Canada Day Edition

Seeing it is Dominion  or more recently known as Canada Day tomorrow, here's a vintage themed  post.

Pipe Major Bill McCurdy skirls his pipes in front of the Nova Scotia gateway at Connaught Ranges, Ottawa, during Canada’s first Boy Scout Jamboree. July 1949

Money Skills Activity Badge

As is my want in this blog we do look at things within the World of Scouting for children and young people today outside of things in my life and cub scouts of the past.

Most of us are familiar with Badges within Scouting and periodically they are changed to reflect new and in some ways more 'relevant' to todays world which is what the scouting programs at all levels are about equipping children and young people for.

It was announced 15 June that the first new badge for three years was to be introduced and this badge is the Money Skills Activity Badge for Beavers and Cubs.

This badge is supported by the HSBC banking group and aims to build young people’s confidence and understanding of money through creative, fun and hands-on activities.

The badge aims to build on the decision-making abilities young people already have to increase their confidence in choices around money.

In order to achieve it there are four requirements for Beavers and five for Cubs, with at least two new activities for each requirement that have been road tested with Beavers and Cubs. 

This is a subject close to my heart as a former Advisor for Citizen's Advice in England because we have seen many adults get into difficulties handling money matters and research has shown many of our clients lifetime habits around making decisions around money start to be developed from the age of seven.

The way in which modern families handle money, often not been seen by children as parents bank and pay online and with credit cards means too unlike the past they don't see saving or physically even saving up pocket money and decide what is the most important thing to keep money back doesn't directly show children how to.

My own generation did see having savings accounts at school which apart from talking about saving also developed ideas around the importance of saving but this has drifted away.

To me this Badge and the scheme around it is a great opportunity to put this aright.

Hold that pose!

It's been a damp couple of days here part from being very much out of commission with a migraine so I've been in bed with the curtains closed until this morning.

Here we are all at camp having our official picture taken complete with our Leader.
I feel subject to the consent of all, it is important for a troop to be engaged in the process of having a written and photographic record of its activity both as a record of its activity and also to by showing to later generations, inspire them.

More nature

A warm start to what is officially "Summer" a couple of days on from Summer Solstice which normally would be marked with thousands of people at Stonehenge, a big group of Celtic stones set in the form of a circle to be found in Wiltshire, England. 

Berries are a thing I have a soft spot for having grown up with them in the hedgerows where I lived until just after my eight birthday when we moved seeing them on a daily basis.

These are not far from where I live know growing out of a series of heads along the stems. 

Foliage is interesting although unless you're into still life pictures with leaves carefully set out against a background they don't always grew for the best aesthetic effects with this example being found near a wall.

The Nettle, bain of boyhood leading to stinging on bare legs  when playing can be seen at the bottom left.

These days' I'm a bit more careful not to walk into be close enough for one to be blown in strong winds into my legs!

When scouts get together...

.While the reasons why aspects of Scouting tend to be used in advertising or promoting brands can be widespread this one does remind us the scout does need liquid refreshment to avoid dehydration as well as it's role in keeping everyone happy as they all take part in the activities together. 

In the illustration they capture that spirit of being at camp very well and with any luck, that can return soon

On the water

Messing about on the water was always something I loved although I never captained a boat not just the tranquillity but also for the views. 

Fortunately there are a number of sailing clubs and centres within a half an hours drive of here that people can both hire a vessel and get expert tuition on.

Refreshment time for cubs

 While we all wait for a clear idea when society as whole can reopen not least Scouting with some localized cases of the Covid Delta (formally known as "Indian") variant causing concern, I thought we'd look back to better times.

Summer often means excursions for Cubs usually in connection with various parts of the program they are working towards as much as it is fun and informative in its wider way.

Any outing in the summer for children (and often adults) is likely to end with refreshments and here they are in line waiting no doubt for  a '99' ice cream which most British children love, being whipped ice cream with two chocolate flacks and usually served with a strawberry juice. 

An array of colour

 

Another warm weekend here as we look at flower objects near the canal, with these being really vibrant although I had to mindful of the bumble bees that loved collecting the nectar from them  and bity insects that can make me very ill.

Buttercups are a thing that fascinated me from a young age not least because at our original junior school we had them in the verges of the school and also tending to grow on the school pitch which was used for football.

These were found growing at the verge of a wall near the canal itself and so intermingled with other things like the Nettle which was a bain of my schoolboy years often catching my legs on them and needing anti histamine tablets to deal with the sting and rash.

Enjoying the view

It's been a warm week although not a good one health wise needing to stay indoors for a few days with bed rest.

Here we have the trees out with full foliage with many blossoms out attracting the attention of the local insects which I needed to dodge. 

Talking of which here is a close up of one taken on the moderate telephoto end of the standard zoom, the equivalent of 82 mm in 35mm film terms at F5.6 which worked out quite well given I'd normally use the dedicated 90mm Macro lens being able to operate in the minimum focussing distance to get an acceptable depth of field.

The Beagle Scouts

Schultz was a comic genius, not just drawing funny cartoon strips but also for what he showed about humanity and childhood within Peanuts not just in the characterization but also in the situations where the Peanuts gang interact with each other often making some good observations.

Scouting features from 1974 within the strip onwards within the birds joining on 9 June 1974.

On Snoopy's first hike he gets lost in the woods and is rescued by Loretta, a scruffy looking Girl Scout selling cookies. 

Snoopy has the potential to be a great leader but can get carried away with his imagination but across the cartoon strip we see him endorse the message of Scouting, acting as Akela for a troop of birds helping them learn about themselves, develop and grow.

The Beagle Scouts a word play on Eagle Scouts, the highest level in U.S. Scouting you can achieve were discovered in this strip from 23 July 1978 when Marcie and Peppermint Patty are out observing wildlife something they may of done had they been in Girl Scouts

He instructs them as here about identifying trees and in nod back to B-P's own past has them doing Guard Duty

Snoopy probably isn't the first Pack Leader to feel disappointed in his troop and it's fair to say the allure of bright lights and romantic relationships does impact on membership at fourteen plus.

There is indeed something magical about Camping under the stars.

Lucy Van Pelt as ever tries to put Snoopy down, questioning his Scouting, not that she'd know much about it as it threatens her sense of social importance within the gang but he's having none of it.

This short strip from 13 May 1974 is the first appearance of Snoopy as a Scout with the last frame a masterstroke.

They go to camp, getting the fire started and toasting the Marshmallows.

In referencing scouting, Schultz, I feel is not just recognizing the importance of scouting as a right of passage of so many children and young people that would be felt with the peanuts gang but showcasing with humour what it has to offer

What it's all about

 

"We're off on an adventure" said Christopher Robin to Pooh wondering just where they'd end up and what it is they would be doing together.

That to me is a large chunk of just what it is this thing we do is, we may make plans , "be prepared" know where we are headed but it's the things we learn along the way, the skills we develop and the friendships that count.

I encountered a lot of people while I was out taking this picture I'd never met before and found it really relaxing.

End of week edition

 

Sometimes it's like you're sheltering from something.

It may be rainfall which you've prepared yourself for with waterproof jacket and umbrella at hand which we've had more than enough of last month when getting out was very hit and miss or it's things that prey on your mind.

This pandemic it's fair to say hasn't helped with that especially if you have general or social anxiety both with restrictions and endless often contradictory discourse about where we're going with it.

Just getting out and being in the outside with sun, able to talk a bit with people this week has helped with that apart from just focusing on what's in front of you, leaving that to resolve itself as it usually does.

A stroll along the cut

Phew it's been a pretty warm few days here.

I went out exploring around the local canal (or 'cut' as we say around here) where it was very busy over the Bank Holiday period where I spied this narrow boat that had travelled down from deepest Lancashire with its colourful decoration.

Lighting is a very funny thing being most changeable and making or breaking a picture.

Here it is working with the scene providing reflections within the canal itself with the slow moving stream flanked by the trees and vegetation in full bloom taken before the light got too harsh along the Trent and Mersey.