'Poaching' girls

Sometimes, you can get a clearer view of a situation by looking ‘from the far side of the fence’.  So let’s consider the oft-raised question of Scouting ‘poaching girls’ from Guiding.

 

From shared original roots, over the following 80 or so years Scouting and Guiding grew into two entirely separate clubs.  Each followed it’s own path under their own leadership.  They existed happily alongside all the other clubs and hobbies for young people (including each other) some of which continued to thrive through the decades, and some of which died out, or amalgamated, or were reduced to a few scattered local clubs.  Although Guiding continued to maintain it’s general popularity right through to the present day, there came a point when Scouting could no longer claim it was doing likewise.  Their numbers were consistently dropping, in some areas to the extent that their viability was called into question.  And they were not attracting as wide a cross-section of boys as before.  Assorted recruitment efforts having failed to significantly alter this, they opted instead to take a much more radical step.  If they couldn’t attract enough boys to ensure on-going viability - then why only boys?  If they were to allow girls to become members of all sections, it would automatically more than double the pool of potential recruits!  Of course, it would do nothing to resolve the question of the un-reached boys, indeed it would likely significantly worsen it, but it would potentially shore up the numbers overall).  The announcement was made without warning, and caused surprise in many circles, including within Guiding (they had been in regular discussion with the Scouts about all sorts of common topics, yet had no inkling such an announcement was coming).

 

Once it became an option, some girls opted to leave Guiding in order to join the newly-‘open’ Scouts.  Some who hadn’t been Guides joined the Scouts.  Some chose to belong to both Guides and Scouts.  And some girls continued to join neither.  Whichever, there was sadness but limited acrimony from the Guides at the Scouts’ sudden decision to ‘go open’ once the initial shock had died down – sadness at the loss of some enthusiastic girl members, yes, but a determination to continue offering what still appeared to be attracting a consistently viable number of girls across a fair cross-section of communities around the country.  The view was taken that if Guiding could continue to keep it’s programmes attractive, then it could continue to attract a viable number of girls, in which case the losses need not make a critical dent in membership.  Actually, at the time, the change of policy seemed to cause more upset among Scouting than to anyone else.  But Scout headquarters made it clear that whatever individual members might feel about it, it was a done deal, and all parts of Scouting would soon have to welcome any girl applicants they received, and start to transition their units towards being fully-open, with a deadline set for achieving that status.

 

For some years, things then bumped along more or less amicably between the clubs, at least in public.  The Guides continued to recruit a similar proportion of the girls across the country as they had before.  The Scouts now had enough members to be viable.  Below the surface, however, in some localities there were claims of the Scouts ‘poaching girls’ from the Guides, and claims that in some Scout units the boys were ‘being swamped’ by the number of girls seeking to join.  It’s hard to judge how widespread or accurate either claim was, but each has been repeated at intervals since.

 

Some have asked the question of whether the two clubs should merge – after all, despite the many differences which exist, they still have some things in common, in pursuing an active outdoor programme of activities, similar customs and traditions, similar ways of working (although in the detail there are some significant differences which could be major barriers).  I would say not.  Each time I consider it, I come back to the fact that mergers only work if there is popular support for merger from the membership of both groups, and to date the Guides’ members have made it very clear that they continue to want a girl-only space – and membership numbers show that the girl-only group remains far more popular with girls than an open group like Scouts.  And now that Scouting is open, most Leaders don’t seem to feel the need to seek a merger.

 

From some of the Scouting forums it appears that, although the gender balance of the club membership changed a bit when they ‘went open’, real transition in attitudes, programmes and membership numbers from a boys club to a genuinely mixed group is, naturally, still some way from final fruition – many unit programmes are still much as they were before the change, with the only real concession to the fact that it is now meant to be a mixed club being the compulsory arrangements around changing areas/sleeping arrangements for girl members, not any significant change in the programme focus or ethos.  It appears that in many units girls are welcome provided they are comfortable in joining a club where the focus will be on the boys’ activity tastes and preferences - which some girls are, and some aren’t.  After all, what they were doing was enabling the girls to join a boy-focussed club, where the activities were designed to appeal to boys, and if they happened to appeal to girls too it was by accident not design.  So a gender split approaching 50/50 (or a girl majority) is still comparatively rare in Scouting units.  The extent to which they are a ‘mixed’ group (or whether their programmes should be altered to cater for a wider range of tastes and make them ‘more mixed’) is an interesting topic in itself, and is probably the next dilemma Scouting faces.

 

So is Guiding in competition with Scouting?  Yes, of course it is.  But neither more nor less so than with ballet class, swimming club, highland dancing, music lessons, drama club, Girls’ Brigade, mini rugby, tae kwon do, football, choir, and every other hobby or pastime available which the girls might choose to take up in their free time.  And I don’t see much sign of any of these clubs claiming ‘poaching’ from each other as an issue.  So I could equally ask, is the ballet class poaching girls from athletics club?  Do the Tuesday Brownies poach girls from the Friday Brownies?  Does the mini rugby team poach from the piano teacher?  It is rare for any club or class to actively target the members of another club or class – and rarely very successful.  Each hobby or club will and does attract a different selection of the children from the community, depending on each child’s tastes and talents - and each has to choose and agree with their folks which hobbies they would like to take up, how they can schedule them into their free time alongside homework and family commitments, and how the membership fees and other expenses will be afforded.  No-one could do them all even if they wanted to, there aren’t enough hours in the day, so some options must be rejected.  Do I try to poach girls from other clubs?  No.  My units offer the programme they offer, either that programme and the way it is delivered appeals to a particular girl or it doesn’t.  Any advertising I do simply states what my unit has to offer, it makes no comment on what other clubs there are in the locality, or what they might offer. 

 

So, the question is often asked, are Scouts ‘poaching girls’ from Guiding?  And if we’re asking that question, in order to be fair, shouldn’t we simultaneously ask ourselves the reverse question - is Guiding poaching girls from Scouts? 

The 'Package Holiday'

The purpose of camping in Guiding was to put into effect the skills which the Guides had learned in theory at meetings during the year.  So all that theoretical study and indoor practice on learning knots, nature study, campcraft, cookery etc. which units carried out for 51 weeks of the year - would be put to practical use in a 1-week camp where the girls would learn to be self-reliant, cooking their own meals, maintaining their own tents and learning about the countryside around them.  They made their own entertainment and tackled activities of their choice, and it was the ideal chance to pass some of the clauses in Second and First class.  Day hikes, wide games, swimming, signalling and tracking nature.  For many it was their first time away from their family, for some it was their first ever holiday, or first ever sight of the countryside or seaside.  And having saved up all year, they were able to travel by train, charabanc, or haul their trek cart to a field in the country.  The handbooks implied that every Guide would get the opportunity to go to camp every year.  And most did.

 

In due course indoor holidays were introduced for Brownies.  As we know, from it’s inception the entire purpose and aim of the Brownie section was – to prepare girls to become Guides.  In a similar way to Guide camp, Brownie holiday utilised the skills they had been learning all year as they helped to look after the house, and themselves.  And again, they were for a minimum of 5 days, but usually for a full week.  It was the culmination of the Brownie year, where the Brownies took over a house and did their own thing in it, doing as much as possible for themselves.  Besides this, there would be healthy outdoor games and picnics, and educational visits to places of interest – and always the chance to work on progress badges.  Of course there were some Leaders who claimed that Brownie Holidays ‘spoiled’ camping for Guides, but the evidence tended to be to the contrary – that the girl who had been on Brownie holiday looked forward to taking the next step.

 

As decades passed, so gradually more and more Leaders found it hard to run the traditional week-long camp or holiday.  At first because fewer had household staff, and so had to run the household and look after the children by themselves, then in due course many went out to work part-time or full-time, until it eventually reached a stage where week-long camps or holidays were impossible to staff for many units, and by the early 1980s the weekend residential was starting to become more common than the week.  Many of the same activities were attempted, they were simply crammed into the much-shorter time-frame as best they could.  Hence the girls tended to go home more tired than they arrived (unless the Leaders managed things very carefully), as everything was so tightly timetabled.  The thing that was lost was the time to “stand and stare”, go off on hikes, or appreciate nature.  Every minute spent had to be justifiable.

 

Soon more opportunities started to be opened up – for Guides to do weekend indoor holidays, for Brownies to do weekend camps, and for all sections to do sleepovers – and shorter events of this sort became commonplace, with the week-long camp tending to be found only at larger events such as international camps (other than for those lucky few units where Leaders could still muster enough annual leave to run longer events).  Nevertheless, despite the evidence, the claims that Rainbow and Brownie residentials would put girls off attending Guide residentials persisted.  Still with no more evidence than before.

 

Then commercial companies started to take a big interest in us.  Sure, there had been packaged international trips for many years, but in the last 10 years or so there have been an explosion of firms chasing the youth group market in the UK.  They had the holiday centres sitting under-used, and the staff who could run a range of ‘adventurous activities’ – and they could offer their standard-issue package holidays to groups just as easily as to individuals.  No longer would the busy Unit Leader need to plan menus, buy food, organise programmes of activities (or ideally, get her PLs to do most of it) – she could now get a professional company to do it all for her (for a price, natch). 

 

But the price wasn’t in significantly higher fees alone – for those who used these packaged holidays could select only from those activities the company chose to lay on, following the company’s choice of timetable.  There wasn’t the option of an impromptu hike, a wide game, or tackling badgework, even if that was what the girls really wanted to do.  Just going out into the woodland to light a fire and cook lunch wasn’t possible, you were to eat the food provided in the dining room between the set hours.  Midnight hikes or sunrise Promise ceremonies were impossible when you still had to report to the canoe pond at 9.30 sharp . . . and many of the activities were the same old ones the girls had already done several times over at school ‘outdoor ed’, the kids club at the holiday resort, etc, like canoeing, climbing wall, archery.  So although billed as ‘adventurous’, and perhaps assumed to be so by the Unit Leaders – in reality they weren’t adventurous after all, just the same thing over again.

 

I wonder if there will be a backlash?  I wonder if there will be a realisation in Guiding that these package holidays are offering the girls – little more than what a family holiday in many European resorts already offer?  Will there be a realisation that it isn’t really a ‘Guiding’ residential at all, the fact that the people attending happen to all be Guides is of no consequence to the organisers, as they have no interest in attempting to adjust their programmes in order to incorporate a Guiding ethos, or develop Guiding skills.  Will the Guides clamour for the chance to do shelter building, backwoods cooking, campfires, wide games, supper hikes and all the other unstructured fun which Guide camps normally have, but which these companies don’t normally offer, as things which would be genuinely adventurous?  The Guides can only clamour for them if they know that such adventure exists . . . otherwise they’ll do the beginner archery session again - for the umpteenth time.

 

Oh yes.  I do know how much work there is in planning and running camps and holidays in Guiding - I do it every year for both my units in amongst all my other commitments.  I can fully understand the temptation to say ‘hang the expense’ and use the professional companies, especially if it seems like it’s a that-or-nothing position.  But I have seen the difference between residential events where the Guide ethos is a built-in part of the programme, and ones where it only happens by accident if it happens at all.  At a traditional Guiding camp or indoor holiday the girls get the chance to do things they don’t get to do anywhere else, and which are thus really adventurous.  They get a genuine choice over the programme and activities they want to have, some of which are brand new and adventurous to them, not just a ‘pick 3 from 5’.  They learn skills that the package holiday doesn’t teach. 

 

I’m not saying ban-them-all.  But amongst the temptation to pay someone else to do all the organising rather than do your own thing, I think we should make our choices with an awareness of the cons, and try to make sure that package holidays are an occasional treat just for a change, not the default option.

Need we always put the 'in' in Guiding?

Need we always put the ‘in’ in Guiding?

 

Way back when Guiding started, most people did not have access to genuinely waterproof coats, and wellington boots were rare.  Nevertheless, the first handbook makes it clear that Guide meetings should be held outdoors unless the weather absolutely forbade – and there is the famous response from our founder when a unit asked her about fundraising to build a drill hall – Agnes asked why on earth they would want to do drill in a stuffy hall when they could equally well do their drill outdoors and get the benefit of the fresh air . . .

 

Although we do have to bear in mind that in those days most units met at weekends rather than weekday evenings, and so had the benefit of year-round daylight which many of us don’t, nevertheless any unit log book from those early days would be filled each week with outdoor games, picnic hikes, tracking, fire-lighting, shelter building, campfires, practicing first aid and rescue skills, long-distance signalling, wide games – and very little mention of handicrafts, citizenship discussions, or other indoor/sedentary activities.

 

And whenever we are preparing adverts about modern Guiding, we automatically look out our photographs of the camping, sailing, climbing and other outdoor adventures we’ve done – and tend to include very few pictures of the girls sitting around tables at the hall.  Even though that would be a more accurate reflection of the average unit meeting.

 

Are we being honest – with the public, and just as important, with ourselves?

 

I do try to get my unit outdoors as much as is reasonable.  Weather permitting we spend the greater part of the summer term outdoors.  But this year the summer term is only 10 meetings long for one of my units, and only 7 meetings long for the other due to Monday holidays.  On top of this there will be a couple of weeks at the start of the autumn term when we will have daylight.  During the winter we do try to arrange some outdoor activities in the dark, but generally we’ll be indoors most of the time.  I don’t suppose we’re unusual in that.  And I try to organise at least one weekend residential for each unit, which is as much as I can manage most years.  So the photos I pick out for the display will almost all tend to come from our once-a-year visit to the watersports centre, or the once-a-year camp or indoor holiday.  What we did at unit meetings on the other 34 weeks of the year we met will not get much mention, nor many photos.  So I guess my adverts and displays won’t be a very honest portrayal of the unit at all.

 

Need it be that way?

 

We nowadays have access to thermal clothing, effective waterproofs, affordable wellingtons.  So we can go outside on any week of the year without ill-effects.  Most units have access to a local park, farmland or common land, car parks/clearings, or other open areas (however small) which would enable them to get outside – or could borrow a back garden.  If the will was there.  The range of outdoor activities available to us is much wider than 100 years ago – as well as organised sports there is orienteering/geocaching, many towns have trails, streetlights allow us to do floodlit trails, many playparks and skate parks are open at night, bike trails and cycle lanes are being opened, many areas have countryside wardens, park keepers or nature clubs.  And the outdoor activities the early Guides did are still open to us, and still as adventurous as ever they were – indeed in many cases even more so.

 

I know about staffing.  I know about paperwork.  I know about worried parents.  I have all of those too.  But Guiding was a game designed to be played outdoors, and nowadays more than ever, Guiding has a role to play in improving the health of the girls.  The old health rhyme was “Always feed on wholesome fare, through your nostrils breathe fresh air, clean yourself both in and out, twist and turn and run about”.  Well, don’t we keep hearing about balanced diet, self-healthcare, hygiene and exercise?  The rhyme is as relevant and as necessary now as ever it was, when so many of the girls don’t have balanced diets, and rarely get exercise in the fresh air.  One of the big aims of Guiding was to give the girls healthy outdoor exercise.  I think it’s important that, whatever else the programme may bring, we keep that at the forefront.

The Rulebook . . .

Ah yes, everyone’s favourite part about any organisation, the rulebook.  Whether you call it a ‘constitution’, a ‘rulebook’, a ‘manual’ or some other name, as soon as any organisation gets to be any size at all, consensus and using individual judgement isn’t enough, and there is a need to draw up a constitution in order to give a clear view of the purpose and principles, and write down some rules for the members to follow in order to maintain consistency across the club.  And that’s where the fun starts.

Where an organisation makes a rule, there is normally a sound intention behind it, and the intention is not normally ‘to make things difficult for the members’.

The first problem is scope.  If you try to write down a rule for every possible circumstance, then you end up with a book which is so heavy you need to fit castors!  If you try to only make rules about the key things (the main principles, and the absolute basics of health and safety) then people will criticise the lack of guidance on this topic or that, or the lack of clarity leading to widely different interpretations in the absence of unambiguous rules.

The next problem is strictness.  We could label them as certain categories – category 1 being rules which must be obeyed without any exception – “you must”.  Category 2 might be rules which should normally be obeyed at all possible times, but which may under special circumstances be flexed – “you should”.  Category 3 would be recommendations/good advice which can be followed but can equally be disregarded where this is felt appropriate to the circumstances - “you may”.  Flexibility may be related to the scale of the event, or the number and experience levels of the leaders and/or participants, or the geography of the area, or other relevant factors which make it different to the norm.  But inevitably, people will bristle at any category 1 rule, and will apply varying levels of compliance to category 2, trying to stretch the flexibility provided to near breaking point, and some will choose to almost automatically disregard or even oppose category 3 without necessarily giving due consideration to the reasoning behind the recommendation and whether their circumstance is actually exceptional.

Then there is interpretation.  Even where the authors do their best to find the perfect wording which clearly and unambiguously sets down the rule they intend to apply, and even where they take care to word accompanying text in such a way as to clarify the rule and how it should be applied – as soon as a wording is committed to print, people will seek to analyse and interpret it, trying to draw every possible nuance and implication from each word.  From such interpretations can ‘bye-laws’ grow.  And that’s not to mention the ‘if I don’t care for a rule then I ignore it, who’s going to ‘shop’ me?’ brigade.

It’s a bit like playing the ‘cucumber sandwich instructions’ game, where you challenge the groups to each write out the detailed instructions for making a cucumber sandwich, then set the groups to swap instructions with another group and then follow the instruction sheet as literally as possible, applying no prior knowledge or interpretation to what has been written.  It soon becomes clear that writing out clear and unambiguous instructions for making a sandwich is not as easy as it sounds however hard you try, far less anything less straightforward . . .

And finally, there’s navigability.  So you have tried to word each rule carefully, with explanations, so that there is nothing which could be misinterpreted.  You try to achieve a logical layout and efficient indexing, with a moderate amount of cross-referencing – and find that there are some rules which could well appear under several headings, others which don’t seem to fit under any, and some where any of a dozen key-words could be picked out for the index.  And you find yourself with a giant book and a multipage index.  And the more complex the book navigation becomes, the harder it becomes to manage the updating, the harder for users to find the relevant rule quickly (for if they can’t find it quickly they may stop looking and just act as they think best anyway).  This isn’t helped by the fact that there are updates issued every month – but that Leaders are only aware of them if they look on the ‘updates’ webpage, as they aren’t announced elsewhere, and it’s not clear if there’s a set date in the month when they are issued or whether it is random.  Of course, that’s for those who have regular access to the internet, and the proportion within those who regularly check for updates.  For the rest who don’t have access or don’t check regularly . . .

So absolutely, I happily join the chorus saying that the current rulebook is a nightmare for Leaders.  There is no doubt that that is the case.  And I’m sure that both Leaders and the CHQ staff who deal with the flood of queries alike, would love to find a structure and format which would be easy to navigate, unambiguous to interpret, absolutely clear on what is permitted, permitted under certain circumstances, and not permitted.  And if there was a genius who could produce such a miracle book, they would earn the gratitude of Leaders up and down the land, who have been crying out for just such a book for over 100 years.  But until the miracle occurs – shouldn’t we try our best to stick to the rules in the book we’ve got?

Light the touchpaper and run . . .

Someone approached me to ask for advice about an outing they run.  They’ve run the same outing several times a year for as long as they can remember, and there was a time when it got a good turnout, but the enthusiasm has been waning for many years, and the turnouts are now so low that it is hardly worth the Leaders giving up their time to staff it.  I asked her if she had any thoughts on why it is no longer popular.

 

It’s not straightforward for some of the current Leaders, she said – nowadays they have commitments elsewhere at the same time as it is scheduled, or are working, or there are other issues which mean they don’t feel able to come.  We regularly struggle to get enough adults to run the outing, and some of those who do turn out are only there out of a sense of duty, not because they are enthused about it.

 

And the number of girls attending has dropped quite a bit over the years – partly because the girls aren’t that keen on the outing, partly because some have commitments elsewhere at the same time, which mean they are not free to go.  Combine those two and we might get 10% of the girls going, 20% on a good day.

 

So she wanted to know how she could improve the numbers at the outing. 

Well, I explained to her that there were a few options.  If the day/time was the big barrier to attendance, then was there scope to alter that?  Maybe find a time that doesn’t clash with other commitments, maybe look at venue location, maybe look at whether there are other dates that would work better for the Leaders or girls, maybe consider transport arrangements - whatever would help to make it more accessible?  She said that wasn’t really feasible.  It had to be on that day, and at that time, the only flexibility was which week it happened to be held on.

I then suggested looking at the frequency – for even the most thrilling of outings can start to become dull if repeated too often, and we should be seeking balance and variety in the programme.  So how often was this outing held, and would it be worth giving it a miss for a year or two then bringing it back when it would be fresh again?  She said that would be tricky, as they are currently committed to holding this particular outing four times a year, every year.  I’ll admit I was surprised that a unit would repeat any outing that often, even if popular and well supported - but especially if it wasn’t?

I then suggested she look at the activity itself – if it has become dull, or samey, then it might be time to look at doing something different during the outing, not just the same old thing in the same old way.  Change the venue, or the activities, or the duration, mix in other elements perhaps?  Whenever you have a regular event you need to ring the changes, in order to keep it interesting for the girls and Leaders alike.  She explained that that wasn’t easy either, as very little of that was really in their hands, so only relatively minor tweaks could be made.

So I was forced to ask – what sort of outing is this, that you have to hold several times a year regardless of whether more than a handful of girls and Leaders want to go on it, and where you don’t have any real choice of day, time, or venue?

It was then she let the cat out of the bag – this problem outing, the one they have to hold several times a year every year regardless of the turnout – was Church Parade.  I was confused.  Sure, if some of the girls want to wear their uniforms when attending their own place of worship they should be free to do so.  If they want to meet up beforehand and go into the same building together, and perhaps sit beside each other once inside, then that would be absolutely fine too.  And actually, that’s all ‘Church Parade’ originally was – a bunch of friends from a unit who chose to meet up and go to a place of worship together in their Guide uniforms, rather than go, in plain clothes, with their families or on their own.  It was only later that some units started making it into some kind of organised unit outing, with things like parading through the street, Unit and Union Flags being carried by colour parties, and whatever other extras people chose to add in according to taste. 

I was forced to ask, what difference did it make whether an outing was to the church, the museum, the beach or the public park – if it wasn’t popular with the members, and it wasn’t convenient for the Leaders – then that’s a lot of negatives, so what was the positive reason for running this unit outing?  Why not just let those who want to go make their own private arrangements to meet up, like in the old days, unrelated to the unit?  If a Leader wanted to be one of those meeting then they could, or the parents could have the option of going with them or letting them go by themselves, whichever they wished.

We are an educational charity, so we have to keep offering new and varied educational experiences to the girls, not just keep repeating experiences time and again.  We need to be girl-led, and if they are voting with their feet by staying away from an activity then we need to make changes to it, the only question that arises is what sort of changes they should be. 

Often, the reason given for holding a Church Parade is units who receive discounted rent for the use of a hall (or even free use), who then feel obliged to ‘give something back’ to that church.  Laying aside for a moment the question of whether there is a justification for Guiding to receive a discounted rent that other hirers don’t, there are a range of things a unit could do to ‘give something back’ and it may be that a one-off turnout of 4 girls and a Leader a few times a year - is among the less effective ones we could offer.  After all, even if they put a pound each into the collection bag, that would barely cover an hour’s hall rent at cost price, and most of us meet for longer than that!

So if you feel the need to give something back to your landlord, what could you offer instead?

Covering/repairing books.

Folding hymn sheets
Helping decorate the building for festivals.
Making resources for the crèche/Sunday School/disabled children’s club
Making and sending cards to lonely people in the community
Collecting and donating non-perishable food to the parish poor-box
Looking after the local war memorial
Creating a record of the wording on old gravestones for the parish records
Visiting/helping at the pensioners’ day-care club or the church toddler crèche
Helping at/running a stall at Church fundraising events
Helping with the setting up beforehand/clearing up after Church events.

I suspect that many of these would be at least as beneficial (and some could be significantly more beneficial) to the church than a token turnout a few times a year.  Or – you could pay the same rent rate as other hall users, which in these difficult financial times, is perhaps something we should be considering anyway?  Either instead of or as well as giving service?

“But the congregation would be upset if we didn’t go”.  Would they really?  Even if they knew how difficult it is for Leaders to take time off work unpaid, or girls to skip rugby practice when a big match is coming up?  It’s easy to assume that changing a custom, especially one which appears to have been of long standing, will be bound to cause upset.  Maybe it will.  Or maybe most people won’t even notice.  Or maybe the very people you think will be upset – have longed to make such a change for years, but didn’t dare suggest it!  You’ll never know unless someone dares to risk rocking the boat.  I know that in my area, there are quite a few regular churchgoers who deliberately don’t go on the weeks when there is a children’s service scheduled, so I don’t suppose they’d mind fewer of them . . .

Our programmes are meant to be girl-led.  So what do the girls feel about it?  Do they think they should be doing something as a thank-you for use of the hall, and do they have any ideas of what form that could take?  Or do they think they ought to be paying a more realistic rent, and thus making themselves a contributor to the Church funds instead of potentially a drain?

Scouting for Leaders

Yes, I know.  You’re desperate.  If you can’t find a Leader to take on the 1^st Anytown unit then it’ll definitely close at the end of the term and dozens of girls, current and future, will miss out.  So you’ve drafted a begging letter to the parents of the current members saying as much, and drafted a pleading article for the local paper, with a photo of a group of girls looking sad to go alongside it.

Before you send that letter and submit that article, please, pause for a minute.  Mentally step back from the computer.  Imagine that you’ve just got back into the house after collecting the kids from Brownies and football practice, they’ll be back downstairs from the bathroom in a minute wanting supper before there is the hassle of getting them washed and into bed at a decent hour, given there’s school tomorrow morning.  In the couple of minutes they are upstairs you then open the crumpled note your daughter thrust at you in the car, and it’s that Brownie woman trying to guilt-trip you into taking on even more work than you’ve already got on your plate, or else your daughter and her pals will be so upset. 

Imagine that after a long day at work you’ve finally got home, made a hurried dinner, and are collapsed in the armchair skimming through the ‘local rag’, to pass the time while waiting for your TV programme to start.

What is your instant reaction?  One thing’s for sure, in most cases it won’t be ‘I’d love to do that, let’s find the contact details and contact them straight away’!

If you are scouting for potential Leaders, then you want to attract them to the hobby.  You want to give them reasons to want to volunteer.  Good, positive reasons.  When did anyone ever join a club for the sole reason that it would close if they didn’t?  No, people invariably join a club for what they personally will get out of being a member of that club – facilities, coaching, opportunities, social life.  So if you’re going to attract people to join your club, then first you have to work out what positive reasons you can offer them for doing so.

Facilities – so what facilities are there that they can use – can you offer a venue well-suited to the purpose?  A hall in sound condition, with adequate heat, light, ventilation and space, suitable furniture, suitable bathroom facilities, ideally some storage for equipment, if possible use of some kitchen facilities?  Is there a staff team in place to work with them to help implement each other’s ideas and is there unit equipment to enable the running of a range of activities?  Are there a manageable number of girls in the unit?  Is the administration in good order with records up-to-date and funds adequate?

Coaching – if someone steps up to join, what coaching will be available to help them develop their skills?  Will a mentor be assigned promptly?  Are there regular trainings in your area that they can access?  Will the experienced Leaders in the area be available to offer advice, help out at occasional meetings and activities, offer opportunities to get residential experience, help them deal with problems or concerns?

What opportunities will this hobby bring?  Will there be a chance to gain skills, to gain qualifications or awards, to do extra training or skills development, to visit other units, to attend events, to try activities they might not otherwise get to do?  Will it bring a sense of achievement?

What social options are there – are there Leader meetings where people can swap ideas and experiences, do the District or Division have social events, are there special interest clubs that Leaders can join, are there premises which can be accessed?

The other thing to consider is – are you 100% sure that it’s a Leader that you want and that nothing else could possibly do?  Might it actually be that an administrator, an accountant, a depot manager or an events organiser would be a realistic solution?  A volunteer for a backroom role such as these might free up the Leaders you’ve already got in the District to get on with doing the leading.  Someone who is currently working as a helper or Assistant Leader with another unit might be willing to change units or section given the right support.  A Young Leader or someone working on DofE might love the chance to get youth leadership training and skills whilst offering a useful pair of hands to the unit, and with nurturing may turn into the adult Leader you wanted anyway.  Occasional helpers can be ideal for the weeks when you are shorthanded, or as emergency cover for temporary leader illness or absence, or for Leaders who work rotating shifts.  A Unit Helper could take on a specific part of the programme, possibly filling a gap in the skill-set of the other Leaders, possibly supporting a particular Leader.

So, before printing off that letter or sending off that article, put yourself in the position of the person reading it.  Does this sound like the sort of opportunity you might like to take up?  Have they sold it to you as a great opportunity that you should give serious consideration to?  Or would you be more likely to hope that someone else is mug enough to be persuaded to take it on, and save you feeling guilty at turning the page?

Pop Goes The Weasel . . .

Whilst quantities of “tuppenny rice” or “treacle” may not feature regularly in the average unit’s accounts, it is important for the unit Leaders to know “the way the money goes” – and ensure it doesn’t just ‘go’!

This year, as every year since UK Guiding’s annual subscription and headcount was introduced many decades ago, there have been Leaders across the country who have expressed great surprise at their unit’s bill landing on the mat at the start of the year.  In some cases at the amount, but sadly, in some, it’s surprise that they have received a bill at all.  For the latter, I would suggest that if a Unit Leader doesn’t know it’s coming, then the Commissioner should be feeling at the least twinges of guilt, as perhaps should the mentor.

Please don’t try to ‘play the system’.  For years, headquarters have known that a significant number of units will ‘just happen to’ have a lower membership on 22^nd February than a few days before or after, going way beyond the realms of natural fluctuation or coincidence.  Now that each girl has a membership number, it will be easy to spot units whose new starts always begin just after 22^nd February, or who often have girls leave in early February but change their minds only a month later and re-join - allegedly!

As far as the amount charged goes, all ‘good’ Counties will make an announcement in September or October (if not before) of what their charge the following February will be, so that units can confirm they will have sufficient funds in hand, or organise any necessary fundraising to cover the gap, in good time.  Whilst waiting for the announcement, units can still assume the rate will be £1-£2 higher than last year’s fee was, and budget accordingly.

However, if urgent fundraising is required for this year’s bill, I’d suggest it’s also time to start planning your finances towards February 2016’s fee.  Are your subs still sufficient to cover all your unit’s regular costs, and allow a little over to invest in the purchase or replacement of unit equipment?  If you usually do fundraising, is that still the way parents wish to muster the needful for the unit, or would they prefer a subs raise?  Have you claimed your Gift Aid, and if not, is it time you did (your Commissioner can source help if you aren’t sure how to do it).

As we are charities, it is important (indeed, it is a legal requirement) that the accounts provide a true-and-accurate record of the unit’s income and expenditure.  Sure, I regularly hear of Leaders who ‘can’t be bothered claiming’ for paper and printer cartridges, store-cupboard ingredients, petrol money for outings, oddments of shopping.  So why do I think all of these charity donations (for that’s what they are) should be properly recorded as an expense claimed, and separately as a donation which just happens to match?  Well, quite apart from the fact that Gift Aid could be claimed on the donations if they were recorded, maybe all the current Leaders can afford to be so generous, but what about the successors?  Might one of your team not be so well off for cashflow as you imagine, but feel uncomfortable about claiming when everyone else is waving it off as trifling?  Might you land someone with the nasty job of taking over the leadership of the unit one minute and having to implement a significant subs raise the next in order just to cover the basic bills?

On the other hand, there shouldn’t be large or growing sums of money sitting in the bank gathering dust.  It’s fine to be saving up for something specific – we all know the price of replacing a decent-quality Patrol tent or marquee these days, or of hiring a bus to take the group to the major region event.  But to have ever increasing sums with no plans to use them is equally unjustifiable for a charity – seek a combination of avoiding any raise in subs for a few years with looking at how best to invest some of the money in useful equipment or worthwhile educational experiences for the girls – subsidise that trip to the science centre or that visit from the dance instructor, buy that laptop projector or colour printer.  Make sure that the money which is donated for the unit’s use, is used to benefit the unit members, leaving only a modest amount of ‘rainy day money’ appropriate to foreseeable eventualities.

Above all, keep an eye on the unit’s money through the year.  You should have a clear idea of just how much “tuppenny rice” or “treacle” your unit gets through, and whether the Weasel in your unit is about to ‘go pop’!