Communication isn't always clear especially when relaying information which scouts can expect to be involved in some sometimes it makes sense to spell out phonetically things and just sounding a letter isn't clear like M and N getting mixed up.
Although the relationship with Scouts in some parts of the world remains tetchy with the latter departing from the views of Baden Powell who favoured having seperate bodies for boys and girls with collaberation it is good to know GirlGuiding for Girls remains popular.
Why shouldn't girls have thier on spaces and programs?
The world is very much a glow here with crisp colourful leaves as I stick my thick duffle coat on exploring, well wrapped up as temperature have drop and will be dropping next week with a possibility of snow even in higher parts.
Just being out, taking in that fresh air is really what matters.
It says here we have reached 1,100 posts so this is one after that but given this last week was quite an important one in all forms of Scouting and I ought not to forget The Boys and Girls Brigades too, it was right to continue with that series of posts.
We've looked at scouting in the past, today in world many of us would never of thought would of turned out the way it had and the third strand, the things I've done that relate to that.
For some of us 1979 was a important year in our own development, finding new interests, spending my first ever day in Keswick rambling, finding out more about myself, even enjoying parading.
Things in scouting were different, some such as safeguarding and having clear plans for activities for the better not that they should be a barrier to having fun and learning new skills, others such as what from my vantage point is a lowering of uniform standards more regretable.
It certainly isn't that we should be hung up on uniforms, the involvement and committment of children and young people do count for more but for more formal things such as parades, receptions and award giving, being smart does matter.
This applies across both Scouts and GirlGuides.
The Cubs and Brownies and Scouts and Girl Guides in this picture look smarter than many today which isn't just about the uniform itself - although I have my reservations with elements of that like what resemble jogging bottoms, jeans and lycra shorts for Brownies for instance - but also the way it is worn.
While from the point of view of real uniformity - which is why we generally have uniforms I'd sooner all of these Beavers were in short trousers, actually for wearing a modern uniform they can and no doubt were aided to look smart on parade.
It does go to show that even accepting a few changes, some scout groups do manage to get what was second nature to us back then not just in Scouts or Guides but at school too.
Can we have more of that and some consideration of how a uniform looks in such situations?
Transmitting that message from one generation to another is pricelesss.
Pix credit: Staffordshire Evening Sentinel.
We in scouts think of what the wider scout family did from helping out at home running much need services to those who served in the military, those men and women who sadly did not come back and to that end we talk about that in our meetings.
There will be parades on Sunday, which I attended as a youngster and obviously later on where we pay our respects.
Do attend if at all possible.
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This is a Blanker Badge you too can sow onto your Scouts Blanket showing the current Scouts Family.
The path may be uneven, even appearing deserted at times but seldom less than colourful especially at this time of year to which at this time of things round halloween and bonfire night are added.
It's magical.
Recently Aidan Jones OBE was appointed as the new Chief Executive of Scouts by its Board of Trustees. He will join what is the UK’s largest youth charity from Monday 14 October, working to support half a million young people and volunteers.
Commenting upon his appointment Aiden said: 'Having been involved in Scouts for more than 50 years I’ve benefitted personally from the skills I’ve learned and the friendships I’ve made. I’m excited to be returning to Scouts as Chief Executive and I’m looking forward to leading the staff team which works to support almost half a million young people and volunteers, to further increase the Movement’s positive impact.'
Spode was responsible for things like the popularity of Bone China, the colbalt blue Willow Pattern mania and as increased used of techniques such as transferware rather than multiple firings to get decorations on to ware for some hand skills.
It was great to get just a few miles along the road to see well set exhibits and to have guided tour on Wednesday not least for having family who worked in the industry.
Time was when I lived for a period in North Surrey and one place I loved to vist not least at this time of year was Polesden Lacey on the downs with its magnificient looks out of the sprawl that is Greater London, revelling in the peace and quiet.
It has polyester fleece lining and is made for the Scout Association so mine came from the official Scout Shop.
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Very much of the 1940's and 50's, this how any girl in Brownies would wear her uniform and note she wears a tie with her enrollment badge which was later changed.
The world of scouting changes over time be they for good reason or just a briefly popular trend that itself gets changed and in Cubs Awards had tended to change over time.
Here six 10-year-old Cubs from the 6th Holme Valley pack have been awarded the movements highest honour in March 1992. The boys - who are the first from Honleys Atlas pack to achieve the Adventure Crest award, that had has replaced the Gold Arrow. To earn the award they took part in a range of activities, these included tackling an assault course, abseiling and night hikes. The boys also had to display leadership qualities.
Those boys certainly deserved it but it is interesting to note from from the late 1980's little else had changed and so they very much the Cubs we knew.
I cannot recall seeing something like this within the U.K. where formal award badges and certificates seem more common place.
Does anyone know any different?
Here Beavers and Cubs are competing in Association Football, colloquially called "Football" in the U.K. and Europe and Soccer in other regions and are properly kitted out as having had a few blows to the shim protection is a must!
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Such things are righly worthwhile both in terms of the wildlife trees support but also for capturing our carbon emmissions.
It does matter through this process that co-ordination between everybody is involved to avoid situations such as that which did occure on one project in New Zealand in 1970 that when clearing up the land, bulldozers failed to see the newly planted saplings!
I'd of been right annoyed upon finding our abour that had I had undertaken the planting.
There still is a sizable amount of traffic alongside the canal and good number of ramblers using the tow paths along side the joggers undertaking their excercise with vigour although on this picture noboy's moored up.
He seemed to capture so well the spirit of Boyhood perfectly.
Beyond the visable effort and achievements of children and young people in Scouting there are those who run activities and making things happen not just about UK only matters but collectively in the world-wide scout family.
In Scouting as with many bodies people who hold key roles move on so the Scout Association is looking for a new Chief Volunteer for International (formerly known as International Commissioner).
This is an important strategic volunteer leadership for both UK Scouting’s international relationships with the World Organisation of the Scout Movement, National Scout Organizations worldwide and Scouting’s international partner organizations together with the UK’s approach to delivering the international component of our Scout programme for young people.
The role of Chief Volunteer is about leadership, providing support for a team of volunteers in key roles.
It is about being a great coach, supportive friend and providing inspiration as well as holding key international relationships with other Scouting organizations worldwide and with the World Scouting organization.
In Scouts leadership is about creating the best environment for people to succeed, while having fun and finding fulfilment along the way.
Polly Pigtails had half comic, half fact and information format but what is interesting from our point of view was it did having features on Girl Scouts talking about and telling stories around what scouting as practised in the United States had to offer girls and the kinds of roles she may take on.
Getting the message out has always been a bit of a challenge not least when children's publications seem very much islands of total escapism but series of articles such as these or today the Dandytown Scouts cartoons in the Dandy published in the U.K. do help in creatung a postive awareness of what we're about.
It's hardly a novel observation but wherever and however I get to places I certainly love my food and food cerainly plays a part in scouting not least when you're at camp because cooking and eating are basic social functions.
Good food plays are part in keeping spirits up and ensuring you've enough energy for the day's activity so this Guides handbook is really quite useful.
Here's something similar but by Girl Scouts, the American branch although I suspect the fire may take a bit more to really get going.
Like a small number of people I do struggle with "Telling the time" which was a bit of an issue in very timetable settings such as school but there are otherways of working out roughly how much daylight you have and from that having some idea of time of day.
Mind the ghost of the Harecastle Tunnel near here.
Yes Crewe is south of here and actually Nantwich is south of Stoke!
This nice little map shows in orange the route of the Trent and Mersey Canal as it goes around the North west Midlands and nearby canals such as the Caldon which in the nineteenth and earlier twentieth century were centres of industrial activity rather than being mainly residential villages in much the same way here we worked underground in coal and salt mines.
As we enter Autumn, you may well be thinking "that's it I've had my fill of being outdoors" but really there's so much you can do in all but the most inclement weather which typucally ir is as I type this, raining hard.
Indeed personally I would go as far as to say every adult has the right to play in much the same way as a child has and we all need to be getting off our sofas and smartphones and doing it at home or when away.
Thus you could play hopscotch.
Hopscotch is a timeless game that never fails to entertain. Take this classic a step further by creating themed hopscotch games. You could make it longer, draw the board in a different shape, such as a circle instead of a straight line, or leave bigger gaps between the squares for people to jump across. You could also have a silly hopscotch version, where certain numbers mean you have to do silly challenges, such as singing a nursery rhyme backwards.
You could organize with friends a Scavenger Hunt mixed in with bit of a get together, build structures from sticks, do chalk art or go for a short hike.
If your feeling arty, how about making Leaf Animals.
Collect various types of leaves in different shapes, colours and sizes and then use them to create animals or even invent new creatures. Try making our leafy hedgehog, leaf crown, leaf squirrel or leaf art.
You could also practice identify different types of leaves, maybe taking turns at it.
How about playing with shadows?
On a sunny day, head out to somewhere where you can make lots of shadows. Use chalk or pens and papers, then trace the shadows of various objects, from trees to benches to each other.
As the sun moves, you could observe how the shadows change, showing how the Earth moves around the sun and time.
After tracing, you could use the shapes to create unique abstract art pieces.
You could go Geo Catching, search for Wildlife, go on a story stroll or although you you need to do some prep bbefore have a boat race like this:
Make a tinfoil river, or use a piece of rain guttering to make a river, then make some small boats to race.
You could make them from sticks and leaves, rubber ducks, kitchen sponges or paper boats, then decorate the boats before racing them.
Obviously we need to remember to have a start and finish line, and stay safe when running activities near water.
All in, there's a good twenty one things we could be doing outside so how about doing some?
Of course in some ways it's easier now, modern autofocusing systems are more accurate but until you actually engage the camera's focusing system the view is very much out of focus where if I was focusing by hand I'd roughly set it to something fairly close to the subject and adjust later!
September usually sees a gradual falling off of absolute traffic but is rewarded by softer, less contrasty light which makes for better photographs especially towards the middle of the day.
We enter Autumn which brings with it a load of events that we mark and to which pack leaders no doubt will be working on plans but one thing that always intrigued me was why as I recall from the sidelines where there was a number of different Cub annuals.
Part of the reason I can say that I was around during that era so I knew what my mates had, what they did - cubs on a Wednesday - and what appealed to them.
1971 is some fifty three years ago, the world of cubbery had changed in 1967 when the Wolf Cubs became Cub Scouts (and now just Cubs), uniforms got changes and awards got altered a bit.
Year had began with Clive Dunn singing Grandad and ended with Slade, T Rex and David Bowie and so in broad cultural terms we'd moved very much into the more sophesticated seventies.
What you might think does that have to do with Cub Scouts you might ask and the answer I would say can be seen between the covers of that book published in 1970, the 1971 Sixer Annual.
Re-reading this over the last few weeks, while the cover has three cub scouts looking as we all did the minute you opened it up, while looking to be a premium annual, this had no colour illustrations or pictures.
The language was rather stilted and old-fashioned even by 1971 standards, and indeed looking at early 60's versions seemed to be very much of the same ilk.
It certainly talks about exploring, identifying mammals, wild flowers and adventures which is great but it doesn't grip you in much the way the shorter Cub Annuals with their friendly text with colour did, leaving you wanting to try it out.
Had their been a "retro" market for Cubs stuff in 1971, in some respects this was more it even if the quality of the binding and the graphic layout on front cover is classy.
It doesn't surprise me that in time this annual left us because It certainly wouldn't of held the attention of myself and my mates as seven or eight year olds back then.
The Beavers don't get a lot of mention on here but we might as well as after all they do generally speaking move on to become Cubs.
From the early days when like the rest of Scouting Beavers had Annuals, here's a really nice one from 1991 that shows the FUN you could have as a Beaver, presented in a way that really appeals to six to eight year olds.
Believe it or not, I don't think I ever did anything about Beavers Badges you could work towards gaining and Awards because Beavers isn't just place for younger brothers and sisters of Cubs but very much a place where you learn things that move you on as you start to want to find out about things and have an adventure or two.
This shows the all important Moving On badge as you prepare to move into Cubs ready for the next stages on the Adventure of Life.
It's great news that UK Scouts has won the bid to host the next World Scout Conference in 2027 in London being announced at this year’s World Scout Conference in Cairo, Egypt.
There will be 176 Member Organisations and global partners in location that is very sustainable, easy for delegate s to easily get to and arround and has a diverse community.
Together, it is believed it will shape the future of the world’s largest youth Movement, supporting 57 million young people to learn skills for life. It’s a moment to found the future together, the theme of the winning bid.
The great thing around this age is you're able to do more under your steam even if somethings will be supervised, you're phyiscally stronger but theirs nothing pulling you away like hours of homework from just enjoying enjoying life.
