Anniversaries

 

A couple of weeks ago we marked five years of Squirrels, born during Covid, forty years of Beavers  for six to eight year olds and a massive One Hundred and Ten years of Cubs with a special badge being issued.

Each program dovetails into each other as you learn new skills and have exciting experiences as you get older in the Scouts family.

Go Wild with diplomacy!

 

Pix credits: Nathan Howard WPA/Getty

Ignoring the politics of the second State Visit of the President of the United States, Melania Trump, the Presidents wife, Kate, The Princess of Wales and Dwayne, the Chief Scout are with a group of Beavers working on their "Go Wild" badge on Thursday morning in the grounds of Windsor castle.

Apart from learning something about how Scouting works in the U.K. this was an opportunity to interact with the Beavers and give them something to remember in years to come beyond the badge while helping to keep scouts visable.

The youngest do join in

 

Beavers on Parade at Ball Hayes, Leek, Staffordshire after no doubt learning all about why we do remember all who served.

Transmitting that message from one generation  to another is pricelesss.

Pix credit: Staffordshire Evening Sentinel.

Games challenges

It isn't unknown for inter district competitions to be held in various sports across all the different sections.

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!
 

Moving ahead through Beavers

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.

Beaver annuals

 

Scouting used to have a good number of annual publications both official and unofficial before they were discontinued in the early 2000's and we have over the years covered a number for Cubs/Wolf Cubs, Scouts and the odd Girl Guiding one.

Beavers was established within the Scout Association in 1986, although the BP-SA had had them for longer for 6 to 8 year olds so had less time in print than many of others.

The cover is bright,cheerful and appealing designed more to appeal to that age group than the more formal look of many cub annuals although it does show things you can do in Beavers and has sections about them inside.

An increasing concern was percieved value as while the internet was less established and E-Books had yet to take off, books had to tackle such calls on a young childs attention as toys and television so stressing the number of pages mattered to persuade adults to buy the Beaver the annual.

Given in the UK the annual remains a popular gift for children, I do feel it's unfortunate that rather than being redesigned for greater appeal, such publications were just dropped.

St. Georges Day

 

As the great sogginess continues here one can only think about the things I loved to attend or join in with such as marching  with or without drummers on warmer sunnier days or St. Georges Day which is today and we celebrate?

Here Beavers parade holding the Standard in Worcester.

And cubs  parading in York with their official jerseys with all the badges present and correct.

Will you be marking our Patron Saints Day?

Fun and games

 There's a very strong wind out today so I don't feel somehow I'll be out and about exploring today not least with either being literally blown off my feet  or possibly being struck by fallen tree branches and such like.

Beavers may be our second newest program but they are well established now for those from the age of around six to eight and a bit before they move up to cubs and if you were one, wouldn't you just want a teddy like this?

Actually I still like teddies!

On better days your leader might arranage for the most fantastic ginormous teddy bears picnic to happen with blankets and lots of food and drink apart from some games too cos they are so super fun to be  apart of.

You might even get a badge for it!

Meet the Beavers!

I hadn't said much about Beavers, probably because when I was young they weren't a thing in Scouting, here so today we'll take a brief look them.

Beaver Scouts, often shortened to Beavers, is the second youngest official section of Scouting operated by The Scout Association in the United Kingdom. The core age range for Beaver Scouts is six to eight years. 

Sections of Beaver Scouts are known as Colonies and are run locally by Scout Groups that enables easy moving on to Cubs.

In Beavers together you get with your Colony you might build a den, or go on a trip to the seaside, or host a Beaver sleepover beneath the stars enjoying the great outdoors.

Things you learn include things like integrity – which is about being honest and doing what you think is right – and initiative – which means knowing how to take the lead on something without being asked. It’s all about having the courage to try new things and learn from them.

You also get to learn about helping others both at your meeting and beyond.

It's an awesome program for boys and girls within that age range.

Scouting is Eggsellent!

 Well it's Easter Monday on here so just what would you expect to see on this blog?

Possibly some reference to the Great Easter Bunny who makes his appearance around this time and can be found in the form of a fun Cub Patch but just what is he clutching?

Many local Scout Groups (and Guides too) have easter events on which includes the evergreen,bags of fun Easter Egg Hunt, trying to spot them in the most oddest places they could of been left in.

That one's in this south of this area.

Well this little chap seems to be finding them. 

They don't grow underground surely?

That is this blog writers main egg which will be consumed no doubt today cos he's pretty kid like at heart loving this time of year.

Happy Easter!

Easter edition

 Today we're looking at Easter in Scouting.

Easter is marked in different ways and one the First North Sutton, Surrey scouts are doing this year is a easter crafts challenge which fits the "At Home" agenda with the pandemic where people will make things as I did when I was younger and they'll be all shared.

 

Scouting Ireland for instance in Beavers and Cubs is running a design and send a Easter Card that will be dropped off to care homes to add a bit cheer to elderly residents who haven't been able to have visitors at easter in the way we normally would.

In Northern Ireland they had a bake off with an easter theme.

That perennial, the Easter Egg Hunt is still happening this year which was and is a load of fun.

The Great Indoors and the return of outdoor section scouting

Today is August Bank Holiday Monday when as in another blog we look toward the return to school on what for many is a extended weekend best spent with family and naturally boys and girls.

As you know one of three things about this blog is it is about and supports Scouting for Children and Young people today rather than just being a nostalgic look at the past so as everybody in our Country had to adapt to Covid and H M Government advice so did Scouting whither or not it's BP-SA, the Scout Association or Girlguiding UK and that meant sadly face to face scouting as in meetings pack/troop activities where everyone was present had to be postponed.

That said Scouting is run by people who don't runaway from challenges did a lot to keep scouting running as not providing what children and young people need would be unthinkable.

Image credits: Scouting Association. 

The Great Indoors initiative was launched with activities that could be done socially distanced could be verified and so count within the program of beavers, cubs, scouts and so on for awards and so badges could be issued.

Support was provided for volunteers to use things like Zoom to run pack and similar meetings online so Cub/Scout night remained as a routine badly needed by children, children in scouting worked sending under #CareForCareHomes, with Scouts decorating ‘kindness rocks,’ writing cards and letters for residents in homes, to combat loneliness and improve mental wellbeing, which is what they also did to support young people with #Threefor3 as part of giving support to the community.

Scouting looked outward for those not in traditional membership with the Great Indoors Staged Activity Badge open to them of which over 9,000 have already been awarded and the Hike To The Moon project that raised 360,000 for Children in Need

The Great Indoors Weekender saw 120,000 children from 44 countries camp out at home as one making it the biggest online camp ever.

Now like school, Scouting in all its forms is starting to move toward a return to our traditions with careful thought and planning with the guidance as of August 25 2020 being indoor activities will be allowed and that children and young people will be in batches of 15 with up to 5 adults and that the children stay within that batch but the adults may move between batches at the same time and to a different section meeting at a different time on the same day.

The adults will not have to wear masks when they are delivering an activity, Scouts and Explorers will have to wear face masks indoors (mirroring high school practice) and all young people need to maintain 2 metres social distance from each adult.

That guidance is for "Amber" stage - the provisional readiness to restore a basic program of traditional scouting and nature further guidance will be issued over time.

That is terrific news for children and young people, back to being able to be together, having fun and learning useful skills  to take you forward.

Being this blog I couldn't resist having a traditional cub picture on the entry cos on this blog we deal with the past, my own scouting in spirit and scouting for today's boys (and girls) cos it's all the stuff that helped and is helping all of us move on.

Challenges in Scouting today

One thing I do from time to time touch on are things connected with Scouting today as support for scouting for the young is one of third purposes of this blog.
One issue that was raised in the last few days is that there is currently a waiting list of 60,000 young people who are unable to find places within the Scouting Association due to a shortage of volunteer hours to take cubs or scouts.
Most positions within Scouting like much within the UK are done by volunteers usually adults who under training including child protection and DBS Checks and while the absolute number of volunteers is high, because the constraints on individual times with changes in working culture and other demands the hours per volunteer typically are less so like with many organizations you need to work with what people can offer rather than what would be ideal.

This has  lead for instance to a shortage of leaders for Beavers which nearby in Mobberley Cheshire, a relatively well off district, the combination of this plus a leader of some period needing to step down has lead to the (one hopes only temporary suspension of 1st Mobberley Beavers pictured after 28 years) in much the same way that in my village, a part of the Greater Stoke On Trent district, Brownies also had to close as Girl Guiding UK were not able to find a leader.
This is a great pity because Scouting and Girl Guiding have so much to offer young people not just as good use of time but also for life skills and the membership of a family-the Scouting Family- for life.

Pix credit: BBC

UK current Scouting Sections

Members of the Scouting family come in all shapes and sizes, a fact all to often people do forget.

The current UK scouting family is divided into sections by age although as with any family there are transitional arrangements as people move up and are taken on.

Beavers (6–8) 

Cubs (8-10½)

Scouts (10½–14) 

Explorer Scouts (14–18)

Scout Network (18-25)