Ex Scouts /Guides

[corvus]

How many of us are ex Scouts/Guides and got our original experiences bush walking with these magnificent organisations.

[frank_in_oz]

Yep, in the scouts in Camperdown Victoria. Had a ball as a kid and was lucky enough to get my Queen's Scout (must have been early 70's) when I was in the Senior Scouts (now Venturers)

Great memories, great fun and great people . layed a fantastic foundation to what we do now.

Just heading off for a few beers with a mate who was in scouts in Geelong. Great bloke , same sort of ethics (other than being too R wing for me!!)

Good thread idea corvus

[sthughes]

Yep ditto to everything Frank said - except for me Verturers was in the early 00's in Ulverstone and I'm not off to have a beer with anybody!

[Son of a Beach]

I was pack leader of the 1st Legana Cub Scouts for a while, but never joined up to the actual scouts group that it fed into. Most of my early bushwalking experience came from my Dad, who didn't walk a lot but did enjoy the walks he did. I do regret not going on to scouts, as I've several mates now who often talk of their good memories of going through scouts.

[Whos_asking99]

I nearly joined scouts, had the form filled out and all but then didnt for for some reason...now regretting it in a way.

But most of my bush experience came from dad and a few of his mates.

[mrstastrekker]

Yep, ex Guide! Church youth group was also a big bushwalking influence.

[tasadam]

Yep.
Googoorewon
http://gfl.scoutsqld.com.au/
They've moved and joined another group since I was there by the looks of things.
But, it was HOW MANY years ago?

[Gyro]

Guilty - as charged.
With me it was 1st Launceston YMCA when it still existed and met in Brisbane St when it was still safe to roam the streets without supervision on a Friday night. Now you can all see that I am in the senior age bracket...
Cradle - Mt camping at Twisted Lakes for a week with trips radiating from there was the initial intro, followed by an adventure over the GWTiers via Lake McKenzie.
Heres a vote of thanks to all those older blokes (Scouters) who contributed so much of their own time and effort to put our feet on the right paths/tracks (and off them sometimes too).

[frank_in_oz]

Heres a vote of thanks to all those older blokes (Scouters) who contributed so much of their own time and effort to put our feet on the right paths/tracks (and off them sometimes too).

yep, we had a bloke called Harold Willingham as our senior scout leader for the 1st Camperdown!(don't know if there was ever a 2nd or 3rd) He was a great bloke. ex digger. He drove a mini panel van, and would take a stack of us camping on weekends down to the Otways in Victoria. (how many kids can you squeeze into a mini station wagon? As many who are going on the trip!)

Still get a laugh thinking of his nobbly knees in the scout shorts.

He would always take a couple of long neck beers to sip on at night (definitely not PC now) Someone would have knocked off one or two from their old man and so we would all sit around and have a quiet beer too...... no esky, no refrigeration, just "chilled' in the river.

In those days the scouts made their money by doing bottle runs and would collect almost a semitrailer load of empty long necks over the year. There was a huge area at the back of the scout hall stacked with empties - probably not PC now but was recycling in the 60's!!!

[corvus]

How many Queens Scouts/Guides do we have and have we any Current Scouters /Guide Leaders on board.

[NickD]

I'm a current guide in Tasmania.
Trying to get out on as many personal missions in between trips.

[tasadam]

I'd forgotten about all those beer bottles! Memories......

[tastrekker]

I was in The Boys' Brigade (BB) as a boy and leader for several years. BB shares many similarities to scouts and it was founded in 1883 therefore pre-dating Scouts by a few years. In fact, Baden Powell was involved with BB before heading off to 'do his own thing.' Due to the large number of bushwalkers in the church where I grew up, both BB and our youth group were very 'outdoors' focussed.
MrsTasTrekker and I are not currently involved as formal leaders but we have a son in BB and a daughter in GB so we get involved from time to time.
A really exciting event will happen when The Boys' Brigade host their next Pan Australia camp on Tassie's North West Coast in early January 2011. Approx 400 campers and leaders will be here. We will certainly take all of these local, interstate and international guests bushwalking to some degree during their time here.