to think that Rainbows and Brownies should be scrapped...

[Bardette]

...and all kids can just go to Beavers and Cubs.
In our area there is a long waiting list for Beavers. My son would like to join a colony but we have been told there it will be at least a term until a space will be available.
Girls can go to Rainbows or Beavers, but boys can only go to Beavers. As girls take up half the spaces in Beavers and all the spaces in Rainbows that means three times the number of places available to girls in local clubs.
Surely it would make more sense and be fairer to have two Beaver colonies?

Wow we are really lucky in this area.

I emailed for a beaver space and Dd1 was given a taster session the following week.

This is the 2nd rainbow pack she has been in. She transfered from the first to be in one with her school friends. No waiting lists for either.

Just interested but all of you who do run packs what jobs do you do in real life.My feeling is that in the past employers were more willing to support voluntary activities whereas now it's difficult and I have heard anecdotally of employers who would be very anti .

My dh doesn't get home from work until 9pm on a week night , sometimes much later so not around to do evenings .If you work shifts for example doctor or nurse etc then you can't be relied on to do the same time every week . I did volunteer when ds1 was at Beavers but I had no one to look after the younger two and we were't allowed to bring siblings along , even to sit in kitchen so I had to pay for a babysitter which was difficult I will admit .

I think that's a real issue for organisations that rely on volunteers. I live in a small town, and 30 years ago, most working people wouldn't have commuted, would have been home by 5.30, so time for a potter in the garden, tea and out to be a Scout Leader for 7.30. Nowadays with commuting and long working days it's much more difficult. Our Scouts is run by two firemen who work opposite shifts so one of them can always be there, and whoever does the roster at the fire station makes sure it works. But not many troops are that lucky.

Sadly true for all voluntary roles.
DH would make a superb school Governor, but 1/2 the meetings are at 6pm and he doesn't get home until after 7pm

You want to get rid of an organisation which has 10 million members worldwide and has been running for over 100 years just because your son has to wait a few months to join a different organisation? No, not unreasonable at all .

outtolunch, I'm a student, most of the Rainbow leaders I know work in schools but we do have a carer, who comes every other week because of shifts and a lorry mechanic. I know there's a paramedic who does Brownies but I think she shares the work with another leader.

My sisters Cub unit has a binman, a postman and a tree surgeon, Dad's scouts are builders, an electrician and a retired soldier.

I think that it is a fair point that there are not enough spaces at Beavers and Rainbows - and I am very grateful for the volunteers where DS attends Beavers for their time and hard work!

Girls really benefit from having a girl-only space and I disagree that this should be scrapped.

It would be nice to have a boy-only space for the lads, but also like that girls who like to get stuck in and do more boisterous activities can choose Beavers over Rainbows.

To all of the PP Rainbow and Beaver leaders - thank you, and please keep up the excellent work that you do!

outtolunch I was a Brownie leader all through university, though I had to miss some weeks when I was away from my home city on placement (fortunately we had enough other leaders to fill the gap). I wanted to continue when I qualified as a doctor and moved to another area but had huge issues with getting in touch with the local Girlguiding people, and then couldn't find a unit which I could reliably get to after work, when I couldn't guarantee finishing on time.

In the last year I've been involved in setting up a mixed Guiding/Scouting group at a children's hospital, which works well for me as it's really flexible - there's a large pool of leaders and we just sign up for the nights we can make. The children are usually also different each week, though we do get the odd long-stayer, so we can repeat activities much more easily than with a "normal" pack. But I'm moving again in August so will have to try to find a new unit in my new city (any Girlguiding Oxfordshire people, please PM me!). Now I'm more settled in the job I think I'll find it easier to make a more regular commitment, but there'll still be nights I can't make it due to on-calls, so I could never be the main unit leader.

At my unit we have 3 people in admin/office type jobs, 1 retired, 1 teacher, 1 taxi driver.

It takes all sorts to make a leader!

I had a friend who worked for a large financial company in the city, they gave her 1 early finish a week to support her volunteering with brownies (this was 2/3 years ago).

IME most employers are quite supportive of staff giving back to the local community.

SockQueen, when you move fill in this form and someone from your new district should contact you. The group you're doing at the moment sounds brilliant.

Adikia that's what I did last time and I was unimpressed with the response. I found it very frustrating that as a qualified experienced leader, I still had to go through the same internet-anonymised hoops that a stranger would have to, and couldn't just e.g. contact the DC directly. Hopefully the new county will be more on-the-ball!

Counties vary tremendously. My DD1 was half way through her Queen's Guide award when she went to Uni and moved region. She went through Join Us and made a note on the website she was seeking a Brownie unit to help out at and needed a new QG mentor.
She was contacted the same day, and by the following day was talking to a new mentor on the phone.
That was Midlands region (kudos to them! )

In answer to the questions on jobs, I'm a teacher working only two days week atm.
I'm lucky I can do this, which gives me time to do my Commissioner role and support leaders in my Division. Other leaders are practice nurses, lawyers, office staff, some teachers, event management people, accountants.

I hadn't realised it varied that much between districts, I moved districts last year, filled in the thing on join us on the Monday and got a call that evening asking me if I could make meetings at x time/place, said yes so district commissioner passed my details over to the unit leader and I got another call within an hour asking could I make the leaders planning meeting the following day.

I have 4 dds and 1 ds. The older 3 (2 girls 1 boy) go to beavers and cubs. I chose to send them there as DH is involved with the group as a volunteer and so it seemed foolish to send them to another group just because they are girls. The girls I know who do go to brownies have a very very different experience to the cubs (although it varies wildly depending on the leaders) for example at the cub camp my dds stay in tents and do climbing and archery etc at the local brownies never stay in tents (they stay somewhere indoors) and seem to do activities which my dd would find boring.

I know this depends on the group but I would say if you are worried about places rather than try and force girls out - actually volunteer so that more places are around!

There's always Woodcraft! DS has been going for about four months now and absolutely loves it, and they seem to have far more fun and do a wider variety of activities than his friend who has just given up a long-awaited Beavers place because he was bored. It's less structured and probably a lot messier but we've found it absolutely brilliant and DS has made loads of lovely new friends.

As I posted earlier my DParents were in Woodcraft and I was surprised it is still going. Although they say they have 400 units they don't have nearly as many as Beavers, Cubs etc so would not be an option for a lot of people spiderlight

With respect to jobs held by people who volunteer, in my 19 years I have been a student at uni - missed about 6 meetings a year due to holidays, a trainee accountant - studying whilst working full time for a large multinational, and now a full time teacher. Others who have volunteered alongside me range from other accountants, CEO of small start up company, police officers, nurses, interior designers, LSA's, teachers, charity workers, engineers, council workers, SAHM, fire officers, PA in finance in the city, EWO's, - and thats just on a quick look at my guiding and scouting contacts.

Most are full time jobs - if not its because they have reduced hours when they had young families and still stuck with it - most employers will be supportive of volunteering, work is often used as the reason its not possible to help even 1 evening a year!

goats She switched to beavers and cubs and loved it, they did fire lighting, made a solar system, did bush skills, learnt how to build shelters , cooked a three course meal for parents, went climbing, canoeing, archery.

I have done pretty much all of that with my guide unit and know many brownies who have also done the majority of it as well. As people keep saying its down to what the girls want to do and availibility of leaders and locations - this summer my new guide unit have done no fire lighting (its standard in my normal summer programme!) as I am new to the area and have failed to find somewhere we are able to - my mission for the next year is to find somewhere local it is possible.

Jobs - I'm a full-time admin assistant, my employers generously(!) allow me to work 8.30-4.30 (instead of 9-5) on the day my Brownies meet so I can get home in time - although am lucky as my commute is approx. 40 minutes which helps.

SockQueen - there's groups on FB (1st Facebook Guides, Girl a Guiding UK (unofficial group)) that has lots of leaders that would pass on details. Alternatively PM me. Not in that area but could maybe find a contact for you.

Same here. I vary my work hours so that I can finish in time. I have an hour's commute. Sometimes I drive straight to the meeting at 7pm, but usually have time to go home first. I don't ever eat until afterwards as there isn't time, so about 9.30pm, and dh usually makes the dinner when he gets in around 6/7pm.

My kids are slightly older now (10 and up) so they don't need me to be home when they get in from school. When they were younger, we either got dh to be home in time to look after them, or they went to after school club. Same as everyone else really.

But I've always volunteered. At the moment I have four diff roles, only two with guiding, and so I'm used to getting babysitters organized (and paid) so that I can go and volunteer for a few hours. In theory, I could claim the babysitting from the school for governor meetings etc, but in practice I didn't bother. I see it as my charitable donations, ie my time. I volunteer for two other boards at the mo that do happen to be charities, and as I'm putting out so many hours around my ft job I tell any chuggers/ cold callers that I don't donate money, I donate time.

Thanks so much for the info on this thread. I put DD1's details on the website and had a quick general reply. The next day I got an email and she is now on the waiting list for our local Rainbow troop

I agree with the 'don't moan, do something' attitude. I am planning to volunteer at our local hall (rainbows/brownies/guides). I wanted to do it anyway but if it means DD1 gets a place then that's a bonus!

I loved my time in Brownies (Rainbows didn't exist in my childhood, I'm so old!) I would hate for my DDs to miss out on this experience.

Like the OP, I had no idea that Scouts/Guides were separate organisations. I also didn't know why one was unisex and one wasn't. This thread has been really eye opening.