Scouting for boys (and girls)

[Beefsteak 305]

I know there's a thread on hear somewhere to do with Scouting/Guiding but I thought this warranted another thread:-

Have any of you ever volunteered their services ?

I know when I was a kid my Dad was always running a car load here, a car load there, never asking for any recompense (He even gave back the couple of quid he got for petrol!),

My Mum ran the Christmas club for them for a few years too ( Webb Ivory , they sold cards and decorations , the scouts got so much commission towards their funds my Mum was also supposed to get so much , but she always gave it back to the Scouts)

I have just volunteered my services to our Adams Beaver group.

They were screaming out for adult helpers to take them "Pond Dipping" for some badge or other, also for a trip later in the year to The Imperial War Museum at Duxford.

I figured it'd be rude not to, so I offered my services. Even wangling it with a mate of mine to get us behind the scenes so to speak, and get to go on board (Not for a flight unfortunately) Sally B (Their B-17 Flying Fortress)

Now here's the rub,.......................... They have just come to me an want me to pay 20 pounds for the trip to Duxford (Plus £10 for Adam !) and have a CRB check and pay 25 bloody quid for the privilege for that too. Now I've got nothing in past to hide that could possibly cause a problem, I know that ,they know that, but I still have to have one

45 quid to give a day of my life to help educate the kids is not my idea of fair

No wonder they're screaming out for 'volunteers' No body wants to give their time to help the kids develop because stupid governments (Not just Conservative) expect you to pay to help !!

(PS , I'm not paying and not helping the pond dipping either, I've also got a good mind to tell my mate to withdraw his offer to take 20 screaming kids on board Sally B as they'd probably want him to get a CRB check done as well !)

I nearly forgot , it costs me 20 quid for a half term at Beavers for Adam too !

[piggy and babs 544]

unfortunately for the genguin voluntiers all people working with children or on a volontary gasis must now have a crb check mosts groups will pay for this but not are mainly to do with the public liability insurance all groups must have and when i was working some groups would not accept a crb from another group even if its only a few weeks since you recived it when i was doing my training with verious placements i had to have 6 crb checks done in 1 year despite they were all still valid as they last for 3 years lucily i did not have to pay for any of them.

[Beefsteak 305]

SWMBO is the same , her company pays for hers all the time.

It just beggars belief when they start this "If we don't get any parental help, then we won't be able to go" malarkey. Then follow it up with "Thanks for volunteering, and getting your friend to help us make it even more special" now here's a bill for 45 quid !!

Works every time for me !!

[piggy and babs 544]

when i worked in play always worked on the idea that any voluntiers did did not incure any out of pocket expences for there help we always covered the costs of trips crb checks and as far as we could a little help with lunch i know some people said well we would have to eat anyway but i always thought that the cost of packed lunch shoud be incured by us as people alway spend more for packed lunch than they do when they have lunch at home.

when i was doing voluntary playcheeme at lenton part of our budget was voluntiers expences we returned busfairs if they had to use a bus to get there and also provided a lunch for them sanwiches made by one of our voluntiers salad and chips from the local chippy.and also the cost of their seats and entrance fees when we went out on trips a lot of this was done by our fund raizing durring the year i woulb start sending letter out to businesses charity trustsin sptember of each year and carry on till february to help cover the costs for a 2 week easter and 2 week summer playsceme , along with letters i always enclosed a copy of our previous years activities and whould say that accounts were available to be looked at if requiredraisedquite a lot of money in this way so the voluntiers did not have to pay.

our small city council grant from comunity fund funded equipment and insurances that we had to have but even doing all this voluntiers were still hard to come by i was lucky and built up a core of about 12 regular voluntiers who were all very commitedand were there most days our limmit for children was 75 and most days we had to turn children away as that was all we could have in the building children would be out side queeing from 9 am so they could get in we did not open till 10am same again in the afternoon in fact im sure some of them never went home for lunch. out of that 75 20 of them were voluntiers children who had to be given a place or there parents could not voluntier so we got down to only 55 places per session if tthe weather was nice we would do playdays on the local park so more of the local kids could attend.

[Compo 10,328]

Whilst on the subject of Scouts, the son-in-law is a scoutmaster and his lad is a scout. I was going to buy the lad a knife for his birthday but it seems they are not allowed to carry one these days!!! How can you be a scout without a knife???

[Stan 386]

Wonder if they will try to stop Sikhs carrying their daggers?

[StephenFord 866]

According to the Disclosure and Barring Service website (new name, same purpose), checks for volunteers are free - however, you cannot apply directly to the DBS personally, you have to go through an intermediary "umbrella" organisation, and these invariably charge an admin fee for processing your application (typically £18 including VAT). Until recently, as Babs said, the old CRB check was specific to the organisation for which you were working (either as a volunteer or paid employee). I understand that under the new rules, the check is "portable". I suspect, however, that they would take a dim view of a check obtained "free" for a volunteer organisation being produced as valid, if you want to take up paid employment in a role that requires a check. The other point is that actually, the check, once done, has no expiry date. So it is up to employers/volunteer organisations to decide whether they want new checks carried out after, say, 3 or 5 years. In effect the DBS check is like an MOT - it gives the status of the applicant on the day of issue. Obviously, it cannot certify that the person concerned will remain lily-white for the next "x" years. That being the case, few employers will want rely on a check that was done 6 months or a year ago, so most will cover their rear ends by insisting on a new one.

[Beefsteak 305]

Thanks for that Stephen/Babs. I only gave the 25 quid figure as that was what the leader told me it would cost , or words to that effect !

[radfordred 6,284]

I once volunteered my services putting tents up when my lad was @ cubs first hit with the scabby mallet on tent peg head shot off hit this other cubs mam in the face !!

[mick2me 3,033]

Obviously you did not get a MPC (Mallet proficiency check)

[piggy and babs 544]

Wonder if they will try to stop Sikhs carrying their daggers?

Wonder if they will try to stop Sikhs carrying their daggers?

no because its one of the 5kthere religious symbals and its against their human rights.

[piggy and babs 544]

i have always said crbs only as good as the paper its written on as it only tells you if a person has or hasnot committed any offences how many people who have had crbs just never been cought or prosicuted i always used to say go on your insticts never leave new vols on there own with children always put them with someone you know well and trust there judgement.and your own. of one young man who came to us who we had serious doubts aboutso was never left alone with the children and children discouraged from getting too friendly with him a few months later he went to another organization built up a relationship with a family including the parents despite our efforts in trying to warn them a few weeks later he started to babysit for them and abused the children later convicted and sent to prison it turned out he had already served a sentace and was using a false name he was only about 19 at the time.

[StephenFord 866]

I once volunteered my services putting tents up when my lad was @ cubs first hit with the scabby mallet on tent peg head shot off hit this other cubs mam in the face !!

Fancy not doing a risk assessment first...(I am joking!)

Just think, with one of these ambulance-chasing law firms, the other cub's mam could have been living the high life on the compensation.