hi

i have been an assistant at a scout troop for about 4 years, and the local explorer unit leader is going to be leaving soon.

i am 21, and have thought for along time that running the explorer unit would be cool, a soon to be 18 year old has also said that he would like to be the assisant if i am the leader,

i have a few concerns/ questions, which i would like help with please! before i say to any one about the fact i might be intrested in it.

firstly as explorers would you be happy having such a young leadership team.

do any explorer units run with a committee like what ventures did??

to the leaders how did you manage to ensure you had a balenced programme, and how much involement did the young people have in planning it, do you also have very strong links with all the other units with in the district, and what about the links with groups, and other sections.

as in our district there is only 2 units which are really open to all, this one which i am thinking about taking over, and one other.

what is the average unit size, as i belive there is only 8 explorers there at the moment, i mean would i still be able to run a wide diverse programme, with this little.

cheers

tommy

Yes you are more likely to be able to relate to the YP. and provide energy in the program

Yes! The commitee run our explorer unit. The leaders are there as advisors and basicly help to make the commitees plans a reality.

we throw ideas into the pot and see what the explorers think about them. the commitee then tell us what they would LIKE to do and then WE put the program together.

We have four units in our district we are the largest but we all work together. ie. if we plan a camp we invite the other units to take part.

Yes. For activities you need more people for invite the other unit!
we have about 40 YP but started with about 8

For more info on our unit and to see the program visit
OUR SITE

As far as age goes, a young leadership team should be fine, as much of our unit works alongside our leaders, so if anything it may prove usefull!

Our unit is pretty small, so we don't have a committe. We usually have a planning evening at the start of each term, where we all throw in ideas and our leader make a note of them. We also usually try to think up an evening each that we could help run, or a skill that we can share with the rest of the unit for an evening. Balanced programmes are less of an issue than with younger sections, as we don't work for so many badges and things. Just see what kind of things your unit is interested in, and don't be afraid to go a bit wild-we did yoga one evening and all the guys really enjoyed it!

Links with the district might be tricky for you, owing to the small number of other units, however joint evenings between the two units might be a possibility, we have 4 or 5 in our district, and we have a district night once a month.

Your unit size shouldn't be too much of a problem, our unit is, as I have allready said, made up of about 10 people, yet we have a great time!

Hope it helps,
Becky
P.S- Please note that I am speaking purely based on my experiences as an Explorer scout, so don't take what I say as what every unit does! :)

I am 21 myself and took out my warrant at 18 to be assistant beaver leader.

How I see it, it would be a bad decision to take over a unit, at such a young age. Firstly theres not really an age gap - thats one thing I looked at when I first started off. The second is experience - I have no doubt that you both are very knowledgeable with scouting skills, etc. but you need a level of experience and a very good knowledge of planning programmes, arranging activities, etc. and thats where having someone whos been there, got the t shirt and worn it until its just a rag. If you can get someone in the district or county within explorer scouting to be there to help you, and pass on their experience, then have a go and see how you get on.

The soon-to-be 18 year old who is willing to be assistant really needs to be supported by an experienced explorer leader. At 18 no one really knows much about whats involved in being a leader outside of the running of weekly meetings, so you need experience.

I myself are extremely well supported by the section leader, and the GSL.

Theres also things like training, permits, etc. to take in to account - having the right qualifications for any activities, especially with explorers is vital as you can't just keep them inside a building every meeting.

If theres 8 people in your unit, why not make two units into one - I am sure they must have leaders so if the numbers aren't too high it makes sense to put two together.

But there isn't a reason why if you had another adult help for say, the first year, you couldn't have 3 leaders untill you'd both gained some experience! Seems a shame to have to turn away keen people, especially as Scouting is so short on leaders!

As far as activity qualifications go, my Exlorer unit actually is inside most weeks. If you have a scout campsite near you then often activity instructors ca come from there, and if it's in your district then you may be able to do them a bit cheaper. Also if any of your Explorers or on site service crews or activity teams then they might have the qualifications!
The only stuff I'd say you need is a camping permit!

I don't think there's a need to merge 2 units if you have the people willing to help! It obviously depends on the size of the other unit and it's distance from yours. But also you need to consider the styles of the units, in our district the Explorer units are very differant, and mainly affected by the size and style of group they come from! Merging 2 explorer units in our district would be....interesting!

I would agree with Keith you do need a bit of experience in organising all the off site activities.

But I have to agree with Becky that the only qualification you need is a camping permit. As you can always find qualified instructors at campsites or in the district that are willing to help do activities. Well thats what I've found anyway.

With organising the programme, most of the ideas should come from the explorers with what they want to do and all you have to do is make sure it can happen if possible.

excellant, thank you for your help,

i am gonna look more into the unit and surrounding units, i have my camp permits so thats all gd

cheers

tommy

watch ya

just a quick update


myself and one other leader are in the process of taking over the unit

we started doing this 6 weeks ago and since then have double the numbers with in the unit

also are in the process of creating a programme!!!

so if any one has any programme ideas i would be very grateful.

and also advice on how to grow the numbers even more!!

does any one know any grants which can be applied for, to buy equiipment as there is very little and no games equipments.

any other advice would be gratefully recived

cheers

Tommy

Nice to have an update.

Id set a limit on the maximum numbers you should have in the unit, these depend on the size of the hall and the amount of equipment. Personally I would suggest no more than 30 assuming the hall is big enough. Remember as the leader, all the explorers are your responsibility and it is up to you to manage them. If you try and work out some sort of ratio for leaders to explorers, and don't exceed that - there will be other explorer units that might be able to take some more members.

You and me are roughly the same age and personally, I wouldn't want to have more then 24 explorers in the unit to start with and then if I felt that I could cope with a few more id let some more in.

As for programmes you need to know what expertees and what activities are out there in the local areas, and the experience of the explorers. Id say book a local climbing wall, with an instructor for one activity and maybe at a later date in the summer get outside and find a rock face to climb. Get some canoes or kayaks or sailing boats for the day, with instructors and go down a local river or lake. Do some hiking - DofE style. Get the exporers doing young leader training and helping out with the younger sections. Just think what adventurous things you would like to do and do them (except paintball as you won't be allowed to do it by HQ, much to my personal annoyance!)

Pack as much as you can into the programme, but remember to do the scoutcraft activities such as pioneering, camp cooking, knots, how to light a fire and campfire songs.

I agree with Keith, Explorers need a great sense of adventure.
My group is also in the progress of getting it's Explorer unit sorted out with a new leader. He has a lot of great ideas for them, camping at least once a month, and overnight expeditions etc.

hello

we have set the limit at 30, and are know got another leader and we have the numbers of the unit up to 22 know

we just got back from our first camp
friday was cold (-5) but enjoyed by all, some tried new activities that they had never done before like potholing and fire lighting

only things they said they wanted to change was time we woke up it was 7.30 lazy little ones :lol: :lol:

Our Explorer unit has around 35 attending each week with two Explorer leaders, the key to the success is
1) leaders facilitating an active programme with a lot of outdoor events and
2) keeping close links with the scout groups with a good proportion of the explorers helping out other sections and hence making them feel they belong to a group as well

We had a slight problem with having a number of over 18s staying on at explorers but this has now been solved by the setting up of a District Network unit which is now 20 strong.

The web site Tullis Explorers is used to advertise each weeks events.