Three cheers for Scouts and Guides

I was a guide my brother a scout. I'm now in the process of being a Joey leader with my sons pack( beavers but we are in oz)

mrs b-p, no particular expertise, nor intention, really, it's just the way it worked out. so far so good though, and the outdoors and as many new experiences as possible seems to be working.

it makes life interesting when we do fire lighting and marshmallows on sticks and i handed over responsibility totally for the carpentry class....

my real passion is the girls though. such a fantastic opportunity to get them doing, and broaden their horizons.

Thank you pancakeflipper!

I loved my Beavers and now I love my Cubs (is that a promotion? ).

Hours of planning, hours of hunting down materials, all the paperwork and the misery of pretending that I actually LIKE sleeping in a tent! But when I see 39 radiantly happy faces I wouldn't miss it for the world. I don't need parents to tell me that I am "wonderful to volunteer", but when they do it is the icing on the cake.

Thanks also to Mrs B-P for starting this thread. The other one was raising my blood pressure to dangerous levels ...

I didn't see and don't want to see the thread that apparently has pops at those who lead/help in the Scouting movement...

But it's too easy to take a pop at these people, easy targets cos' to dedicate so much and energy to these groups - well there is an element of crazyness involved.

So huge cheer for you crazies....

i'm a cub leader and a pathfinder leader. do i get brownie points? (i was one of those as well)
under my roof i have a brownie, a beaver, a cub and a guide.
i missed the other thread, fortunately. but we do call our cub pack the 2nd (insert place name here) (adhd) pack for good reason. we're taking them skiing and snowshoeing next month.

DD1 is 15 and is away on Guide Camp this weekend. She is strictly too old for Guides but she and her friends are hanging in there and have been allowed to stay to finish their BP award. They are hoping to start a Senior Section as there isn't one here.

fantastic. All three of my dc are now in, so we have a cub, a beaver and a rainbow (at last... you should've seen the jealousy until she could join a month ago lol)

Oh, and three very hearty cheers from me too!

Link below is to a meeting in Parliament earlier this week, in which a Scout (Meg, the blonde girl on the end)gives a great account of what Scouting has given her - and what she's now giving to Scouting.

It's a long vid (youth organisations giving information to MPs about their work), but she speaks quite passionately early on and makes some great comments throughout. Quite powerful stuff!

www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=7646

My 6 yr old son started Beavers in Nov 2010. So far he's been on a bobsleigh run & tobogganing, been to the police station, been bowling, made ploughman's lunches for hoards of OAP's, been to local farm to talk about animal welfare, made chinese food in celebration of the Year of the Rabbit. Next week he's off to a championship league football ground ( you'd never believe how many dads want to help out next week...). Week after that it's a trip to the firestation ( guess how many mum's volunteered for that ?)

And for £25.00 per term... It's brilliant. He loves it. I love seeing him putting on his uniform cos' he beams with joy. And I love the morning after Beavers when we walk to school and he tells me all about it.

Yes the Badger is rather bossy - but they have to be to get twenty 6-8yr olds sorted and organise the activities.

Hurrah for Beavers!!!!!

i was brown owl for 15 years, I gave up when I had ds now 5 and I miss it like crazy

Its great to see the girls learn and develop and camps were fabulous fun... you get to see a whole new side to kids you dont see in 90 mins after school

I am still involved as I am pack hol advisor...see you never get to retire completly I'm glad to say

No, FOUR cheers for the whole Scouting and guiding movement!
My mum and dad met and fell in love on a Venture Scouts' Jamboree way back when, and I have a Cub and a Brownie and an insanely jealous 3yr old!
You have my total support

I'm a parent on a Scout committee (treasurer - voluntary) and I love the group and what they do, and I love our fundraising activities, and my son loves the camps.

Ooh this has just reminded me to email the Brownie leader. She stopped doing Rainbows at the end of the summer term as dd was the only one not 7 by September, and all the others were moving up....dd is 7 next month. If there is no room in Brownies there will be hell to pay!

Not quite there yet. We've got a quiz night booked for March, which should get us to our total, then just spends. I've got a cheque due from Easfundraising soon and all my household insurances need doing shortly, so that should be enough, if I do it through that.

Where's he going for Hoho? DD's lot are going to Holland. I assume the whole of the UK contingent aren't going to Holland, because that'll be a hell of a lot of British youngsters roaming around!

My 6 year old daughter is on the waiting list to start Rainbows. I think she'll really enjoy it.

And my DD is going with Cat64's DS! They don't know each other yet, but they might by the end of the summer!

Have you got all your fund raising done yet!