Scouting anyone?

[Spitfire]

I was just wondering how many of the fine members of this lounge had ever been scouts?

The reason for my question, is partly Carters new/old avatar and partly that I myself was a very active boyscout from I was 9 till I was 21 years old. And right now I am involved in organizing a reunion of former, old scouts in order to celeberate my scoutgroups 75 aniversary. (One of the oldest groups in Denmark!)

There is something nice oldfashioned about scouting, isn't there?
But scouting - in Denmark at least - has had too many changes in order to attract the kids, so it's now miles away from the scouting I knew - and loved.
Somehow I think they should get back to basics in order to beat the PCgames etc.
Instead of playing PC games at the meetings.

 

[eightbore]

Troop 51...Eagle Scout...1986

We had a great group of adults who taught us a lot and worked like mad to help us organize some great camps. The older I get, the more I miss those big events.

eightbore

 

[Smithy]

I was a cub for about three years, before playing cricket really started to take up my time.

 

[Flivver]

I was a Cub Scout for about three years and had great fun doing it. My best friend's mom was our Den Mother and she was great at it. We made some wonderful field trips to museums and the local Air Force base, and were encouraged to do special projects to earn gold and silver arrowheads (my mother got tired of sewing them on my shirt). I was a Wolf, Bear, and finally a Lion. I still have my little blue uniform.

Then I became a Boy Scout and enjoyed that, too...at least initially. We had a great Scoutmaster but eventually he wound up having to work overtime on the nights we met. Our meetings then were run by teen-aged Eagle Scouts who took great pleasure in sneering at us and making us do exercises for an hour or two each meeting. There was nothing else in their "playbook". After a few months of that, my friends and I quit the Scouts and went on to other interests. That was too bad, as I think being a Boy Scout could have been even more fun than being a Cub Scout.

 

[Miss Sis]

Ben Stephens (on holiday this week) was a Scout and is still a Scout Leader.

Here he is being a British War-time Scout Leader with all his 'scouts' at COAM (Chiltern open Air Musuem) in July. It peed down with rain and was quite unpleasant weather but the Scouts had the time of their lives! At least three went away and joined the Scouts for real.

 

[Edward]

I was in the Robins, the most junior end of the BB (Boy's Brigade) for a year or two when very young (4 / 5). We moved house, and all my new friends were joining the Beavers (junior end of the Scouts in the UK) at 6, so that's wehre I ended up. Comparing it to the BB, I think I probably got a lot more out of the Scouts (Dad was a leader in both for years, and he reckons the same), though others' mileage may vary on that one. I went right through beavers, cubs, scouts and into venture scouts, then from about 18 through to about 20 or so, I was an Assisant Scout Leader. Great experience.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Brownie, 1970-72, Junior Girl Scout, 1972-75, Cadette Girl Scout 1975-76. I'd have stuck all the way thru to Senior, but the troop dissolved for lack of interest -- the 70s were a fallow time for such things, I guess. But I enjoyed it very much, even though the only camping trip I ever went on was a sleepover on the floor of the local armory one summer. And I still love the cookies!

 

[Feraud]

I am a former scout and my son is currently involved in scouting.
A great organization for kids.

 

[Rooster]

I was a cub scout for a year. All we did was carve soap...... When I joined up I had envisioned camping out in the woods and doing all kinds of boy type fun things, not carving soap.
I just went ahead and did all those boy type things on my own with out the scouts.
I was however a long time 4H member and raised rabbits chickens and vegetables for projects. Always did quite well with them at the local fairs. I still raise and show chickens yet to this day.
Scouts and 4H are great for today's kids, especially if there is a good adult leader to get the kids pointed in the right direction.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I was a Boy Scout 1966-1969, but a pretty lazy example - I never made First Class. I survived two summer stints at Camp Read in the Adirondacks (which was seriously roughing it!) and some local campouts and hikes. Since we were an urban troop (Yonkers, NY), we did a lot less woodcraft and nature study than average. (E.g, gun folks, take note: Camp Read was the only time in my life I have ever handled live firearms.)

It was mostly a good experience, and I still have a few bits of my old uniform and equipment, and some photos, to show for it. But just about the only thing I learned then that's ever really come in handy since is the ability to tie a taught-line hitch...

 

[BeBopBaby]

My husband was a boy scout most of his youth, his father was a scout leader. He's always spoken highly of scouting and plans to be involved if we have a son. He saved his father's scout leader uniform just for that purpose.

 

[Big Man]

I was a Boy Scout in the 60's. We went hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, and all kinds of great outdoor things. I went to the same summer camp that my Dad went to in the 30's (and stayed in the same cabin, too). When my sons were of age in the 80's, they were also Boy Scouts. It is a great organization.

 

[BeBopBaby]

I was however a long time 4H member and raised rabbits chickens and vegetables for projects. Always did quite well with them at the local fairs. I still raise and show chickens yet to this day.

As a child, I grew flowers to show at the county fair. I'll never forget the year I grew a monsterously big celosia and won the blue ribbon! Such a thrill when you're little.

 

[Edward]

Scouts and 4H are great for today's kids, especially if there is a good adult leader to get the kids pointed in the right direction.

4H? Que es? Is it along the lines of the Yuong Farmers' Club that exists in the UK?

Absolutely agree the Scouts are great for kids. I had so many positive experiences growing up in that movement. Not least was the fact that our Scout troop was very mixed (i.e. Catholic and Protestant) - one of the biggest reasons for the ongoing social divide in Northern Ireland is that the two "sides" simply don't mix - there are kids who grow up right through to adulthood with having any significant interaction with "the other side" (separate schools). We gained a lot from not growing up thinking the other kinda kids had horns.

I could still build you a hell of a fire from stuff gathered in a forest - I'd need the lighter, though, I never did master that thing with two sticks.

 

[Harry Pierpont]

I was a cub when I was younger but our great den mother quit and no one liked the new one and the pack dissolved. Both my sons on the other hand are Eagle Scouts and I am currently the " Chartered Organization Rep." our fire dept charters the local troop.

 

[dhermann1]

We had a great Cub Scout pack, with good leadership. I made Wolf. Whoopee doo! Our Boy Scout troop had one leader who did almost everything, and when he retired, it was hard to find a replacement. I went camping, reached Second Class, had fun. I was a den chief for a while! These organizations all need good adult leadership to do well.
It's sad to see all the political controversies the Scouts have been mired in. It's too bad schools no longer sponsor them. But I'm glad I was a Scout, and would recommend it to anyone.
The last Scouting activity I was involved in was several years ago. A friend at work was a troop leader in Harlem, and I went with his troop to a Yankee game. That was fun!

 

[Nathan Flowers]

Troop 475. God and Country 1995, Eagle awarded 1997. Brotherhood member of Santee Lodge 116, Order of the Arrow.

I pretty much never stopped going to meetings every week, and I'm now an Assistant Scoutmaster in the same troop I grew up in. In fact, 5 of the 6 Scoutmasters of our troop are former Eagles out of the same troop.

Spitfire, we are also in the process of planning a reunion for our troop, as the 60th anniversary of its first charter will be March 2008. What all do you have planned?

 

[Nashoba]

*sigh*...ahh scouts.

My husband started out as a cub, is an eagle scout and up until a few years ago was a scoutmaster.

I was also a boy scout. It was where we met. We were both members of the same Explorer unit.

 

[Rooster]

4H? Que es? Is it along the lines of the Yuong Farmers' Club that exists in the UK?

Yep, probably the same thing.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

I was a Cub Scout, Webelos Scout and Boy Scout and made it to First Class. My family then moved and for some reason (rebellious youth) I didn't get into a new troop. I haven't decided if I'm going to nudge my daughter into Girl Scouts yet. It seems like it's just a cookie selling organization.