So, here we are - first posting of a new Blog. I'm a Scout Leader in the UK and hope you enjoy reading some of my views and ideas. I hope you enjoy reading it.
2007 is an important Scouting anniversary. 100 years ago Robert Baden-Powell held his first experimental Scout Camp on Brownsea Island and so this year we are celebrating our centenary. The UK are also hosting the 21st World Scout Jamboree this summer. The only issue I have is that I can't get excited by it and I'm not sure why.
It may be that most of the planned events seemed to have underwhelmed me. Our District centenary camp seems to little more than a large cub camp with weak activities (and a high camp fee), our county event - visiting a theme park - lacks the imagination and Scouting input I would have expected. Nationally things aren't much better, the planned pop concert already cancelled and ticket prices for Live '07 still not announced. I just hope as we get closer to our Group celebration camp I can raise my enthusiasm levels and make it an event to remember.
Does it really matter though? The energy and excitement the young people bring to our meetings and their lust for adventure and challenge is what really drives me and if in their eyes the centenary is distraction then maybe I shouldn't be too bothered.
The biggest camp of the year is the Jamboree - here Scouts from all over the globe will live together and celebrate Scouting. Whilst the centenary forms a backdrop and a reason for the UK to host the Jamboree the participants are more likely to remember the new experiences, new friends than the marking of the 100th year. The same memories that every Jamboree participant has had since the first Jamboree held in London in 1920.
Let's hope that we don't become so occupied by marking the centenary that we don't loose sight of what we do well. Baden Powell once wrote:
2007 is an important Scouting anniversary. 100 years ago Robert Baden-Powell held his first experimental Scout Camp on Brownsea Island and so this year we are celebrating our centenary. The UK are also hosting the 21st World Scout Jamboree this summer. The only issue I have is that I can't get excited by it and I'm not sure why.
It may be that most of the planned events seemed to have underwhelmed me. Our District centenary camp seems to little more than a large cub camp with weak activities (and a high camp fee), our county event - visiting a theme park - lacks the imagination and Scouting input I would have expected. Nationally things aren't much better, the planned pop concert already cancelled and ticket prices for Live '07 still not announced. I just hope as we get closer to our Group celebration camp I can raise my enthusiasm levels and make it an event to remember.
Does it really matter though? The energy and excitement the young people bring to our meetings and their lust for adventure and challenge is what really drives me and if in their eyes the centenary is distraction then maybe I shouldn't be too bothered.
The biggest camp of the year is the Jamboree - here Scouts from all over the globe will live together and celebrate Scouting. Whilst the centenary forms a backdrop and a reason for the UK to host the Jamboree the participants are more likely to remember the new experiences, new friends than the marking of the 100th year. The same memories that every Jamboree participant has had since the first Jamboree held in London in 1920.
Let's hope that we don't become so occupied by marking the centenary that we don't loose sight of what we do well. Baden Powell once wrote:
"Scouting is a movement because it keeps on moving forward. If it stops moving it becomes an organisation and is no longer Scouting!"so maybe he to would have been looking to the future and new adventures rather than the past for inspiration.
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