Hampshire Scouting county conference - October 2013

Good morning everyone, and welcome to today's conference. I hope you are all feeling inspired and looking forward to the days events, where we will be thinking about how to drive forward Hampshire Scouting. 

I have been asked to kick things off for you, and get you thinking about the young persons experience. Now for those of you who don't know me, I am Fi - the Assistant County Commissioner for Youth Participation, and in my professional life I am a youth worker, and once upon a time I was a young person - which I guess qualifies me to talk about the young persons  experience. I hope you will indulge me now as I use my time to tell you some stories. 

As a youth worker, I have been humbled over the years to work with some of the most vulnerable young people in society. There was one young man, who we will call Brandon, who really stuck out for me. Brandon is an 11 year old boy, who comes from a home where his family survive on benefits, and his Mum regularly tells him she does not love him and has no time for him. 

Brandon was struggling in school and being bullied, not making friends, and not learning. I worked with Brandon in a group work setting, delivering activities to help him develop social skills and communication skills. This was still not enough, and I decided to do some intensive one to one work with him. We worked together to build planes, and kites, and learn spellings and bake cookies. One piece of work we did was called "my universe", and I asked Brandon to put into his universe all the things that were most important to him, one of the things he put down was "scouts". 

I asked Brandon about this, and he told me he wanted to join the scouts, having been a cub, but his mum could not afford for him to go and he couldn't get there either as he ad to pick his brothers up from school and no one could take him there. 

Let me tell you a story now about a little girl, who was desperate to join the cubs, but her Mum made her go to Brownies first. When that little girl turned 10, she joined the scouts, the same scouts that her brother went to. She experienced her first week away from family, her first camp without a real toilet, and her first go in a kayak, all when she was 10.

 When she was 11, her Dad died, and she had a really difficult time at school, being bullied. Her self confidence dropped and she felt worthless. When she was 12 she experienced her first taste of youth involvement, at a patrol in council. When she was 13, she experienced her first leadership role, as a patrol leader. 

When she was 14 she started working with a local cub pack as a young leader. When she was 15 she led the fundraising for her explorer unit to go to Guernsey. When she was 16 she cycled to an explorer camp and learnt to cook for herself. When she was 17 she completed her Gold DofE and her Queens Scout Award. 

When she was 18 she took out an appointment as an assistant Cub Scout leader. When she was 19 she did a work placement in a pupil referral unit. When she was 20 she started youthwork. When she was 21 she did something she never imagined she could do and climbed a glacier. When she was 22 she represented her country at a world conference and set up a platform for young people to have their voices heard. 

When she was 23 she became a trustee of a youth charity and volunteered as a camp counsellor at an international event. When she was 24 she ran a commonwealth youth forum. 

When she was 25, she stood here and told you how Scouting has changed her life. She told you that as an 11 year old girl, whose life was not easy, she went to scouts every Tuesday. Every Tuesday she had an escape from school, from bullying, from homework. Every Tuesday she had consistent adults who were able to build positive relationships with her, built on trust and respect. Every Tuesday she was challenged to try something new, and she was allowed to make mistakes along the way, like cooking too much rice (her mum still won't let her forget that one).

 Every Tuesday there was an adult with a smiling face waiting to help her learn new things and grow as a person.

Through the last 14 years of her life, she has had consistent positive role models in her life, and only through the dedication and support from these adults was she able to access life changing opportunities which undoubtedly shaped her future and chosen career. Over the past 14 years she has grown in confidence from a shy and very sad little girl, to a rather annoying and vocal young woman. She has been pushed far out of her comfort zone through outdoor adventurous activities, which has built her self esteem and sense of achievement and enabled her to be able to lead her own activities for young people.

The beauty of working with young people is that you never know what they will become, and the more positive intervention that we can get to a young person then the more likely they are to be successful in life. I am a firm believer that the time you invest you will get back, and am a good example of how the time that my scout leader invested in me has been got back - as I am now a leader myself and supporting young people to grow and develop. At the moot, someone told me that "you are tomorrow, but tomorrow has come and you are now today"

You have no idea what will become of the cubs or scouts in front of you, and by your own actions you are able to shape the lives of others, which is why it is so important that we get the young persons experience right and enable young people who join us to stay with us. 

For me, it was about having positive adult role models and leaders, who were the family that I desperately needed, which is why I stayed. 

Young people like Brandon. It's not too late for us to make a positive impact and turn this 11yr old around. We might need to be challenged to think differently about how we do it, to ensure every young person can access scouting, but I think that we are more than ready to make that journey. 

BP wanted us to leave the world a little better than we found it, and what better way to do that than to empower a generation and change the lives of those who need it most. 

Scouts Own - Gilwell Reunion 2013

Helping other people

Good afternoon everyone, I have been privileged to speak to you today about "helping other people". It took me a while to think of what I could possibly share with this audience, as helping others is an inbuilt part of every scout, and as a movement we have been helping other people for 106 years. so I decided to use some inspiration from some young people, and asked the, what they thought it meant to help other people. Some of the ideas included:

Forming friendships

Never leaving anyone behind

Looking after people

Supporting during hardships

Learning life skills 

Teaching them things

Setting an example 

Doesn't matter who it is for you can help anyone

It can be anything

Rich or poor, everyone needs a helping hand

Being a scout

 From this,  we prioritised and came up with three things which we felt were key lessons in helping others, which I will share with you now using examples from my own personal experiences.

Part of my life is spent as a youth worker, and where I live, in a small place called Gosport, I work for a small youth work charity. As part of my job, I am responsible for the youth club for young people with additional needs. I have a team of volunteers, which includes some young people - Max, Sophie, and Becky. 

Two years ago, we were told our youth club would have to close and that our youth centre was going to be knocked down. Now, as I am sure you can imagine, this is far from ideal and it caused some upset with myself and others in the community. Max, Sophie, and Becky took the lead and spent time working with myself, and other local decision makers, including councillors and the residents association, to work a way forward. By working as a team, the youth centre was saved, and invested into. 

Becky coordinated the repainting of the building, Max took control of purchasing new equipment with a grant he had secured, and Sophie led a consultation process with local young people to commission a new group from the building. After several months of hard work, we held a grand opening of the youth centre and invited the local community to come in as well as all young people. It was a great success and thanks to these three young people we still have a youth club to stand in.

 The beauty of this is that they didn't even know that they were helping other people, they just wanted to do some good in their community, and as a result of this innate desire to do good, they helped secure provision for a group of young people and their work is a legacy to every young person who walks through the doors of that building for years to come. Three young people had a feeling in their heart and they followed it. 

Lesson one is that: The desire to help other people is within our human nature, and you may not even know you are doing it. 

This summer, I was fortunate enough to attend the world scout moot in Canada. I spent 10 days living with an international patrol, an experience which I will never forget. The moot provided a space for 2500 young adults to come together, live together, and learn together. One of the main challenges of an international event like a moot, is the language and communication barrier that is encountered. This is also combined with cultural differences and sometimes a lack of understanding of each other.

 However, there seems to be a kind of language and understanding that comes with wearing a scarf, and scouts all  seem to get involved and take part, using differences as an opportunity to learn and challenges as opportunities to grow.  Everyone at the moot knew how to put up a tent, and so when one needed to be put up it would be all hands in together - irrespective of nationality or language. 

This was my first experience of a moot, and being a participant I was supported by a team of volunteers who enabled the moot to happen - the international service team. Like us, they too had to work out a way to work together and come to understand each other. However, despite these barriers, the IST were able to provide an excellent experience for us as participants.

 Whenever you needed help. They were there.

 There was a web of people all skilled in their respective areas and all working together to help make the moot what it was. We had a unit leader, Guillherme, from Brazil. Guillherme would visit us each day and make sure we knew where to go and at what time. We had IST working in cafes who were helping us to learn about diversity and humanity. We had IST who were serving us breakfast, and handing out ice lollies. All of our needs were catered for by a team of people who had never met each other before.

 The IST received the biggest applause at the closing ceremony, because of their gracious and conscious decisions to give up work for ten days and come to help at the world scout moot, and therefore empower the next generation of leaders to come together and grow as responsible young citizens. By helping at this event, they have input their time into shaping a generation of people who are ambassadors of a peaceful world, because of the experiences they have shared. 

Lesson two is that: helping others is an international language, and it's easy to communicate through action.

Now, the third lesson about helping others is based on the principle of random acts of kindness. Have you ever given up your seat for someone on a bus, or held a lift door for someone? Have you given someone 20p for the ticket machine, or helped a neighbour carry their shopping? Have you smiled at a stranger, or given someone a hug? These are the small things in life which can happen every day, and these are the things which anyone can do.

 The beauty of this is that it doesn't cost you anything to give, and it leaves a warm fuzzy feeling for those who give a random act of kindness, as well as for those who receive it. On friday i was at a camp in Hampshire, and a scout offered to carry my tent for me. he had nothing to gain, and nothing to lose.

 You have nothing to lose by smiling at a stranger, and if they pass on the smile then eventually we could make the world smile too. 

 

Lesson three is: when you help someone else it doesn't have to be big. 

So today we have been on a journey to reflect about helping other people, and with our three key lessons - helping is human nature, helping is international, and helping can be anything. 

As you leave here today and go into your daily lives and routines over the next few weeks, I would like you to look for an opportunity to help someone, and make it a selfless act of kindness. If someone asks you if they could borrow money for a cup of tea and they say to you "I'll pay you back", my challenge for you is to tell that person to "pay it forward" instead, and for them to buy a cup of tea for someone else who needs it.

 If we all take some responsibility  for helping, then we can make the world a better place, and indeed leave the world a little better than we found it.

The Y blog

Here's the one my colleagues will have all been waiting for, and now seems an appropriate time to write it. 

Tonight I attended a celebration of achievements, for young people in my local area who have done something special and had been nominated by their youth workers to receive recognition for their commitment and input. 

Youth work, for those of you who aren't sure, is actually not about playing pool and table tennis in a youth club on a Tuesday evening. It's about young people engaging voluntarily in activities that help them achieve their potential and promote active citizenship; providing young people with information and tools to be able to make informed decisions about their own lives. Yes I have been known to play pool, however I should mention here I am terrible at it, and (here's a secret) I don't really care about the game, it's about the conversation and interaction I'm having with that young person (which they are oblivious to) whilst they totally thrash me. It's like a superpower, being able to talk to a teenager who may not speak to teachers or parents, but feels comfortable to speak to their youth worker, and doesn't realise they are doing it. Genius. 

So here's another piece of interesting history, I never actually wanted to be a youth worker. I wanted to be a drama teacher, however I think someone had other plans for me. One chance placement in a pupil referral unit (with a young man who called himself "tubbs") changed my way of thinking. I took on a 6hr a week post, and when I finished Uni started to pick up odd hours on other projects - primarily open access provision. I loved my job. So much so that I turned down full time roles to enable me to stay with the work I loved. 

Time passed, things changed, government changed, budgets changed. Cuts happened. Youth work was one of the first things to go. The process lasted a long time, and I saw every single one of my colleagues leave the team. I was literally the last person standing. And worse than that, the job I loved had melted away before my eyes. Everything I loved had gone. 

However, all was not lost. A fabulous new youth work charity arrived on the scene to help pick up the pieces, and luckily for me I was employed by the charity to continue to work with one of the youth clubs I had been running, for 4 hours a week. 

The club is a very special group to me, and tonight I was pleased to present 12 of the young people with certificates for their achievement in the "come dine with me" project. The group worked in small teams to plan, prepare, and serve a three course meal. This sounds simple, but when the group have a diverse range of needs, abilities, and differences, it can present challenges. Each young person had to overcome their own difficulties to complete this task, and I am so proud. 

I also presented awards to my valuable volunteers. Two of which are young people who have come through the youth provision and wanted to give something back. At this point, I became literally speechless, tears filled my eyes and I choked on my words "without these young people we would not have a youth club to go to" (see other blog "youngsters have a new place to go"). Of course, they thought it hilarious that they made me emotional, but this is only the second time I have been so proud that I cried in front of a room full of people. Both times, this has been because of the actions of young people I have had the joy and pleasure to support. 

Tonight was a milestone for me, it was a celebration of all things good about the young people we work with, and even more a celebration of the amazing charity I am proud to work for; the amazing staff who I am lucky enough to work with; and the emotional investment and commitment of each and every one of them. I am proud to work for a charity where staff go above and beyond, every time, to support and develop young people. Quality youth work is not something that you learn in a university, or a magic power you get when you put on a t shirt, it's developed within staff who have had support and time invested into them to help nurture their skills. I have been extremely lucky to have been able to have been supported by a team who I had once lost, and now the same team I have regained. My love and passion for youth work is alive and well once more, having mourned a great loss but replaced it with something even more special and even more amazing. I'm one of the luckiest people alive, surrounded by an incredible team, and even more incredible young people. 

All of this, because of "tubbs". 

In future, when people ask me why I bother going to my second job after a long day, I will simply say "Y not!"

www.yservicesforyoungpeople.co.uk 

Empowered, valued, proud.

Empowered.

Valued.

Proud.

Three small but very strong words.

This weekend was a big weekend for Hampshire Scouting, not only because we had one of our bi-annual youth conferences, and the annual scout winter camp, but also because we launched our first ever Hampshire Scouting Ambassador.

A year ago this weekend, we held our Hampshire Scout Youth Conference. At this conference we had a guest come to speak to us about the national ambassadors for scouting, which inspired some of our young people that we should have a local ambassador for Hampshire Scouting. Nothing happened for a couple of months, people are busy, we are all volunteers, etc etc....so I asked if I could find someone...

Turns out, that there is this really cool adventurer who lives in Basingstoke (I'm reliably informed it is north of Winchester and still within Hampshire boundaries). Some random guy who had a motorbike accident, so decided to row the Atlantic Ocean solo (like you do!?). Apparently a simple row like that isn't enough, so he gave Everest a go as well. Standard really, I mean, who hasn't climbed Everest these days...?

So, this random guy from Basingstoke did a couple of talks to some random explorer scouts. They loved him. County commissioner loved him (he packed chairs away at the end of the night as well!). Leaders loved him (kept the young people entertained all night).

Perfect.

Dropped him an email, turns out he was cycling across America at the time, but was definitely interested and would have a chat when he got back. I thought I would check him out for myself, so off I drove to the north of the county for a fundraising dinner where he was speaking. Shocked that he looked nothing like his twitter pic (which is of a guy on a mountain - Everest - in a down suit with a ginger beard and a Nepalese flag), but impressed that he is actually much hotter than his twitter pic demonstrates. Note to self - never judge a person by their twitter photo.

Anyway, he was pretty good actually, so tried him out on some cub scouts - went down a storm. Tried him out on some district commissioners - worked like a dream. Tried him out in the county team - they think he's wonderful. Bingo. We had found our man. Captain Ketch.

So, we decided to think of a unique way to launch our first scouting ambassador here in Hampshire. As this crazy ginger bearded explorer has decided that his next challenge is to cycle around the world, we decided to put him through his paces in a Hampshire world tour. Gathering a group of cyclists, we set a route for our new ambassador to weave through Hampshire visiting scout huts for challenges and pit stops.

The big weekend started with Captain Ketch giving his Everest talk to the youth council, and then they had the chance to come up with challenges for him to complete on his world tour (interesting ones, including "doing gangnam style on a bike", "cycle with 10 james'", and my personal favourite "take Fi to Nandos"). The young people also designed ideas for an ambassadors challenge, and provided final decisions for the way the badge should be run and implemented, as well as how much it should cost and that the money raised should be donated to Captain Ketch's charity he supports - ELIFAR (every life is for a reason).

The main event started early on Saturday morning, with a tweet from Chief Scout Bear Grylls, wishing Captain Ketch good luck. Riders gathered and left Ferny Crofts at 8am, with 25 people on the first leg and 50 scouts clapping and cheering on the way out. The riders arrived at Hythe Ferry and 13 took the journey for the second leg, to Totton. In Totton, the Captain was greeted by a small group of cubs and beavers, who were excited to show him around their new scout hut, as well as give him an Atlantic themed stop which included fish finger sandwiches and a quick row on the lake.

There are very few people I have met who have had the ability to turn a child's confidence round quite so quickly. Captain Ketch got out of the boat and was walking towards his exit, when a small Cub Scout was stood behind him with his Dad, tears rolling down his face, and mumbling out "I'm too shy". Captain Ketch turned around and bent down to meet this cub's sad tears with a great big cheesy grin. A small pep talk and special photo shoot later, and the tears are replaced with an equally big cheesy smile. Hands shaken, smiles exchanged, and promises made, leaving this one young person feeling like the most special and most valued 8yr old in the world.

It was at this point that I was going to leave the ride, for my readers will not be surprised to learn I am about as good on a bike as I am at quantum physics (useless). Infact I wasn't even going to be cycling but got talked into doing the first leg, and then the second.. So I'm at Totton, and I'm getting lots of positive encouragement from the hard core cyclists, telling me the next leg is "all downhill Fi!".

I should have known they were fibbing. It wasn't all downhill at all. There was a very long and annoying and slow windy uphill bit. Ok so I'm not talking a massive incline, infact in a car it's probably barely noticeable (unless you were in a mini and then you would notice it). I'm not naturally gifted at anything adventurous, and unfortunately for me I had 12 men cycling with me and pushing me to my limits. I lost count of the amount of times I said "I can't do it" and "I want to stop". Annoyingly, I found someone more stubborn than myself, who would not let me stop and insisted on moving the seat in the bike and teaching me to use my gears and how to get on and off a bike properly. No matter how much I told him I don't like him, he still pushed me up the hill. Literally. Pushed. Infact, pushed to the point where I was egged on to complete the fourth leg of the ride as well as the first 3. The last time I rode a bike was a very long time ago, but that wasn't a problem for Captain Ketch. He just carried on pushing me, talking to me, and empowering me to do something that I would certainly not normally feel confident enough to do.

I left the journey at this point, having ridden for the first 23 miles. The riders then went on to visit a group in Whiteley, and to the 1000 people at scout winter camp, where Captain Ketch gave a presentation to 400 people packed into a marquee, about his exciting adventures. All I could do from here was read the tweets coming in on #scoutscycle, and some of the best included:

"@captainketch my son has just got back from scout camp and says I have to follow you as you are amazing! Thank you for helping winter camp"

"@captainketch ...lovely to see my son inspired and have a new role model..."

Now I'm not putting words into mouths, but I would hedge my bets that these people feel pretty proud to have met and been inspired by Captain Ketch, and proud to have him as an ambassador for Hampshire Scouting.

Most of all, I'm proud. I'm proud that not only did I cycle on an actual bike, but I'm really proud that Hampshire Scouting has found an ambassador who genuinely cares about young people and takes the time to engage with them. Someone from within our own community who enthuses and inspires, turns tears into smiles, and dares people to dream. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Empowered.

Valued.

Proud.


@captainketch
#scoutscycle

www.jamesketchell.net
http://www.scouts-hants.org.uk/?id=375
http://www.elifarfoundation.org.uk/