The Yeti) they keep me nice and warm anyway.

Alternatively many of us may well have met someone transgender without even realising it. It's still not an easy thing to admit to and many who are trans either don't admit to themselves are just keep quiet about it.

Ah the memories. Pretty difficult to choose! A few that spring to mind, my Queens Scout parade, we got to taught to march by The Irish Guards who were on ceremonial duties at Windsor Castle at the time. The regimental sergeant major accused me of marching like a thunder bird. I was truly dreadful at it! His comments made me laugh and find it even harder. Being elected scouts scout of the year when I was about 15. I was getting a hard time at school at the time. Basically the working class kid at a very middle class school where I struggled to fit in. My scout troop mostly had the sam

Agreed. Looking at the girls in the UK who decide to be scouts rather than girl guides, they come because they want to be scouts. They look at it and that is what they want. The uniform is a little bit more formal than that of girl guides, the program is that much more adventurous. If they didn't want that they'd go to girl guides.

When my group turned 100 a few years ago we organised a reunion of as many old boys as we could. We ploughed through old records, put up posters in the local library and churches, advertised in the local newspapers. We ended up with quite a collection of them! Best of all one of them volunteered to go back as an ASL. In terms of something to keep we did a special edition group t-shirt.

A perspective from outside the USA... putting side the specific rules and regs of BSA for a moment the thing that struck me from your original post is when you commented that every time your son gets something wrong he gets yelled at. Your son is 12. Frankly.... Ye Gods! As someone else said, this sounds toxic. Scouts, wherever you are in the world, is about learning by doing. Kids are deliberately allowed to get things wrong. That’s the whole idea of the movement. It’s not school. It’s not about getting the highest grade. You try, you get it wrong, you sit down with your PL or