10th Chief Scout and 1st UK Chief Commissioner Appointed

Posted: May 18, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Do something Now is good, Explorer Scouts, Extreme Scouting, Government, Interesting, Internet, Jamboree, Scouting, Scouting Itreland, Scouts, Social Networking, UK Scouts, Venture Scouts | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

I received a few phone calls and a couple of emails late last week to tell me that, Bear Grylls had been appointed as the new Chief Scout, and that the press release would be live this week.

Peter Duncan’s 5 year appointment as Chief Scout comes to an end this year.  Peter has brought the movement from the dark ages, when he took over the post 5 years ago pledged to drive recruitment and it worked, our UK numbers and in fact globally the numbers are up for the 4th year running.  Peter was also responsible to officially welcoming girls into the movement, a great step forward, he worked hard to tackle race and religion challenges and will be missed in the movement, I have been assured and hope he will stay involved.  Peter was the first person of ‘celebrity’ status to take on the role, all other Chief Scouts came through the ranks up until then.

The race was long to find his replacement, and in the end came down to Richard Hammond – a keen scouter who came right through the movement from a boy and Bear Grylls who eventually won the race.  The post is for 5 years and completely on a voluntary basis.

Bear Grylls will bring a wealth of ‘outdoor’ and ‘survival’ skills and go a long way to promoting Scouts as an outdoor, adventure organisation.  He is the 8th Chief Scout to have served time in the armed forces and the 10th Chief Scout to take on the role since Lord Powell created the movement in 1907.  Bear is the youngest Cheif Scout to have ever been offered the role.

The splitting of roles,

Up until now the Cheif Scout has been responsible to all UK Scouting and all Overseas scouting with the appointment of various head of movements around the globe, This appointment of Bear Grylls is different though, whilst his title is still Chief Scout for UK and all overseas territories, announced today is also the appointment for the 1st time of a UK Chief Commissioner responsible for leading the volunteers and programing in the UK.

This position goes to Wayne Bulpitt, a scouter from almost birth, he began as a Cub Scout at the age of 8, and worked his way up the movement with roles including, Cheif Commissioner for Southern England and Chairman of the board of trustees since 2001.

This means that whilst Bear’s appointment is fantastic and will go along way to shaking our boring image, the movement obviously thinks the job is bigger than one person, Bear’s role in my mind will be more of a figure head and leader whilst Wayne will be moving through the movement day by day, looking after the more mundane side of the business.

Which ever way you cut it, today is a great day to be a scout !

Are you ready to join the adventure yet ?

Making 2009 matter in local scouting

Posted: February 3, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Do something Now is good, events, Explorer Scouts, Extreme Scouting, Jamboree, Motoring, Network Scouts, Northern Ireland, Off Roading, Scouting, Scouting Itreland, Scouts, UK Scouts, Venture Scouts | Leave a comment

This year, we at Lisburn and District Scouts are celebrating 100 years in operation, It is also the first full year of my new tenment of District Explorer Scout Commissioner which makes me repsonsible for all scouting in Lisburn District for boys and girls aged 14-18.

Explorer Scouting is Lisburn or Lagan Valley as we like to call it has not been without its problems since its conception nearly 5 years ago.  Before Explorer Scouts started, boys and girls would have stayed within their own group until the age of 16 and at that age they would then (like I did) either choose to be a young leader within the group, join a venture scout unit (16-20) or do both.  The boys and girls now have to (at 14)  join a larger district group for more adventuresome activities.

The implementation was problematic at best and we found that the kids at 14, did not want to leave their group but stay on.  We also found a negative impact on the scout section were the leaders found it more difficult to teach the younger kids without the aids of older more sense able patrol leaders.

The solution was to form Partnership agreements whereby each group could start their own Explorer group under the district umbrella and that group would take part in district explorer scout events once or twice per month.  This again worked in theroe however no district events ever seemed to take place.  In October of 2008 I was approached to take on the lead of Explorer Scout Commissioner for Lagan Valley Explorer Scouts and head up a district program to include all of the partnership groups, and older scouts heading towards Explorer age.

My tenment ties in well with our 100 year celebrations and now I find myself wondering, How can I make this year matter? How can I change the way Explorer scouts in Lagan Valley Run? and How can I make a difference?

In the past kids from the partnership groups have not been keen to get together with other groups – you know what kids are like!  so my first thoughts are to organise at least one evening per month weather it be something really scouty or just pizza and coffee, It will get them together and interacting.

My second thoughts are to arrange at least one camp or sleep over per quater – there is nothing better in this world than camping with your mates and over a weekend you can really get to know each other.

Thirdly I want to take things to the next level, badge work and camping is great but I want to create an experience and open oppertunities to these kids that they would just not get in school or youth clubs, International trips, Surfing, Rally car driving, Shooting, Scuba diving and all that sort of thing.

The road will be long, but very worth while. (I hope!)

Fancy Dress halloween party at McQuillan HQ

Posted: November 3, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Do something Now is good, events, Funny, Interesting, Jamboree, Network Scouts, Northern Ireland, UK Scouts, Venture Scouts | Leave a comment

A great night was had on Friday evening at McQuillan HQ, hosted by McQuillan Events (Or me !)

The guest’s ranged from the Executive team at Antrim Network Scouts, Lagan Valley Explorers, Friends and Family.

I’ve been holding Halloween parties for the past few year’s with great success. This year it was super to see my 7 month old daughter dressing up for her first Halloween, not that she has much choice !

Even the dog joined in !

Australian Scouts celebrate 100 years of Scouting with free power !!!

Posted: August 12, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Do something Now is good, Jamboree, Scouting, Scouts | Leave a comment

The best thing about camping is being away from technology, power and the modern world. The worst thing about camping is being away from technology, power and the modern world.

The fact is, without a phone, as leaders we are asking for a world of pain, we need to be in contact with home contacts, parents, head office and at worst the hospital. The difficulty here is that all these fancy phones, like my Iphone for example require a hugh amount of power to keep them alive and us in contact, when you have 12,000 camping outdoors power can be a real problem.

Both Irish and Australian scouts celebrated 100 years of scouting this year, and both Jamboree camps aimed to leave very little carbon foot print behind by offsetting the energy used in the buildings by using very little on the campsite thus making what 12.000 people use considerably less than normal.

What Telstra in Australia did, took it to the next level by donating 500 solar panels to the different subcamps, allowing the scouters vital access to power with no damage to the environment ! Top job Telstra! The full article can be read here

Jamboree 2008 – part 1

Posted: August 1, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Do something Now is good, Jamboree, Northern Ireland, Scouting, Scouts | 2 Comments

Its 5am on a wet and cold Friday morning not even the milk men are out of bed yet two scouts stand stripping tents down to the roof of a Jeep.

It can only mean one thing – Its the start of Jamboree 2008 !

Alot of hard work, time and money has onto the preparation for Jambo. All of our equipment from gas stoves to kitchens to tents needed replaced this year, which came at a great expense! Many many man hours went into packing people’s bags in Tesco for the hope of that all shinny £1 coin!

Jamboree 2008, Ireland! marks the 100th year anniversary of Scouting in Ireland, Ireland was the first country(after England) to adopt the ‘scouting for boys handbook’ laid out by Lord Baiden Powell in 1907 in England. Last year we in Scouting UK celebrated 100 years and now its time to give our younger neighbours a hand!

For scouts and scouters – Jamborees are what it is all about, the chance to camp with and meet people from all over the globe, sharing stories and cultures, drinks and laughs and coming away with life long friends and future trips back and forth to see one another’s countries.

For many of the boys aged 10-14, this is their first big camp truth be told as many camps as I have been to, Im yet to see what 20,000 people in one field looks like! The older boys aged 16-17 have now been camping together for a few years and have developed a tight bond and as for the leaders, well we have the scar’s from the last 10 years to prove our worth, some of the leaders 25 years for that matter!

Heres to a good camp – Jamboree 2008! Ireland!