At appears on of the Explorer Scouts is straightening his neckerchief, starting with the time honoured way of folding it before reapplying it around your neck and pushing it through the woggle.
I've been a bit busy doing things for Dad as he's been a bit unwell with a virus but he's on the mend now thankfully.
Today is Saint Andrew's Day, the day of the patron saint of Scotland, one of the four Home Countries of the United Kingdom.
Andrew the Apostle also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter and is a son of Jonah.
One legend builds upon Andrew’s extensive travels, claiming that he actually came to Scotland and built a church in Fife. This town is now called St Andrews, and the church became a centre for evangelism, and pilgrims came from all over Britain to pray there.
Another ancient legend recalls how it was after the death of Andrew, sometime in the 4th century, that several of his relics where brought to Fife by Rule, a native of Patras.
It's not uncommon in Scotland, especially for ceremonial events such as parades for male Scouts to wear kilts and females to wear plaid skirts.
From there you get some fantastic views of the limestone parts of the National Park, such as the dry gorge of Winnats Pass which many a hiker has photographed.
Mam Tor is the main link between the eastern end of Rushup Edge and the western end of the Great Ridge, making this one of the most popular ridge walks in the entire Peak District.
From there on a good day you can see as far out as Manchester.
Being located near Castleton, it has a number of caverns just below it, such as: Treak Cliff Cavern, Blue John Cavern which I visited several times as a boy, Speedwell Cavern and Peak Cavern.
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Liberia.
It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessings of the harvest and of the preceding year. Similarly named festival holidays occur in Germany and Japan.
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and around the same part of the year in other places.
Scouts may assist at home or in community settings in "making" thanksgiving, preparing the food or setting the dining area.
Here Scouts have thanksgiving together as a unit which I'm sure would be most memorable for all.
Why we in Great Britain don't do thanksgiving is probably lost in time because we do have Harvest Festivals in our Churches and Chapels in October which schools traditionally collected non-perishable foods for relief to the old and less well off.
It might be a tradition well worth importing.
You might keep a few boxes with objects gathered from the woods, local beaches or connected with activities that you may place within a room which members might look for and, working with others find what they were used for and any connections.
You might organize a collage that a pack might work together on and then be shown together with others.
Being resourceful, finding things you can do when you might of preferred isn't possibe is something that can be encouraged.
Today I'm not going far away but in some ways it may seem more like it because Staffordshire and especially North Staffordshire is an area of contrasts from the heavily urbanized core which I'm in the edge of to areas of quite unspoilt countryside.
It is under appreciated that we have as one gets beyond Leek in the Staffordshire Moorlands that actually a good portion of the Peak District National Park does fall in this county as much as I like our neighbours in Derbyshire.
This area was very much the playground in my back yard growing up.
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There are a good many trails you can go hiking or cycling around here while getting a break from the noise and activity of our busy urban centres.
