I’ve been volunteering at my local Scout group, 7th Edinburgh North East (Leith) Sea Scouts since early 2019 as an Assistant Beaver Scout Leader.

My older son had started in Beavers two years before and the Colony was very welcoming and inclusive, as well as fun. What struck me, having been a Beaver and Cub myself as a child is how much Scouting had changed, and how much more was offered to keep everyone interested. My abiding memory of Scouting in the 1980s was that it was general lawlessness for small boys to burn off steam playing football, wrestling and fighting.

Now they are building water filters, visiting observatories and islands, learning camp craft, as well as running around like whirlwinds. In 2019 our Group was facing potential closure as many leaders were retiring/moving away, and volunteers were being sought, so it felt like the right moment to become involved. 

The great thing about Beavers is that pretty much any idea is worth trying. We’ve made cardboard toilets to learn about World Toilet Day, put on a Chinese Zodiac puppet show, run a pirate assault course, learned our own phonetic alphabet (C is for Chocolate), made giant paper aeroplanes, gone grass sledging and created our own junk-modelling animal collection.

Scouting gives you an excuse to chance your luck by asking for things you might get a funny look for otherwise, and one of our highlights was visiting the local fire station. 

During lockdown we kept Beavers running on Zoom, which proved much more successful than anticipated, with parents expressing thanks for keeping young people connected and giving them something fun to look forward to.

BENEFITS OF VOLUNTEERING:
As I work for the emergency services, my job is often unpleasant, stressful or even traumatic, and Beavers is a great pressure valve to counteract that. It allows an hour of complete silliness, be that making armpit fudge or hosting the conker Olympics. Let’s be honest, it’s not “just an hour a week” by the time all the planning and preparing is counted, but it’s just good fun. Come and give it a go!