The Lighthouse -- October 1995 The Lighthouse -- October 1995In my travels around the country, I visited four Scout shops or offices. I bought some Korean Scout books and badges and I gave each of the shops a Canadian World Jamboree contingent badge. They were all happy to greet me, like I was a brother (as all Scouts should be), and they seemed to have multitudes of interesting stuff to give me back in return, although I didn't ask for anything. I had my friend tell them, ``This is a present for you,'' but the one man gave me so much stuff in return that I really had to give him two Canadian badges.
At another Scout office, the Scout executive pulled out two binders with all the badges he'd collected during the last 20 or so years. It was very interesting. If anyone wants me to come to a meeting to tell the kids about Korea, I'd be happy to do it.
Neil
Our district commissioner, Scouter Jack, told an Ottawa television station that the trading activity was good training for the kids' future careers at the Toronto Stock Exchange. Even if they haven't gone on to operate the TSE yet, all this badge trading has inspired the 2nd Whitby Fire Venturers to organize an invitational Badge Trading Day. (See details later in this newsletter.)
The Ontario Provincial Venturee was held recently at Camp Samac in Oshawa. Hundreds of Venturers from all over the province were in attendance, including the 5th Whitby OPP Venturers. Venturers were joined by members of the senior sections of Girl Guides in many exciting and interesting activities.
The Sixers' Pow-wow recently held for Cubs involved 158 youth, 46 leaders, 23 cooks, 8 helpers, and 10 service team members for a total of 245 people. The service team would like to thank Dave Archer who cooked up an excellent dinner of corned beef and cabbage.
Scouts have hit the front pages of three local newspaper issues in the last month. There was a great turn-out for Apple Day, 4th Whitby had a fun re-union to celebrate their anniversary, and former Whitby Rover (now regional councillor) Marcel Brunelle represented the Scouts at a tree planting ceremony. The tree was planted at Long Sault Conservation Area in commemoration of an earlier planting session some 20 years ago, when a Whitby group planted the first Trees-for-Canada-type project.
There are three new Whitby Venturers this year who are visiting Canada for one year on a ``Youth for Understanding'' international exchange program. The three young women are Flor from Mexico and Riika and Elise from Finland.
Beaver service team for 1995/96: Cathy Harker ADC 655-8869, Maureen Addison 668-1176, Pat Dick 666-1655, Dave Lewis 666-1453, Dave Reid 666-1605, Noreen Wild 668-5588.
When the dust settled at the end of the evening, we had applications from 35 new Beavers, 16 new Cubs, and 2 new Scouts, as well as several new adult volunteers. In the days that followed, several more people applied, so we've managed to place a number of kids who might otherwise have found it difficult or impossible to find a group to join.
Any adult in Whitby Scouting who hasn't taken this free course should be at St. Marks Church from 7:45 till 8:30 pm on November 15. No pre-registration is required. This presentation forms part of a Colony Part I course being held that evening, so be sure to arrive on time or the Beaver leaders will be late for their coffee break.
New key leaders and others who've paid for subscriptions should start receiving their Leader Magazines in a couple of months. In the meantime, single copies of this valuable resource are available at the Scout Shop in Oshawa for only $2.
Durham Free-Net
Free-Nets are designed to allow freedom of access to world-wide Internet resources to everyone in their respective communities. Ever since the first one opened in Cleveland, Ohio, nine years ago, Free-Nets have been starting up in communities all over the world.
As of September, the Durham Free-Net is officially open, and Whitby District Scouts are now an official information provider. If you've had trouble getting through to our home page from the Free-Net in the past, it's easy now because an alternate home page is available locally. From the main menu of the Free-Net, go to Local Information, and you'll find Scouting there.
No special equipment is required to contact the Free-Net. In fact, no equipment is required, since there will be terminals available at libraries, schools, and shopping areas. If you want to use your own computer, dial 619-1666 (Ajax/Pickering) or 725-0544 or 985-9536. Special numbers for off-line mail are available also. Details are on the net.
To send and receive e-mail, you'll need to sign and send in a registration form. Please donate some money to support the organization when you register. Government money and corporate donations have got the Free-Net going, but user donations are important. The Ontario government will match all user contributions.
Remember that the Durham Free-Net is run by volunteers, so you'll have to be patient while the bugs are worked out of the system.
CompuServe
On CompuServe, one of my favorite systems, Scouting has just been given its own forum area. This means that there are now more than a dozen topic sections for Scouting messages instead of the one or two that have been available in recent years. On CompuServe, type ``go scouting'' at any ``!'' prompt. If you'd like to try it, and haven't got a CompuServe sign-up kit with free introductory time, call me (Neil) and I'll make sure you get one.
Oshawa District is the only one of the these districts that has their own paid employees. The rest are served by a Provincial Field Executive (PFE, some people call them ``piffies''). As of July 1, Lakeridge has a new PFE, Cathy Obright (723-6843, fax 723-1560).
Cathy comes to us from Nova Scotia, where she has worked for the last four years. Prior to that, she was working in Windsor.
Like the Whitby District Council, which most of you have heard of by now, there is also a Lakeridge Regional Council with representatives from each district. The regional president is Ruth Collins again this year. She now lives in Blackstock and you can phone her at 905-986-1044.
Besides the president and executive, there is also a regional commissioner. Assisting the regional commissioner are people for each section. For the Venturer section, two people have be sharing the duties for the last year. For this year, 16-year-old Blair Niblett of the 2nd Whitby Fire Venturers is the Assistant Regional Co-ordinator for the eastern districts of the region. Congratulations to Blair on his new appointment.
These people can help you with questions you have about procedure or with problems you have. If you need an extra leader in an emergency situation, they can probably help you out with that too. Sometimes they don't get enough chances to have fun with the kids, and they'd enjoy a night with your section if they can work it into their busy schedules. Despite what some people seem to think, they're not the leader police. Their purpose in Scouting is to help you out.
There was a full list of training courses in the Sept/95 issue (the list is also at the above link). If you didn't get a September issue, call Neil Wick. All adults, Venturers, and Rovers in the district should get one.
Up to the Whitby District Home Page