areacubscouting

In my report last year, I talked about the different types of communicating, visits, meetings, telephone calls, emails, the web page. On reflection. all of these have been used for the Cub Scout section. The Cub Sports has used email, the web and the telephone. Notice about this AGM has been by letter and on the web.

This week I made an unplanned visit to a pack. The Cub Scout Leader and the Beaver Leader had not been told about the AGM and they were not users of the Internet. What else did they say to me ? “We need more leaders” Only last night , I was hearing about the Cubs at Ullapool . When the original leader left , somebody took over , but eventually felt they couldn’t continue on their own.

Attracting extra Leaders has always been a problem. It almost seems to be easier to start from scratch . Look at Invergordon, Golspie and Avoch. I don’t have a magic wand ,but I feel I could be giving more support to the Cub Scout Leaders we already have, whether they have been on the go for two years, or for twenty two years.

Before Christmas, when we were planning events , I phoned all the leaders in the East. They seemed to welcome the call. Many had quite a chat. Perhaps a phone call in April might have helped. When we are busy , it’s often a bonus not to know about a meeting or the AGM, but my experience on Wednesday shows our information methods are not working. Maybe letters should go out to all section leaders. Some of our Groups are only a loose framework . This is not England, or even the Central Belt. So what about visits. Well, I have only made one - and that was by accident. For years, I have heard the comment , “We never see anyone!” But I’ve also heard , “I don’t want an inspection and lots of criticism.”

When the weather is pleasant , I could make a round trip to two or three packs on the same night. Would a visit of fifteen minutes be any good. The question of how it helps the cubs has to be asked. Does a visit from the AAC mean anything to them. Are there any badges to hand out. Would a game be appreciated. The phone is always there, but it needs a catalyst to pick it up. A visit might encourage us to use it more to discuss what’s happening. And what is happening. We have had some Events, we have had some that didn’t take off, and we have some packs getting on with things together. And also we have the new programme. Since it’s introduction I haven’t had a chance to ask how leaders are finding it. In my own pack I find it more difficult to track the progress of the cubs. I worked through the different Awards which covered a variety of topics. I have always had a lot of outdoor activities which the new programme is trying to encourage, but now the cubs cannot get their Adventure Award until they have been away for two nights. At the very best they may have to wait a year until they get to camp, And if I only take nine year olds to camp, then it may be nearer two years.

And what else? At the conference, we were told that the greatest drop-out is from age nine to ten. We can’t blame the transfer to scouts. We were also told that if most of our youngsters are aged six to eleven, we can’t really call ourselves a youth movement. At the conference, we were issued with a challenge to do something ourselves. I have said that I would encourage packs to get one event into the local paper. It’s a good boost to our morale and might encourage and inspire others.

Please do contact me by phone or email and keep in touch with things that need to be done – Events, Training and Programme discussion. Let me know what interesting Activities you have been doing this year.

Owen Smith – Assistant Area Commissioner for Cub Scouting

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