Beading Ceremony

[Tiny1pj]

Perhaps this is a dumb query for you old woodbadgers out there. However, I have been pondering what to do for my ceremony.

This last Thursday I completed my ticket. I am involved in the district at 4 levels now, District committee member, Troop Committee Chair, Cubmaster, and Webelos Den Leader.

The boys of the Pack, whom I have been associated with for almost 5 years, would not be any more interested than they are of FOS (age related apathy :-).

My troop currently consists of 2 active boys and 5 adults. It is less than 2 years old, and even our Court of Honor was rather anticlimatic.

Now district runs hot and cold, with as many as 45 people attending the first training session last year, to as few as 10. Our district covers an area almost as big as Rhode Island! Most of the people who attended my class were from this district, however some came almost 400 miles to attend Woodbadge.

I have been considering having the beading at the Fall Camporee. That would be a weekend event, and the staff from South Dakota and Nebraska could possibly attend, as well as my friends from WB.

Please let me know what you think,

 

YIS, Paul Johnson, W5-638-00, Eagle

[jmcquillan]

Being from the new England area myself, I can't quite imagine dealing with a WB course where the participants come from such a wide area, therefore my suggestions are limited. But...

 

How are the other members of your patrol doing? If they haven't completed their tickets yet, or been beaded yet, any chance you could have the ceremony as a patrol? My patrol ended up doing just that at a district function here, much more by accident than design, but it worked. And having everyone get together from an area as large as you're suggesting seems to say do it once, and do it together.

 

[scouterjack]

Just an opinion here but I agree that beading ceremony would hold little sway with the boys and after all, the pack meetings and COHs are for them and not us. I had mine at a joint Cub and BS RT. Even there I noticed a larger number of people than I expected just got up and walked out because they saw it as an interruption of their program and not what they came to RT for. The best ones that I have been to were held at WB reunions, a good choice if you have them in your area and if the timing is right. At least there, you know that everyone knows what it's all about and can appreciate the effort involved. A short announcement about it can be made at the pack meeting and the COH perhaps.

I do remember my son's SM having his beading at the troops COH. When the staffers showed up in December in their shorts and knee socks and proceeded to talk about Gilwell and the Boer Wars, many went away with either a quizzical expression or just shaking their heads!

It is, of course, your decision; I would suggest that you carefully consider the audience and the impression of WB'ers and WB in general that the ceremony might leave before you come to a decision about the best place to have it. Id like to know your final choice though.