Scouting is Growing!
Scouting is strong in Histon! The group is doing great stuff and we want to tell you about it. I'm Greg Harewood, Scout Leader, and I wanted to start writing articles - a regular column, if you will - to provide a monthly roundup. If you want the gory day-by-day details and the ongoing chivvying of the Young People, then go right to our main site (or its feed). This is the version without the sweat and tears. If you're reading this on the Scout site, well then good teaching involves repetition, so just run with me here.
I started out three times trying to write this in the passive tense as a news article, and failed. In the end, this reads like a blog entry, doesn't it? I couldn't help it. It's probably because I'm so much in the middle of it all. Maybe I'll do better if I establish an 'angle'. Let's try starting over with a 'Scouting is Growing/it's your loss if you miss it' angle.
The Scouts have stretch marks. It's a mark of the teenage years to have growing pains on the inside too. But when the Scout Association says "Scouting is Growing", of course, it is word play. The whole operation in the UK has been growing steadily for ten years, and it's not just the Millennium Babies.
The Scout Association has been letting girls join Scouts gradually, starting with Venture Scouts in the 70's and 80's. The process was completed in 2007, when it was decreed nationally that no section could discriminate any more. A new era started with a whimper, because all the objectors had given in.
Scout Association research showed that, when the whole family can take part in Scouting together, everything is better. The boys are a bit calmer. Girls who, perhaps didn't fancy Guides, have a new option. (Girl Guides numbers have not been impacted.) The Scout Association finds and retains more leaders, because noone has to split their family time any more. And, best of all, the curriculum is as strong as ever. Nothing was watered down. In fact, sceptics are sometimes shocked by the arm's length of badges hanging from the new girls shoulders.
It is true that the curriculum has evolved. The Scout Association has been very clever in its quest to make things accessible, while keeping the core intact. These days, a 10-14 year old Scout can meet his or her expedition requirements on foot, horseback, canoe or bicycle - or on the train. He or she can check the Nights Away requirements in the badge book by sleeping in a youth hostel, in a tent, or in hammock between the trees under the stars. And, while it's possible to go the traditional route, a Scout can complete the whole thing without ever learning a knot. If he really wants to. And so can you.
The 1st Histon has the old-school knot learners. What it's looking for in its ongoing search for help is new blood. Understandably, parents often want to move up a section when their child moves up. That's happening in June, when Sharon is is shifting all her attention to running the Scout section with Greg - and Paul and Iain and Luke. Scouting is fun, and they want to share it. But the best part is that the gap is in Cubs. Scouts may have teenage growing pains, but that all seems a lifetime away to a nine year old Cub Scout. Life's just fun when you're nine. Why not remind yourself?
Oh yeah, that was better. I'm almost tempted to remove the blog bit. But then you wouldn't already have a friend in the group, would you? See you soon!