midsmatt

Thanks but to be honest the reward in seeing them do things that they might never get the chance to do is better than any job I've actually been paid for. Truly when you see a child who starts off not even being able to look you in the eye or speak, perhaps can only scream and shout at any given situation, maybe spend all their time hidden behind mum for weeks on end suddenly calm down, join in, laugh and play. It's brilliant. Hard work but utterly beyond words sometimes. When the parents hug you then that's always something special. If I can pull this off it's something new and interesting. They always find wonder in something you've never noticed.

Thank you so much that kind of feedback is really appreciated. Honestly the whole locks and kids with a 'listening issue's' fills me with a sense of foreboding deeper than the deepest lock! Some of our kids are so bad that even with a special needs Teacher as a Leader we still have problems.

Luckily for the kids the Leaders are well catered to by one of our oldest Leaders who knows well fed Leaders equals very happy Scouts. Thanks for sharing the positive sightings. If the kids were anything like ours you'll have heard them long before you spotted them!

And this is the end... I'm sorry you read into what I've said in a way I never intended. I gave you a thumbs up(greenie?) after re-reading your post and noting I hadn't already done so. As I said I genuinely appreciate support from others in an area where I have little knowledge. My group is fortunate enough to be financially fluid and we live in an area where most parents have a reasonable amount of disposable income. We therefore don't search for ways of making things cheaper but rather more interesting for the children which rarely comes with a cheaper price tag. I'm sorry if I haven't covered all the points you've raised but genuinely as a busy self employed parent in the six week holidays I honestly don't have the time to delve into this any more. So if you don't mind I'd prefer to agree to disagree and move on.

Wow. I genuinely have no idea how you read into what I said as so negative. Perhaps if we spoke in person you'd realise I'm not at all like the person you seem to have imagined in your minds eye. I did in fact put a lot of thought into what you'd written and whilst I appreciated it I didn't perhaps acknowledge that fact in my reply. Although I didn't quite expect the need to if I'm honest what with us being mostly adults here, I assume? It's sometimes easy to forget that so much is lost when typing on the internet vs face to face with someone. If you feel the need to insult me please feel free to ask to meet in person. I'm quite happy to discuss how terrible a person you think I am. And just to be clear. I'm a Scout Leader and I have a near endless list of responsibilities regarding the safety of the children in my care. Two of them are my own. At no point would I suggest any of them attend an event where every level of their and indeed my own safety hadn't been considered. What I'm asking for here is hopefully some great suggestions that might get the next generation of kids out enjoying the Canal system. If you want to see hurdles and barriers fine, but rather than throw more at me I'd appreciate your help getting over them.

I've heard that name before, possibly from another groups leader. Thank you very much I'll have a chat. Wow ... Blackpool. I'd love to take the kids out that far but many parents get itchy when their little cherub goes more than an hour or so's drive away. Interesting looking charity I'll possibly lean on them for some hints and tips as I agree they look like they know their stuff!

Thank you. I can assure you that I will indeed be contacting you once I wrap my head around everything! At the moment I'm doing the initial ground work to test the plausibility factor given the Groups various commitments whilst trying to ensure the Leaders don't end up committed. I should have known the Scouts would have a PDF for Narrowboating they seem to have one for everything else! Whilst we don't have any Scouts that require physical assistance we do have some with behavioural concerns. That in itself is a head scratcher as I just think of certain children and working locks and I break out in a cold sweat. I've previously tried to make contact with one of the above organisations you mention but I can't for the life of me remember which. I'd search through my emails but I think we're all starting to guess how that might well work out!

Interesting I wasn't able to bring up anything recently regarding this sort of thing with the search. Again most likely my slightly odd search issue brain malformation I'm sure. Just to be clear. No this cannot be anything less than a fully above board gig. It's one thing to hand a Scout a broom, it's another to put them on a Narrow boat with that broom. Scouts have their own insurance (I've somewhat unnervingly been repeatedly told what I'm worth dead by a number of people) but this only goes so far to prevent stupidity from putting a dent in the local gene pool. That said Scouts have no problem with Volunteers. Leaders go through quite a bit of training to remind us how much they in fact like them. That training is ongoing just in case they start to forget...

Specifically Narrowboat owners to get them out on the water. Beyond that anything that could be entertaining and go towards badge work and experience based learning. Community based efforts (give them some gloves and point them at hard work that isn't dangerous and they'd never go near at home for example) are a great option but tend to need a lot of that Risk Assessment stuff that was mentioned earlier.

I'm terrible with Google. My wife tells me it's because my brains wired wrong and slightly left of normal. Thank you for the link.

That looks to be a very similar gig to what I did as a Young Scout many, many moons ago. My memories are vague but it could even be the same boat! I agree things are more difficult now but there are ways and means of doing almost anything with the correct risk assessment and indeed the Scouts have a Team who are dedicated to this task. Being that we're a lot more community based than the MOD Cadets (I was also one of these as a lad) it's often easier for us to work the ribs on the rules. As long as the kids are deemed safe and not left alone we can do quite a lot. Our Scouts are doing more but with a bigger nod to safety. My kids have been learning how to be safe with fire etc. since they were 4 years old. It's the parents not the kids that need to put the work in. If they get seriously injured you should be at least able to say that it was just bad luck not bad judgement or training.

A plan has been hatched regarding getting the kids out of the house, away from tents, off the beaten track and onto the water! There are a fair few operations across the country supporting such ideas but I wondered if anyone had any knowledge of Midlands based owners who would be up to entertaining the inevitable chaos that is our Scout Group! This would be something for either very late 2019 or next year. I'd like to spend a day on the water maybe overnight for our Beavers and our Cubs for several days. A few of the Leaders in our Group have experience on the water but I feel this might best be a supported venture. We might consider doing a volunteer day or the like which would help with badge work. We've already opened up communications (and a tour) with the LHCRT for future possibilities but would be interested in any opportunity for the kids to stay away from the internet! Any suggestions welcome.

You can tell how well medicated I am at the moment ... I spent an age looking for the headlight before the lightbulb in my head (I'm exagerating, it's a poorly made tallow candle) flickered briefly...

I'd really have loved Tay... but my health isn't the best at the moment and my wife although not scared of a bit of graft knows she can't do everything if I end up in hospital again. I'd have to admit that that's probably a tad unfair. I really do hope Tay goes to someone as dedicated as you need to be to own such a smashing slice of history!

I thought I'd seen it about somewhere... That was a while ago so it's either priced too high or there's something quite wrong with her? If I could have convinced the boss that Tay would be an epic investment I might have gotten away with it. Unfortunately she's smart enough to ask probing questions and wait for my poker face to fail...