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Off to Gilwell -- worry time


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Weekend 2 actually seemed less rushed than the first one. Perhaps because we had a better idea of what to expect.

The ticket process was quite frustrating mostly because of the inconsistancys in getting items approved. You could send an item in for approval and it would come back saying 'change X to Y'. You would change X to Y, resubmit and it would come back saying 'change Y to X'!

Also I submitted a personal ticket item-- monthly date nights with my wife and had it changed to twice monthly. Another patrol member submitted a similar ticket but with twice monthly date nights and had his changed to monthly as twice monthly might be over reaching!!!

 

Nonetheless, I ended up with what I believe is a workable ticket although the next 6 months or so are going to be very very busy.

 

I used to be a Buffalo and a good ol' Buffalo too!

 

 

 

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Congratulations...and now the fun begins!! ;)

 

Yes..that was the worst part! Our SPL was SO tough with what he approved as ticket item and how he wanted everything set up and spelled out..which is not -bad- mind you but it took forever to know whether or not we needed to change anything at the 11th hour. We were beginning to feel like he was deliberately keeping ours until last just to see how hard he could push us. Everyone else had gotten word that their tickets were approved before like 6:00 pm on the last evening..if I remember, we didn't get our final notice of approval until around lunchtime the next day (the final day). Our Troop Guide finally took all of our tickets to the CD/SM to have him approve them because the SPL kept putting her off!

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John,

 

Our Troop Guide helped us with advice in formulating the ticket items but they had to be approved by either the SPL or the CD. Then we were assigned a Ticket Counselor who kept tabs on us from then on to see where we were in the process and to provide encouragement, etc. Our course varied in style from the one before, so there may be some latitude for the CD on how they want to handle things.

 

sue m.

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"Amazing how different courses/course directors do business.

 

Our troop had ticket approval authority delegated to the Guides! Made life on Sunday much easier. "

 

Ditto. That's how we did it. The Troop Guides are the Ticket Counselors. My understanding is that under the 21CWB, that's how its supposed to be. The TCs should be separate people from the TGs. (in fact, this had an affect on patrol organization and TG assignments, by grouping people in patrols who were in the same geographic area, including the TG).

 

And it is my understanding that the ticket is between the participant and Guide.

 

Now, this made in important that the TGs were knowledgable on the process. Difficult for me, as I came from the old BSLWB. (tho we did get training on the process as part of staff development). Someone on this forum said their course had developed sample Tickets for different types of leaders as a guide/sample. Wish I could get those, would really help people in the future.

 

 

 

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Our Troop guides were the final approving authority on our tickets also.

In fact once it was approved she stamped a BIG Beaver on the top! If you came back to the Patrol table with a bog Beaver on top of your ticket we gave the Patrol Yell!!!

Really ticked the other Patrols off for a while, then in became a Patrol yell contest... the last patrol to give a yell was the final ticket approved... it turned out to be real fun.

Our CD/SM was a fantastic guy and our SPL (while I knew him before the course) was great too...

 

But what a relief to get that ticket approved. I only had to rewrite mine once and it was all small stuff that needed to be zeroed in on or refocused.

 

Our Troop guide emailed all of us between sessions to get us started on our tickets too...so that was very helpful.

 

Remember... this is Scouting! It is designed to be fun... loose the stress!

 

Jerry

Never done Beavering!

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I have to admit, we had a great Troop Guide. He encouraged us through the intersession, though we were on task enough to get to our meetings and get the job done (even with gas at $3 a gallon at the very peak of intersession).

 

I'm also glad we didn't change horses to another staffer. The ticket involves emotional investment as well as the work. I'm not sure I'd want to start involvement with another staffer in mid-stride, short of something urgent happening.

 

The staff went off "someplace else" Saturday night. In fact, I think they slept outside the camp area. Is this something that happened to other courses?

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Yes John... Our Staff went off on Saturday night too... They went to a "Special Dinner" not sure if they left Camp, but they were nowhere to be found.. not that we looked for them.

 

We did some interpatrol campfires.. had a blast that last night.

I pulled out my Dutch ovens and made cobblers. Some of the Bears and Bobwhites came over and we had a great time.

 

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On our last night, the Staff said they were going for their "special dinner" but it was obvious that they didn't leave and they were holed up in the main building. One of my patrol mates had brought a whole can of BS Popcorn and a popper and we had a troop campfire and had a blast! We told jokes, stories, etc. and popped nearly the whole darn can of popcorn...dumped it in a dish washing tub and passed it around until everyone was practically sick. Around 10:00 pm, the whole troop very quietly snuck down to the main building with our burner & Popcorn maker and popped a batch outside of the building while we sang just the Antelope verse of Gilwel. We had 2 antelopes on staff (including our SPL) and we thought that since they never got included in the song during the course that it might be a fun gesture. We left them with a tub of popcorn to share and went back to camp! They seemed highly appreciative of the gesture the following morning.

 

sue m.

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Thats a great story Sue...

I can honestly say that I did not want to leave Gilwell on that final Sunday.

Typically folks just want to get done and get home... It took 2 hours to get our Patrol off Gilwell field and out of the Parking lot.

 

Love Gilwell!

 

Leave it to the Beavers!

 

Jerry

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>>But what a relief to get that ticket approved. I only had to rewrite mine once and it was all small stuff that needed to be zeroed in on or refocused.>Our Troop guide emailed all of us between sessions to get us started on our tickets too...so that was very helpful.

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My only question is ....

 

How can one go thru Wood Badge and have no Desire to work a ticket....

 

Hmmmmmmm...

 

That guy must have missed a verse in the Gilwell song... or.... heck I don't know... something misfired...

geez...

 

I had a two hour drive home from Wood Badge and I sang the song all the way home... thinking about working my ticket.

 

I must be a weirdo or something... or it had to be the water...

 

Jerry

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I'm sure that ticket approval is the job of the Guide.

Our Guides along with another Staffer met with their Patrol in the time between sessions. While a lot of the time was spent on the project, some was spent on the Ticket.

One of the most important things a CD can do is make sure that the Guides really do have a good understanding of what Vision and Mission mean.

These should be about your role in the BSA.

I have to admit that I can't see what a date night with Her Who Must Be Obeyed would do to further my vision or mission?

I know in the old course there was room for personal goals and I seen a lot of tickets with quitting smoking and losing weight, but I just don't see how they fit into a 21st Century Wood Badge Ticket. But if the Troop Guide says it's fine -It's fine!!

Eamonn.

 

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A friend of mine who went through the first WB for 21st Century course (our council only has it every 2 years) said that one of the people in his course threw all his stuff into the river as they took the ferry back after the course was over...thought it was a total waste of time!! I know that a lot of people have done similar courses and knew most of the stuff..including one of my patrol members, but they at least tried to put it into a scouting perspective and made an effort to get something more from it. We actually lost one of our patrol members who felt the rest of us were "not taking it seriously enough" because we had a lot of fun in the learning process.

 

As my ticket counselor and I were going over my ticket and signing things off last week, she asked me what I thought of the course and if I'd do it again and my answer was "In a heartbeat!!" It was one of the most memorable experiences I've had in my adult life!

 

sue

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