From The Chair: Autumn 2020
One of the pleasures of my role in Scouting is sitting on the Appointments sub-committee. There we talk to potential Leaders, currently via Zoom, who are all asked the same 12 questions. The people we are interviewing have a wealth of different experiences and they offer their time for a variety of different reasons, but all come with enthusiasm for the opportunity to work and spend time with our Young People.
But what difference does Scouting make to the lives of those Young people? What makes us more than just a Youth Club?
One young lady at her Appointments interview summed it up exactly for me. Fairly fresh out of Uni, to one question she replied, “I love cooking and entertaining, when I’m at Uni, for my friends there and when I’m home, for my friends who were Explorers with me a few years ago. The difference is that when we’ve finished eating, the friends from Explorers immediately clear the table, wash up and tidy the kitchen with me. We work as a team.”
Another pleasure has been visiting many Groups’ AGMs, and recently attending them on Zoom, but at all of them I have been absolutely amazed at the range of activities our young people have undertaken. I’m going to list a random selection since it may just give some ideas for your future programmes!
Brio gravity train runs for Explorers, making electric cars, bee keeping, shadow puppetry, moon gazing and astronomy, indoor sky diving, making volcanoes, cocktail stick pioneering, learning sign language, making poppies, making Easter hats, a hobby share, and a graffiti wall. Church flower arranging, making bug hotels, growing bedding plants, learning about animals, Lego building, Drumba and meditation with a Buddhist nun.
Trips and excursions have included bus trips around Rushcliffe, a train trip to York, a synagogue visit, canoe expeditions, an incident hike and many many camps and sleepovers both home and abroad.
However, most remembered by the young people seemed to be the food activities! A bushtucker trial, a chip shop survey, chocolate making, bake off, making Melton pork pies and an evening of international cuisine and flight simulation.
Its been a very strange year so far, but as we head into “face to face” Scouting lets renew friendships, make new ones and well done to all for keeping the movement alive during lockdown.
