Theirishscouter found himself a mere 15km from the Lebanese/Syrian border for a few days last week on business. High in the hills above Beirut, the scenery was breath taking, the weather was cool and the atmosphere was most agreeable. The architect designed house had porcelain mugs and nespresso on tap. The sleepy local village sported a ‘Scouts de Liban’ poster for some sort of forthcoming community event. Superannuated Renault 12’s and Series 3 Land Rovers jostled with bonneted trucks, designed in the 1930’s for a space on the pot-holed road.
There was a joke doing the rounds recently on social media about the prospect of a new section in Scouting Ireland to be called ‘Squirrel Scouts’, targeted at four year olds.
The satirical counter view to the joke murmured by a few cynics was why create another programme section when the association already struggles to maintain a sliding membership in Scouts (ages 11-15), has a pitifully small membership in Venture Scouts (ages 15-18) and barely registers a presence in Rover Scouts (ages 18+)?
I’ll be voting Yes and Yes in the forthcoming Irish referendum on same sex marriage and the age of eligibility for President. I think Scouting Ireland should have said they are too and this is why..
For many in the Scout Movement, looking down on Girl Guides is the unwritten 9th part of the Scout Method. Proud that Scouting has no time for daisy-chains, badge-sashes (certainly not in Ireland anyway), cookies sales and brownie points, we like to simply write-off the Guides as a club for “future housewives”.
“A week of camp life is worth six months of theoretical teaching in the meeting room”. Wise words from Robert Baden Powell, the founder of Scouting and every bit as true today as they were when first uttered.
But in a world where volunteering is under increased pressure, does Summer Camp as a concept really have a sustainable future?
Following a series of unprecedented events, Scouting Ireland finds itself without a Chief Scout. This despite two strong candidates being on hand to take the job up to 24 hours before the meeting of National Council commenced.
The circumstances surrounding the withdrawal of one candidate from the race for Chief Scout and the firm rejection of the other by a majority of delegates at Scouting Ireland’s National Council at the weekend in Dublin’s RDS is something that many members are still trying to fully take in. Continue reading uncharted waters→
Scouting Ireland’s supreme governing body, National Council, met in Dublin on Saturday. The meeting was perhaps the best chaired National Council to date; official, but not officious, brisk but people got their say, good-humored too.
Delegates perhaps already had an inkling upon arriving that the day was going to be a strange one, but its unlikely anyone could have predicted the events as they unfolded.
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children this week joined a coalition of organisations under the leadership of BeLongTo, Ireland’s national organisation for LGBT young people, to support a Yes Vote in the forthcoming Marriage Equality Referendum. The ISPCC is collaborating with Barnardos, Foróige, Youth Work Ireland, the Migrant Rights Centre, the Children’s Rights Alliance, Pavee Point, Headstrong and EPIC (Empowering Children in Care) who are all supporting a Yes Vote.
Can you spot a large youth movement that is missing from that list?
In less than a week, Scouting Ireland will make an historic vote and one that will set the course for the future of the association for some time to come.
Next weekend, Ireland will not notice a lot. Dublin will be bustling with shoppers as usual. Buses will take on and disgorge passengers at the RDS. Locals (and perhaps some delegates to National Council too) will imbibe pints at ‘Horse Show House’ across from the venue. Nonetheless for Scouting Ireland, Saturday, April 18th will be an important day. The association will choose a new symbolic leader. A new Chief Scout. Continue reading Which T.R.A.I.L to ‘connect’ to?→
Concern is growing among members of Scouting Ireland that the costly bureaucracy that increasingly inhibits local scouting’s progress, is also getting out of hand in terms of cost. Expenditure is increasing steadily, yet revenue is shrinking and little seems to be getting done to address this.
The trend has coincided with a reduction in the transparency around the finances of the national association, whilst ever more administrative demands are placed on the shoulders of local volunteers.
Theirishscouter has been examining copies of the association’s accounts from 2007-2013 and offers a cursory analysis below…. Continue reading Account ability?→
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