I will miss you....

[Eamonn 61]

Have just got word that my old Scout Group is no more.

I feel really down in the dumps about this.

It is like the loss of a really good friend.

I joined the Wolf Cubs in the 24th Fulham (Sands End) in 1963.

I don't know but at that age you don't know a good program from a bad one. I know that I had fun and became a Sixer of the Red Six.

We seemed to go through Cubmasters at an alarming rate. But it was fun.

I earned my Leaping Wolf and leapt into the troop.

I remember being very excited but I cried. In them days in England you went from the Pack to the Troop on your 11th birthday.

The 24th was never much of a troop. It never seemed to keep a Scoutmaster for long. The Group Scout Leader was a super nice man. He would step in and look after things when we were between Scoutmasters.

Still most troop meetings became a game of tag on the gym set in the school.

Then along came the Advanced Party Report. Everything was changing and this was too much for the Group Scout Leader. The Group closed.

I was upset as I was the holder of the SPL rank.

Not that it meant very much.

About this time my family moved from one end of town to the other.

I was a teenager and a little on the wild side.

Dad was just becoming a very successful business man. He worked really long hours and I was lucky to see him for ten minutes a day. We did manage to go to church. But I was an alter boy so even that didn't always work out.

He was a great man. He loved all four of his kids. But both him and my Mother had come from Ireland and were trying to prove that "Paddy"could do well.

I was just starting to run with the wrong crowd. When the old Group Scout Leader came to the house. He said that all the funds from the 24th were being given to the 17th Fulham (Pioneers) and he thought that as they were getting our money they ought to get our Scouts.

So I joined the 17th.

At first it was a shock. These guys were good they really did Scout stuff.

Soon I was hooked.

The Scoutmaster was my hero. I really wanted to do everything that I could to please him.

The Group was very wealthy. I mean very wealthy.

One of the Leaders had died in a Japnese POW camp during world war two.

Those who came home wanted to build a memorial.

So they build our own Scout HQ. Even after it was build they just kept on with the fund raising.

I was active with the troop and earned my Chief Scouts Award. Then went on into the group Venture Unit.Earning my Queen Scouts Award.

I somehow got involved with helping the Cub pack that was part of my church and was a happy little Assistant Cub Master. Then the Committee members of the 17th came around the house. Like a posse.

They said that the Troop was ready to close due to lack of membership.

My old Scoutmaster, who had once been so active had at the age of 39 gone and found himself a wife.

I was happy doing what I was doing with the pack. But who could say no.

I felt that I owed my Troop something. In fact I knew that I did.

The next 12 years were the best that I ever spent in Scouting.

At the very start I remember spending a month at the HQ and not seeing a soul.

Then two boys came in and asked what was happening? I said that we were restarting a Troop. They asked if they could just stay and kick a soccer ball around. I said sure.

One boy Mike was a very tall 13 year old the other was even taller and was from Jamacia.

The two of them came back two days later, and just kicked a soccer ball around the hall. The next week we were up to six.

I never pushed the program until the district five a side indoor soccer competition came around. I said that they would all have to be Scouts and I would have to meet with their parents.

Yes a troop was reborn.

I found my self in the housing estates where I was the only white person.

Soon we had the most diversified troop in London. Of course at that time I had never even heard of diversity. They were just a great bunch of kids first and a great troop second.

Some of my old Venturing pals joined and soon we had an outstanding group of adults.

And all the time the committee were making money.

The troop grew and grew at 89 members it had out grown the meeting hall so we split it.

Not long after I got married and two years later moved over here to the USA.

Sad to say about this time the prices of houses went through the roof and soon everyone was moving out of London.

The troop wasn't doing well.

It amalgamated with another troop and was doing ok.

Then the Scoutmaster a young man died of cancer.

It has struggled along with just a pack for the past few years. But there are just no kids in that part of town.

The family homes are now yuppie apartments that sell for about a half a million dollars.

I went over last year to see what could be done to save the building. It is worth millions.

The idea was to get a venture unit up and running. But it didn't work.

The District has now closed the group.

They want to keep the HQ for district activities. If they don't the building will be sold and the money will go to the national Assiocation.

I am still a trustee of the building.

Sad thing is that I know that it won't be long till the District is gone.

As I say I'm upset about the death of my troop.

Still even with all the money and all the equipment a Scout Group or troop is made up of Scouts and if the truth were told.

It died a long time ago.

Eamonn

[dsteele 20]

Eamonn:

 

I can easily feel and hear the sadness of your post. You did the best you can and I have little comfort for you.

 

The past lives on forever, while the future is continuously in doubt. However, without the past, the future can never be.

 

Let the good memories of your experiences in Scouting continue and keep hope that the future will sort itself out.

 

I remember the sadness of hearing that my troop in Kalamazoo, MI had folded. It was Troop 234. I was depressed when I heard that it's 50 years of tenure (when I was a kid) had ended and that the troop was no more.

 

Then, one day, while working at a regional event called "Return of Akela" a kind of Regional Pow Wow -- I was parking cars. A pick-up truck pulled up and the driver rolled down his window so I could tell him where to park. He wore a Southwest Michigan Council strip on his shoulder, the numbers 234, and a Scoutmaster patch.

 

I said, "I used to be a member of Troop 234 in Kalamaazoo."

 

He looked at my position patch and shoulder strip and said, "You're Dave Steele!"

 

I was stunned -- but very happy that the troop had come back to life.

 

Hang on to the hope, Eaomann!

 

Dave

[Bob White 20]

I know how you feel Eamonn, I was sorry to here when my troop collapsed back in the 8O's it had been continually chartered for over 60 years. it was tough to say good bye.

 

BW

[Mike F 10]

God bless you, Eamonn, brother.

Please know in your heart that your Scout Group isn't dead. It lives on through the hundreds of its former members, like you, who now touch - and change - thousands of lives. Like ripples in a pond moving outward from their beginning.

-mike

[Fat Old Guy 11]

As I reported elsewhere and elsewhen, I watched a Pack die. It was sad, like watching a person wither way. I salute the memory of your group (with the appropriate palm out salute )

[evmori 11]

Always sad to hear a unit go down. Sorry. Eamonn

[acco40 95]

I always like how the Canadian and Bristish Scout units attached "places" to their units. I'd like to see BSA do the same.

 

My condolences.

[NeilLup 13]

One of my favorite SM Minute stories which I use for adults (too heavy for youth) relates to something I saw on the Discovery channel.

 

The ancient Egyptians believed that a person did not die but still lived as long as their name was remembered.

 

In that spirit, Gil Buffery, my WB Scoutmaster is there whenever I am on Gilwell field.

 

My Scoutmaster, John Duley, is with me whenever I am at a Scout campout.

 

And my dad is there too. He wasn't much of a camper, but he put up with it for me.

 

In that same spirit, your Scout group is alive as long as you remember it and as long as you do your best to live the Oath and Law.

 

Thank you for sharing the story of your Scout group.

[Senior_Patrol_Leader_T15 10]

I know how you feel Eamonn, im steadily watching my troop die away, and there's nothing to stop it......

[Eamonn 61]

SPL-T15

The 17th went down the tubes because there was no one left to fight for it.

I would hope that is never the case here on this side of the pond.

While I as a District Chairman,do not stick my nose into the day to day running of a unit.

As soon as the word gets out that a unit is in danger. We send in the "Troops."

While I strongly believe that the program is the driving force and at times have to sit back and look at the unit leadership in some units knowing that some adult leaders just don't and never will get "It".

There is no way I will allow our District to sit by and watch a unit die.

We have EMT Commissioners. That will work with the leadership or help recruit new leadership.

We have a DE. and little old me who will work with the charter organization.

If you look back at my posting you will see that the 17th was down and almost out.

No Scouts.

No Program.

It would have been easy to just throw in the towel.

But no. The Committee thought enough about the Troop to send a party if its' members to plead with me.

Maybe if they had just send one rep. I would not have gone back.

They really wanted this troop to live.

Still at the end of the day or the srart of the day it was the youth that saved the troop.

Those two kids kicking a ball brought their pals and the mushroom was planted.

I at that time was young, headstrong and other then having been a Scout,untrained.

I wasn't that good a leader.

I screwed up and screwed up a lot.

I had an ego the size of the great outdoors.

At times I used the Troop to stroke my own ego.

At times I mis-used and abused the PLC.

I was lucky. There were other leaders in the district who took me under their wing.

They cared.

Not just for me but for Scouting in that area.

Ok so the area changed.

I still in my heart of hearts know that if there had been someone and it only takes one, person to fight for that troop. It would still be there.

You are still with troop 15.

You can make things happen.

It is Your troop.

You can and do make a difference.

I feel sure that there is an entire army of willing people who will do everything that they can to help you.

As the SPL you are very powerful. You help make the program.

Sit down with the other Patrol Leaders brain storm, do stuff do anything to get more members.

Soon there will be a whole bunch of Webelos Scouts crossing over.

Make a plan to do everything that can be done to recruit these little guys into your troop.

Look at what you are doing now.

What can be done better?

What carrot can be dangled to get these new Scouts into troop 15?

Is your best friend a Scout?

If he is what about his other friends?

What plans do you have for the future?

When is troop 15 going to Philmont or one of the other High Adventure bases? Will a plan like that keep the members that you have and bring in new members?

Challenge the troop down the road to a soccer match. If you don't have enough members ask your non- Scout friends to play.

Do stuff that will get the troop in the local newspaper. Offer to wash the local firetruck and send photos to the paper.

Do something.

And do it ASAP.

Eamonn

[Senior_Patrol_Leader_T15 10]

I'll try to keep this stort so i wont stir this from the real topic. there is only one patrol, and they have only 7 members. Our 50-plus year old troop is dineg and dying fast. There are no kids that want to join, we've done everthing, and my best friend wont join because of a certain person. Only three four people really care about the Troop, i mean will go on their on time and try to recruit. Me, my Scoutmaster, the JASM, and the PL. Our Scoutmaster is old. When he gets too old to help the troop, no one will really take over, so our troop is about to die. But, I'm trying to get the other two troop is our area(they have 7 members each), to merge with ours. No one want to join us. And we will neve get to go to any high adventure coarse because we are so poor. So that is our last opportunity. The DE has tryed to get people in and help recruit, but as I said, no one will join.

 

I'm sorry to say, but the troop wont last another 5 years. Our Scoutmaster is 76, im 14, the JASM is 17(18 in Jan) and the PL is 13. Next year the JASM will be in college. I will be in college in 4 years, and in a couple of years, i dont know how well the SM will be.

 

I'm still fighten, now lets get back to the topic.