It really is great news that the Duchess of Cambridge is making the Scout Association one the five charities she is supporting in her new role in the royal family. The Duchess will be helping out at groups close to where she lives, with Beavers and Cubs, at a time which suits her busy lifestyle.

Exacly what role she will be taking on is not yet clear, as is whether Kate will be taking a warrant appointment as an ABSL or ACSL or Section Assistant, or just attending as an Occasional Helper.

I do hope that she does wear a proper uniform and makes the Promise and not just the i.SCOUT casualwear (however much I like it), as we are, after all, a uniformed organisation.

But really it doesn’t matter too much, as the key thing is that she will be giving that time she can.

The Duchess has an incredibly busy life, which makes it all the more inspiring that she has chosen to volunteer alongside us.

Over the last few years it has been our mission to make it easier for adults who volunteer with us to give as much or as little as they are able – it is how we change our society: many people doing a little bit.

Bear Grylls, Chief Scout

Flexible volunteering allows people to use their time to support good causes at a time that fit into their life. Just like every penny, every minute of your time counts – and can and will be put to good use for the benefit of young people.

But it looks like the 40,000 Scouts who were able to attend had a great Jamboree!

But I have my eye on making it to the 23rd World Scout Jamboree in Japan in 2015…

As usual, the final evening before the summer for my Troop was a family BBQ where we invite all member of a Scouts family to come and enjoy the (hopefully sunny) summer evening. The Scouts decided that they wanted a rounders match between them and their parents and other adult family members. After a terrible start for the adults, the game ended with a draw just as the BBQ was ready.

Unfortunately the rain then decided to come down! Meaning that the tug-of-war we had planned was abandoned. But everyone appeared to have fun, and pretty much all the food was eaten. It was nice that the paernts and Scouts thanked myself and the other Leaders (and our three superb Young Leaders) for everything we do.

So we now have six weeks Scouting-free relaxing weeks? Nope! This summer we are going to be making some substantial changes to our Scout Hut storage to give us more space – meaning shifting all our kit our and going through and inventorying everything we have and what, if anything, should be chucked.

In addition to this, we have the usual planning and preparation of next term’s activities, including a Parents and Scout camp we are going straight into on our return.

I am also spending some of this “summer break” on website designs. I have just launched a new Scouting WordPress theme – Woggle 4 WordPress. And I have also been asked to work on a website for our District Explorer Units to use. so that is also taking up some time.

So despite this being the “summer break”, it isn’t a complete break for us volunteers. – just a slight change in pace. But we keep on Scouting because we enjoy doing it!

a guide to becoming a scout leader

This intrigued me, so the first thing I did was go and Google the keyword myself. Interestingly, there was virtually nothing out there useful which appeared. Yes, there was a sponsored link to www.scouts.org.uk, but that’s not really the same.

So, how does one become a Scout Leader?

Note: This is a brief guide and the specifics will vary depending on local Scouting provision!

Step 1

Decide on your motivations. Why do you want to be involved Scouting? How much free time do you have to give to Scouting (don’t worry if you don’t have much – there are roles to suit you however much or little free time you can spend Scouting!)? Do you have any special skills? What do you expect in return?

The answer to these questions shouldn’t put you off: Scouting has many many roles to suit you whoever you are and whatever your skills, interests and however much time you have to volunteer!

Step 2

Which section/age group would you prefer to work with?

• Beavers: 6-8 years old
• Cubs: 8-10½ years old
• Scouts: 10½-14 years old
• Explorers: 14-18 years old
• None of the above – there are many non-Leader roles in Scouting too, including becoming part of an Active Support Unit

Each Section has their own specific needs and different people are better suited to different Sections – and you can always move between Sections at a later date if you change your mind!

Step 3

So you now know why you want to volunteer as a Scout Leader and have an idea about which section(s) you want to volunteer with. Now you need to contact your local Scouting!

There are a multitude of ways to do this. Scouting often appears in local volunteering literature or websites and many groups/districts/counties have their own websites with contact forms (like my Group and my District do) where you can offer to volunteer. Or you can fill in a form at scouts.org.uk instead

Step 4

Once you have contacted your local Scouting representatives, you will usually be contacted back pretty quickly.

What happens now will depend on how each Group/District/County run their volunteer recruitment process, but will usually involve having a meeting or discussion with someone. This discussion should cover the role you are to undertake.

Step 5

Once everyone is happy with your role, you will need to complete a AA (Adult Application) and CRB form (including details of referees). This is because Leaders and other Adult Members may have unsupervised access to young people, and safety comes first!

Shortly after this has been completed, you should be able to start volunteering!

Step 6

Once all the forms are complete and returned, there is one final administrative step (though you can start volunteering before this step is completed). This is the Appointments Advisory Commitee – and it’s not as scary as it sounds! Your Scouting “line manager” will explain this to you before it your appointment, but it is usually a short discussion with other people involved in local Scouting to ensure that everyone (including you!) are happy with the role you are doing.

Step 7

By now, you are involved in Scouting and hopefully very much enjoying it! But in order to move your appointment from “provisional” to “full”, there is one final step to take within your first five months.

As Scouting is committed to ensuring that both our Adult and Youth Members are safe, there are three compulsory “Getting Started” training modules which will usually be covered over a couple of evenings (depending on local training organisation):

• Module 1 – Essential Information
• Module 2 – Personal Learning Plan
• Module 3 – Tools for the Job

Step 8

Congratulations! You are now a full Adult Member in Scouting!

I promise that it isn’t as arduous as it sounds!

Updated with help from Escouts.

The Association has produced advice for Scouts on sexuality and “coming out” and factsheets for Leaders and other adult Members. The UK Chief Commissioner, Wayne Bulpitt, has also made a video for Stonewall’s anti-bullying campaign “It gets better… today”, which he makes it clear:

In Scouting we believe that all young people, irrespective of their sexuality, gender, race, creed or background, have an equal opportunity to develop and to be themselves.

I am very pleased that the Scout Assocation is undertaking this exercise and focusing on spreading the positive message about the movement, including attending Pride marches – we are here and open to everyone, regardles of sexuality.

Unfortunately, there are also people who object to it on outdated moralistice views and otherwise spreading misinformation (such as that only Christians or religious people can join – rather than the truth that the rule is purely that only those with an avowed disbelief are prevented, and even that is only from a uniformed role).

We should spread the message that Scouting is open to all so that we can have more Leaders getting involved and thus allow more young people to experience Scouting.

Girls were first allowed to join Scouts in 1976, but only in the Venture Scout seton (now defunct). From 1990, girls could join any section but this was a decision to be taken by individual groups, but as of Scouting’s centenary year in 2007, all groups are co-educational – and girls now amount to one-fifth of all young people in Scouting.

However, Scouts do not differentiate between girls and boys. We offer the same great Scouting experience and everyday adventure to all young people, regardless of gender.

Alongside all this great news, and is ensuring that Scouting is in line with the vision that Baden-Powell originally desired. The Girl Guides, first led by B-Ps sister and then by his wife, were created after Victorian morals refused to allow both sexes to mix in a youth organisation. Unfortunately, nobody told the Daily Mail… (it is amazingly easy to predict how various media outlets will report Scouting news.)

But this isn’t all good news – there are 35,000 young people who want to join the everyday adventure, but are currently unable to do so due to a lack of Leaders. We can’t provide everyday adventure to even more young people without more vounteers!

So we plan. Prepare. Get ready. After all, as Scouts our motto is “be prepared”. xcept sometimes, we’re not. Because we’re too busy focusing on everything else to pick up the little things… like matches.

But, as we’re Scouts, we are also resourceful and able to cope… (yes, we borrowed some).

***

The competition itself went well – it was quite cold that evening for those of us on bases, but my base was quite entertaining, as we had to get them to sew buttons. Only one team managed them all, and that was a team of boys – rather than girls as everyone expected it to be – Scouts prove gender expectations wrong!

The Scout Association takes no money from the public purse. It raises all of its income through subs, fundraising and trading – and its volunteers contribute 37 million hours of their own time. It is a model of what the Big Society represents – people volunteering in their own communities to benefit everyone and not requiring public money to keep running. Scouting provides a hell of a lot for not very much, which is something we just don’t shout about enough.

Scouting brings a huge amount of benefits to society, but asks nothing in return except for fair and affordable rents – not free, not frozen, but fair and affordable. As Chief Scout Bear Grylls says

It is completely counter-productive for councils to charge Scouts such enormous rent increases. These crippling rises jeopardise the future of Scouting and the enormous amount of voluntary work we provide to communities week-in, week-out. We’re not asking councils for money. We simply ask that they continue to recognise the importance of Scouting in their area.

This is agreed with by Local Government Minister Bob Neil, who is also Vice President of Bromley and District Scouts:

The Scouts provide an immense contribution to local communities across Britain. They are a great way for young people to develop skills and learn about social responsibility.

I agree with the Chief Scout, Bear Grylls. It is unacceptable for councils to unilaterally hike charges on scout groups without consultation. This is a false economy, as without scout groups, local authorities and the police would end up spending more money on tackling anti-social behaviour and on paying for the services which Scouts provide for free.

To which the Guardian replies, quite rightly:

Thanks Bob. Not much to disagree with there. But you’re the boss. If councils are killing off scout groups, what are you going to do about it?

The government should prevent local authorities from putting charities out of business (or should be volunteering?) through raising rents like this. Come on Bob and Eric – put your foot down!

My Group is one of those affected by the rent increase. The rent increase will require us to increase subs – we have no alternative, as we simply cannot afford to meet the £592.50 extra every year otherwise. But we are now tenants of Watford Community Housing Trust rather than Watford Borough Council; but the council are going to charge another local Scout Group only 25% the rent that the Housing Trust want to charge us. One is fair, but the other certainly isn’t.

Age does not make someone more or less suitable to be a role model for young people or more or less suitable to be a Scout or Guide leader. The difference is the person, not the age.

From experience, I know that it takes everyone for Scouting to work, from pensioners to eighteen year-olds and everything inbetween. Age doesn’t really have much impact nowadays in how active someone can or will be. Society is different and age discrimination – like all discrimination – is unacceptable.

I am proud that the Scout Association has no age discrimination policy and that leaders can remain in active service however old they are, just as long as they want to keep on volunteering. They may choose to give up leading a Section as they age or they may not. But no-one will make them.

Age should never be used as a reason for discrimination. It may play a part in someone’s suitability for a specific role, with regards to concerns such as experience, but should never be a deal-breaker. Leaders and other volunteers of all ages are essential for Scouting to work. No-one can ever be the “wrong age”.

1. Get my Wood Badge validated
2. Earn my Nights Away Permit
3. Teach new Scouts about their Promise and Law before they get invested
4. Learn more Scouting skills that can be to further enhance our programme
5. Continue to support my SL in providing as much everyday adventure as we can to our Scouts
6. Develop the Members Area of my Group’s website to enable it to be more user-friendly and provide more information to parents
7. Develop the usability of my District’s website and get more input from the District Team
8. Release more free Scouting Themes 4 WordPress so that other Groups and Districts can use them and have a well-designed, user-friendly, and on-brand website
9. Blog more here about Scouting and volunteering as an ASL
10. Keep on Scouting!

These are all resolutions I should be able to keep…