Developing our Young Leaders

Another short update on last weekend’s goings on and this time our focus was on supporting Explorer Scout Young Leaders.

The Allander Chalet and the Providore building at Auchengillan played host to 80 Explorer Scouts, completing the first of two weekends of Young Leader training. The course was organised by Assistant Regional Commissioner (Explorer Scouts), John Rafferty, so tremendous thanks for his effort and planning.

The weekend started with getting to know each other and ice breaker games, leading into Module A on Friday night. The evening was concluded by a presentation from Fraser McGarrigle and Amy Lynch about their adventures in Indonesia in 2015 and to launch Indonesia 2018 – recently approved by the Region’s Executive Committee. The 2018 project will focus again on wildlife conservation and community enhancement, this time taking place in Sumatra, and again in partnership with Indotrek.

Saturday’s programme worked through modules B – E, guiding the Explorers on how to take charge as a young leader, including training on dealing with challenging behaviour, personal decorum and age appropriate activities. The afternoon was broken up with some on-site activities, included climbing, abseiling, air rifle shooting and archery, run by the Auchengillan team (Claire, Remi, Chris (Platt) and Mark).

Sunday saw out the last two modules, showing the participants how to be inclusive and engaging with all of our members, and how to work their pack or troop through a variety of badges and awards. We also met up with Harry Kilgour, our Duke of Edinburghs Award Advisor who gave some welcome some advice and information on the award, which runs in parallel with Chief Scout's Platinum and Diamond Awards.

Whilst not everyone has fully embraced Young Leader training, it’s always great to see the next generation of Leaders getting stuck in. It’s a great networking opportunity; a chance to meet groups from other districts, swap stories and ideas, and most importantly to forge new friendships. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the second training weekend, and hope that this weekend’s modules were helpful, enlightening and entertaining.

Special thanks to our cook team for the weekend; Lisa Finn, Gregor Murray, and Sharon Fleming, and to our module hosts; John Rafferty, Graham Burns, and Paul Crolla.

Thanks to Nathan Gallogley for this blog.