John Watmore
A PERSONAL VIEW
It has often been said that if we all formed a circle and threw our troubles into the middle each and everyone of us would take our own back.
All posts by garrettflynn
A Moot Point
The 2021 World Scout Moot will be in Ireland, hosted by Scouting Ireland. The association won the bid at the recent World Scout Conference in Slovenia.
It will be the first time that a World Scouting Event has ever taken place in our country. We have had many International Events, but this will be different and it has the potential to be very special.
The Campaign Trail
Its over nine months to go to the next meeting of Scouting Ireland’s National Council, yet attention is already turning to who will be seeking election at that meeting, scheduled to take place in Dublin’s RDS.
A full 50% of the associations National Management Committee are due to retire. Focus is now shifting to who might take their place.
Scouting Ireland and Governance
Scouting Ireland have announced the establishment of a National Management Committee sponsored ‘Governance Committee’, charged with putting together robust governance structures for the association.
This is a welcome development.
Do Scouters need a union?
The amiable and popular Chief Commissioner of the Scout Association in the United Kingdom recently highlighted on his blog (link below) the 5% of his time spent dealing with adult related disputes.
Wayne Bulpitt’s demeanor and approach to such disputes is clearly impressive, given many scouters in Ireland involved in managing such disputes might apportion a higher percentage of their time to such pursuits.
Unhealthy Obsession?
The irish scouter is aware of a ‘Safety Statement’ the result of what has presumably been an exhaustive analysis of the topic of Health & Safety, risk assessment and associated subject matter. It explores and seeks to place a framework around the role of Health & Safety in the context of Scouting, in particular in the context of local Scouting in the community. It runs to more than 30 pages, a weighty tome but nonetheless has, it is understood, been approved for onward circulation to the membership.
Recruitment & Retention
Scouting Ireland has announced the creation of a ‘Recruitment & Retention’ focus group, in order to better understand the reasons for membership turnover. The composition of this group and the outcome of their deliberations will be interesting, although the former will most likely influence the latter rather heavily.
Dublin. At a Crossroads…
Dublin. Capital City of Ireland. A vital hub, politically, logistically, academically, socially. A hotbed of best-practice and, in keeping with major cities everywhere, a liberal bell-weather full of the latest thinking and fresh ideas that regularly challenge the status quo.
Dublin is a city that is full of top-class scout groups. Some of the countries oldest groups are here, as are some of the youngest. The city boasts groups with amazing scout skills, worthy contenders at any Phoenix Competition. It is the home to the Scout Show and supplies a good deal of the talent that enters. It has scout groups that are less handy with knots, but are leadership incubators to rival the best business schools.
Quality. In Quantity?
The QSE (Quality Scout Experience) concept unveiled at National Council 2014 has begun a series of pilot projects around the country from about now. At its core, QSE looks like it’s a way for groups to identify what they do that works and perhaps more importantly, what they currently do that doesn’t work (or might benefit from some improvements).
UNIFORM THINKING
Scouting Ireland’s defunct ‘Vision 2020’ document carefully highlighted the ‘uniformed’ nature of the association. Indeed, it was the second descriptor of the movement and interestingly came before the words ‘movement’, ‘young people’, ‘open to all’ and long before the movements founder Robert Baden Powell got a mention in the opening preamble to what was a widely dispersed document in the lead up to National Council 2014.
One gets the impression that elements in the Scouting Ireland establishment are living in constant fear that ‘uniform’ as a concept will be eliminated just as soon as the wretched liberal (youth orientated) thinkers outnumber all the ‘real’ (traditional) scouts. It will be the end of civilization as we know it!
theirishscouter 