Budge

Bearing in mind that the 23rd of this month is the day of worldwide scoutings patron saint, St George; do you find that this is a time for reflection, celebration and reaffirmation of our scout vows and promise with young people and adults or is this day not honoured in your groups? Here, whilst St Georges day parade and service are invariably held in a Christian church, though not always, they are purposely designed to be non exclusive of any denomination and provide a united symbol of scouting. A very fine sight it is too with all groups from district bearing their colours. The religious policy of the Scout Association is that we as leaders are supposed to encourage young people to follow their faith and if they haven't got one then not to indoctrinate them. Incidentally YP do not have to have a faith to become members whereas being an atheist is a bar to being a uniformed leader.

Good morning and once again thank you for your welcome. Eamonn, I look after Beavers (6 to 8 year olds) at St Johns in Brighouse, I joined when my youngest son joined and never left, and then Im also at the Explorer Unit (14 to 18 year olds) at Bradley Wood, the County campsite, an absolutely fantastic place to be based. You mention that you were born and bred in London but I guess from your name that you have Gaelic forebears? Everyone has an invite to the wedding but if you cant make it then you can watch it on the old goggle box or go to the pub of course. Best of all though, weve all been granted the day off as a national holiday, how good is that? The Olympics promise to be as exciting as ever, although Im a tad disappointed that the national game of conkers hasnt been recognised as a valid sport for the programme. I might have had a bash at the Olympic team selections myself. Ah well.

Thank you for your welcome. My apologies for not being clear. I'm from England which is a country within Britain, as is Scotland. The term Blighty I believe derives from expatriot British in India as a term of endearment for homelife in Britain during the days of the Raj in the days when there was such a thing as the British Empire.

Good afternoon fellow Scouters in the land of plenty and greetings from the north of old Blighty. Our rules and systems may be slighty different but the fundamentals will be the same and I look forward to interesting discourse and repartee. I look after two sections, Beaver Scouts and Explorer Scouts, either end of the ages I know but still good fun.