Sending a postcard

Something in the time since starting this blog in late 2018 I hadn't talked a little about is postcards which pre-social media was the way we all let people know about what we were doing while away.

I sent loads as a boy on various trips and even as a an adult did send postcards whenever I was away and so it was little different if you were at Camp with the Cubs or Scouts

Here we have a postcard from Italy actually features a scout resting an a river bank in his uniform as a rowing boy passes by which is really rather lovely.

No doubt he's thinking about what he's done and the other things that are lined up to do.

I always valued my time away for that.

Getting about

While the weather has been all over the place indeed on Monday my shorts wore well soaked at the bottom even though I had a rain jacket on, we did get about.

While they've presently moved away the cows in the left hand side background looked content in greyish sky just adding that certain something to the shot as I used the telephoto end of the zoom at around 100mm (in 35mm film terms) to take this supporting the camera on a fence.

Tuesday saw sunshine with drizzly showers as given Monday had seen heavy rainfall I decided against going across the fields and took a route over a bridge on to the towpath of the Trent and Mersey canal where upon I saw four ducklings at end end and over 20 some fully grown at the other while talking with a angler and one of the men who form part of my support system.

Progress along the way

After last weeks entries looking at the skills learned and achievements of young people we continue on with my life, the 'and me' bit of this blog and my explorations as we make our way out of this month and into August.

We pick up with the wild flowers growing with even more on the other side of this path through the field that were much appreciated by the bees which mainly of the Bumble Bee variety.

More delightful flowers that resulted in many butterflies, mainly white cabbage ones and a few red admirals dancing around me as I went along the path avoiding muddy bits where it had rained before and where I needed to apply the breaks as I started to lose my footing in the mud.

On a better day you have a clearer view to the farm buildings in the distance and behind them lies one of England's busiest stretches of Motorway, that just underscores how vital a place of tranquility such places are.

I chatted briefly to the nursery works on that day and one after where to go on another walk I needed to cross their nursery as the access goes through it, freely accepted and accepting of what they help maintain as the harvesting continued.

A great achievement for Jules

A British schoolboy has become the youngest to scale the Matterhorn⁠
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While most parents were lucky to get a half-hour Joe Wicks workout out of their children during lockdown, one 11-year-old was working towards a rather higher ambition - to climb the most iconic mountain in the Alps, the Matterhorn.⁠
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Fuelled by Kendal Mint Cake and playing Eminem rap songs in his head, on July 8 Jules Molyneaux became the youngest person to scale the 4,478m mountain that straddles the Italian-Swiss border. He achieved his goal thanks to a rigorous homemade fitness program, which he followed with his father, after his school closed in March.⁠
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“It was train, train, train, six days a week,” says Jules, who lives in the Cairngorms National Park, where his parents own a gin distillery. “Some days it was chin-ups, an abs and core workout, followed by going up and down the stairs a hundred times. Other days we’d go out for a 30km hike.” And what of school work? “Well I did a bit,” he jokes.⁠

Bravo to Jules on such an achievement.

Pix and 95% of text originally reblogged at my one remaining Tumblr.

Cookery Class

Modern cubs is co-ed but anyway what we have going here is learning basic cookery skills such as cutting carrots and dealing with potatoes which is a much needed skill that can be taught to boys (and girls) at an early age as they prepare a meal from scratch.

Surprisingly it was ages until I actually learned them thanks to the cotton wool effect and thinking I couldn't learn to handle equipment properly and yet we all need to know these things even if we need help with them.

Staying cool in the Summer

While there is much to be said at this time of year for removing layers letting fresh air and sun on your body - something that got obscured in 2,000's with the concern over UV rays, as life is always a balance we need to find shade from the fierce sun at times in the summer.

Apart from slapping on liberally sun cream natural shelter such as trees or long over arching walls may help when the sun is at is most powerful from late Morning to Early Afternoon.

These two young boys have found themselves a good spot and are at least wearing their caps although a long brimmed hat would be more effective to keeping the sun of the neck area.

Exploring this week

This week I was out exploring the fields here taking a bit of care as it's harvest time and apart from anything with it being a bit wet, farm equipment does churn up fields which can make getting about more difficult for some of us.

There were patches of clover about of which this one was one of the best, coming up nicely.

I also spotted some Thistles when not being circled by white Butterflies and the odd Red Admiral although I did have to persuade a bee to leave my arm alone.

As I said before it's harvesting time so you do have to be careful not to get in the way of them as they travel across the fields and here it is gathering in Hay which will be tied in bundles for later on.

Farm equipment is fascinating and I like how the greens and blues interact in this scene.

I was exploring with my uniform on under my red waterproof jacket as the weather was very changeable, interacting with the Nursery staff who have plantations on site confidently. 

Explorations of the past

Going out exploring is something I love to do when I'm away and this was taken in Suffolk, England two years ago when it was extremely hot  with temperatures over 31 degrees c which is why some of vegetation is clearly suffering.

The trees provided much needed shade while going on this three mile round trip which like most of that County is relatively flat  although I was well coated with suncream cover where my t shirt and grey shorts left exposed skin.

There was much insect life such as butterflies but there was a problem with other more dangerous insects such as tics one of which gave me Lyme Disease and almost took my life.

Wolf Cub Uniform

From time to time I post things around my Uniform which in part was the start point of the entire blog because uniform albeit then the discovery of my younger brothers Cub Uniform played a important part in my early regressive life in my mid teens. 

That is  standard bottle green jersey extremely close to what those sections in Scouting that didn't hold with the post 1967 changes still wear in Wolf Cubs and over time you'd of earned you badges to go on the right side arm.

That is the Wolf Cub membership badge, an original, to go on the wearers left when I persuade someone to sow it on.

These are my David Luke charcoal shorts because most cubs and wolf cubs didn't have a set pair supplied for cubs but used what you had for school.

Because I was brought up in the 1970's and through my entire boyhood our shorts were shorter than current shorts by a good margin, they were taken up to a four inch inside leg which is just a smidgen longer than what I wore as junior school boy which would of overlapped with the period I would of been in membership of. 

Pix credit: Albert Prendergast.

I also bought to go with it a pair of navy blue scout socks with green bands on the turn over top of the sort worn at the time.

To a point, authenticity in a practical sense comes into having a uniform in the context of "being" who you were so in that respect rather say buying a vintage jumper ready badged but not having my County and Scouting District badges on them I favour buying more or less the same thing new and adding the badges.

We are not in formal scouting where we are required to follow rules around where and what goes on them to the letter but they are uniforms that when we wear them help us channel the Spirit of that Eternal Boy as a Cub or Wolf Cub in practising scouting, helping us move along and making a difference for the good in the wider community.

From my point of view there's no need to collect and wear old uniforms in order to be us but when a uniform is worn help us resemble it thus my shorts are taken up so I look and feel like a boy of 8 1/2 to 10 1/2 of my era so while they are new, they are very authentic.

Marching with the Boys Brigade

Although nominally this is a blog centred on Scouting, I do look at other generally boys youth related movements that have a similar kind of an ethos

We're going back in time and to one I have talked a few times about on here, the Boys Brigade who are pictured here marching in Sheffield, Yorkshire.

Apologies for the quality of this picture which like the other dates from August 1981 of the Hillsborough, Sheffield group which someone seems to have messed up in scanning from film to digital but we can see what were the current uniforms that were inspected, as all uniforms should I might add.

You should be proud to wear your uniform and wear it properly.

Anyone born after the late 1990's will instantly note that not only are the boys in shorts but what for people of that generation we'd call 'proper shorts', as shorts then were not on or below the knee but definitely above it.

The original was on a Tumblr of mine that's sadly gone.

Summer exploration

The Cub or for some of us Wolf Cub in spirit is active, keeping himself fit physically and mentally alert both indoors and out  even if as with yesterday I was restricted due to the torrential rain to where I could go and had to dry off.

The countryside is not a bowling green, flat and devoid of interest but has wild plants and flowers that support a rich environment with many insects which I have an interest in such as the white and red admiral butterflies that were dancing around me this weekend.

Wild flowers have always interested me from a boy from the poppies that grew on the now decommissioned mineral railway line that which just behind of our house and the along the paths and hedgerows of the farms nearby.

Carefully studying them, noting how they are growing the various species of insects around them is one way I keep my mental alertness up.

Restful views along the way

There is a reason for the "and me" bit of the title of this blog and why it is different to blogs of a similar nature on Blogger, Wordpress and Tumblr and today's post is a good example of it.

I undertake explorations observing and noting my surroundings on foot, what is new, seasonal changes, the wildlife putting into practice many of the things you learn in scouting, for me being that "Wolf Cub in Spirit".

Last week was no different, going out with my red waterproof jacket, green top and grey worsted shorts on exploring the fields, being mindful not to get stuck in the mud as it was a bit muddy in places as it had rained hard overnight and was drizzling while out.

This was a scene I encountered along a path before I got to the next field with the cows resting together in a different spot than a few days before.

If we'd of had bright sun, it would of been idyllic.

This blog like most of mine has always had a past into present looking at past scouting, scouting as it plays a role in my present and issues around modern scouting rather than a purely nostalgic feel. 

The Great Outdoors together

You couldn't really consider Scouting without looking at outdoor pursuits which often leads us to Camp. 

That's right, to get some idea of the scale of importance of Baden-Powell's vision for boys (and girls) and how fast it took off, just look at the text on the bottom left of this vintage photograph.
Scouts at Patshull Camp, near Wolverhampton, South Staffordshire just four years after Scouting For Boys was published tucking into a meal under canvas that served the Black Country and the Telford & Wrekin area of Shropshire for one hundred years.

Many of those boys never had any remotely similar opportunities in their lives to learn new skills, take part in activities and competitions making new friends before.

Today a block of say a weekend of activities may be booked by a local Scout Association at a external provider such as Beaudesert Outdoor Activity Centre near Rugeley, South-east Staffordshire, within Cannock Chase, where these Cubs are taking part in a outdoor task.

Here they may scale trees, go climbing, undertake water sports such as canoeing apart from learning Bush Craft.

Again by being together they learn to work as a team, forming new friendships and bonds while discovering abilities they never knew they had within themselves.

Canada Day edition

Today is Canada Day or what for someone of my era would know better as Dominion Day where we mark the founding of the Dominion of Canada in 1867 and it's evolution from a British colony to a fully fledged independant nation within the Commonwealth of Nations, sharing our Head of State, HRH Queen Elizabeth II with Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The above is a picture of a contemporary Scout in Scouts Canada in uniform from Hamilton, ON.