Scouting practical skills views sought

[Mang]

I have been asked to join a team to look at the practical skills in Scouting and said that I’d put this on Escouts and several bushcraft forums to garner opinion. From the first meeting there were a lot of really good ideas put forward to expand and freshen up the practical skills information.

One piece of ‘homework’ we have been set after the first meeting is to come up with a list of practical skills (up to 25) and by that I mean Scoutcraft type skills so any ideas welcome.

Also, kit was discussed. Do any of you have any ideas on stuff that could be considered for the Scout shop to stock? This thread will be copied in to all on the team so your opinions will be read. Pleas feel free to chip in even if you aren't involved in Scouting.

[Notredame11211]

Mora Knives are always a handy thing thing to have in stock

[andy202wr]

Depends how far in you want to go, but a basic camp is sleeping area, wood cutting and fire pit for cooking and warmth, kitchen or cleaning and latreans. There are lots of old books about that show the old style of scouting.

Scoutcraft.
Tent peg making, pioneering
"A" frame shelter / tent making
Area marked out for cutting wood, Fire pit, Alter fire, oil drum oven
Pot stand, Wash bowl stand, Boot stand
Toilet pit area behind a screen

When I think of any more I put them on the forum.

Andy assistant explorer leader, Swollownest, Rotherham.

[LandRoverMatt]

tents , hammocks , books , tarps, bags , cups , plates and sporks , cordage like paracord, knifes and saws billy cans and stuff like that hope the shop does well

[GreyFox]

Scoutcraft skills - stick to the traditional;
Fire lighting, ignition sources, types of tinder, starting a fire with progressive wood sizes
Fire lays for cooking, warmth, maintaining overnight
Cooking on an open fire, in ember, toasting etc.
Water - finding and making safe
Shelter - siting, locating tents, erecting a basha (knots), building from natural materials.
Safety - outdoor first aid, site specific first aid (e.g. removing ticks), safe use of tools (knife especially), outdoor danger recognition
Crafts - making tools and equipment, e.g. bow drill set, pothook/holder, bowl burning.

[Mang]

I've just had an email through confirming the next meeting date for Sunday 23rd October.

[Mang]

Quick bump as he next meeting is due soon (23rd Oct) so if anyone has any other practical skills etc to add to the list...

[Reaps72]

My opinion would be!

1, Show the scouts some key pieces/developments of modern kit: GPS, LED Lamps, Multi Tools/Knives, Layering Clothing Systems & How to combine pieces for best results in warm & cold, Stove Options pros & cons, outdoor cooking as well as backwoods/camp cookery, Hydration Systems & water collection & purification & safety, (I put this as my boy is in scouts & on a family camp I was criticised for refilling a water-bottle from a fast moving stream even though it has a filter & I used purifying tablet)
2, Basic Hunting & Foraging skills, how to prepare furred or feathered animals & as mentioned before outdoor cooking skills.
3, Basic Kit mods/crafty stuff or home-made kit i.e. Hobo stoves, Rocket stoves or Wood fired ovens, Leather work, Whittling, Sewing/Repairing kit & Paracord Bracelets.
4, Woodsman/Axe & Knife Skills, How to pick dead hanging wood from green!
5, To mirror no'1, still relevant old style/vintage kit that is worth knowing how to use, Oil Lamps, Candle-Lanterns, Trangias/Meths stoves.
6, How to use a Map & Compass properly in the event of no GPS!

Finally when I was in my very fetching green shirt & brown polyester trousers, 1st Norbury Scouts, Hazel Grove, Greater Manchester East. (Now defunct afraid to say!) We built our own open canoes & rafts out of wood, which was a great outside of the regular Friday Night stuff. We also used to do loads of pioneering stuff with poles & lashings, zip wires were our speciality at District Camps!

Ah them were the days!

[MikeWilkinson]

Not to sound a little too condecending but have you access to an orignal scouting for boys book by Sir Baden-Powell himself, everything you need regards practical skills is in there, from basic camp craft to navigation, tracking skills and observation games.

Surely this should already be at the heart of scouting all ready as it is what the movement is/was based upon - it certainly was when I was a child.

A quick glance through the contents of my 1957 edition and a few ideas of my own:

Signals and commands

Navigation - map and compass, using the stars, using nature.

Travel - Patrolling, Raft Building, Making packs, Sledges when it snows

Camp life - Knots and practical applications of them - Shelter building, Rope bridges, Judging heights and distances (also self measures)
Making Cordage.
Camp Beds and Bedding ( camp loom), Hammocks, Pot hooks Wash stands and other camp furniture, Practical uses of Tarps
Fire Lighting and camp cooking
Tracking
Observation
Plants and Foraging
First Aid

There are plenty of 'games' and practices you can apply to these topics, shelter building competitions, inventive uses of the camp loom. Trackers version of 'Hide and Seek'. The 50' Survival School on one of the other threads is a great Idea - set up areas and have different groups in competition with each other.
For the Camp craft skills, building a group bridge from hand made grass cordage is an excellent large group task that requires good communication skills and organisational skills.
I'd put all these tasks into a scenario and give them an objective to overcome, I.e. your group has come across an un-fordable river that you desperately need to cross whilst keeping a certain item dry, or give them a few basic items and get them to build an oven to bake bread in (this can be a competition too).

Hope this helps.

Mike

[andy202wr]

I am taking my explorer scouts out in November for a weekend cold camp. Sleeping under tarp's. We are making bowls and spoons from scratch on the Saterday and some map and compass / orenteering work on the Sunday.

[Adam Savage]

Core scouting skills that might be worth taking into account..
Some have been mentioned already

The country code
Basic fire safety, as well as fire building
Basic first aid (such as stopping/slowing bleeding, etc)
Personal safety awareness (tools, environment, obstacles, etc)
Basic shelter construction
Basic cooking (how to tell if meat is cooked, etc.)
Basic navigation (maybe including natural indicators)
Kit they do and no not, need to lug around (leave your DS at home :))

Kit that scouts may need..

Waterproofs
Compass
Whistle
the usual (woggle, neckerchief, etc)
Basic rucksack, or kit bag
Utility cord (of some kind, doesn't have to be paracord)
Possibly wellingtons, or some kind of footwear, maybe just waterproof sock (like sealskins)

[Realearner]

Just seen a new updated scouts manual in waterstones and very good, covered lots of interesting stuff?
And put out by scouting movement.

[Mang]

Thought I’d post to keep you all up to date. Following on from the last meeting of the Project team we broke into 2 teams and, if you’ll excuse the pun, whittled down a massive list to the following. We have now separated into smaller groups to look at specific areas will be meeting in the not too distant future (my next meeting is Sunday March 4th) so any thoughts and comments posted will be taken to the meeting by yours truly.
1. Field Hygiene
2. Fire Lighting
3. Knives
4. Axes
5. Saws
6. Navigation and route planning
7. First Aid
8. Outdoor/Camp cooking
9. Tent Pitching
10. Knots and Lashings
11. Plant lore – identification/uses etc
12. Tracking
13. Pioneering/gadgets
14. Survival – to include water and shelter building
15. Expedition/event planning
16. Stoves and Lamps
17. Personal Admin – to include ironing, sewing, personal hygiene, self discipline (general sense of pride in themselves and their appearance etc)

Recommendations for other projects/teams:
• Wide games
• Ceremonies
• Country Code

All topics to cover:
• Communications (both in terms of how we communicate with specific leaders, and then how the skill is communicated to young people)
• Health and Safety
• Risk Assessment

Please feel free to comment and I’ll make sure that I take any made to the next meeting.

[Adam Savage]

Sounds like you got everything sorted and well covered mate.

Adam

[jus_young]

Got one comment to make - nice work! Saw the articles in the latest mag and gotta give you a thumbs up. This is what the Scouts needed to get a wider interest back.

Will have a think about the above and give my thoughts but your post is a bit open, is there any guidance on the train of thought that you could give in relation to the above?

Good to see you stuck with it

Jus.

[Mang]

Thanks chaps. Jus, I'll probably be in a position to post more after the next meeting in early June. I have got to be careful that I don't go posting stuff over and above my remit but suffice to say, theses topics will be developed and expanded on and there's some interesting and exciting ideas in the melting pot.

[jus_young]

Cheers Mang. Joined the forum anyhow so should keep up with whats going on.