Hey Blog! This week I’m writing about something many young people across the world have joined in over the last 115 years. It is, of course, Scouts!
I joined Scouting as a Cub Scout in 2018, with the 1st Belper Cub Pack, later becoming a member of the 1st Belper Scout Troop, in October 2020. Scouting is thought of as a family by some, for it is a way to get to know many people. My Scout leader met his wife at Scouts, for example.
Scouting is a youth organisation, with more than 31 million members, spread across 216 countries. It was started in 1907 by Lord Baden-Powell, and has spread and grown: of the 12 people who walked on the moon, 11 were Scouts, and there are now six sections in the association. Anyone can become involved, as a leader or participant. When you are “invested”, you make the Scout promise, and then you’re in. You are usually put in a “Patrol” which is a small group of scouts, who are the ones you get to know most, and do activities with.
Scout meetings are usually once a week, and take place at the HQ, or Scout Hut. My troop has a game at the beginning, then two or three activities, which the patrols change around in turn. Some weeks the activities are craft, some teamwork, some practical skills. When we go to the county outdoor site there are sometimes “wide games”, games played by many participants on a large field. Quite often we go on a hike from the Hut, most times (like this last week) with an activity on the way.
During the pandemic we did virtual meetings on Zoom, and a couple of virtual camps. I had done a two night tent camp and a one night bunkhouse camp during my time in Cubs, and in Scouts I have done two home camps in our tent. We woke up to a hard frost all over the tent one time, and were quite glad to come back in in the morning! The most exciting thing I have done with Scouts so far is caving in early December. I mentioned this in “Review of the year: 2021”, but did not explain fully. The cave is an old lead mine above Matlock Bath, called Devonshire Cavern. It is mostly large enough to stand upright, and there was only one point where we had to squeeze through. The whole experience was enough to say, “I’m going to do this again!” Another part of Scouting is the badges that you can get for the activities. The ultimate award you can get in Scouts is the Chief Scouts gold award, which is only obtained with all the challenge awards. I hope to get it during my time in Scouts.
I hope that I continue to belong to the Scout family in the future. We have camps, experiences and trips planned, and many more outings in idea form. The activities are awesome, and I hope every member likes it as much as I do.