Scouting for volunteers: The long queue for Cubs

IN AN age before video games and even TV, it was a way of keeping schoolboys gainfully occupied for the communal good, during the Easter holidays.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Apr 2017, 00:00 BST
Updated 9th May 2017, 18:36 BST
There are more scout volunteers than ever, but waiting lists are at record levelsThere are more scout volunteers than ever, but waiting lists are at record levels
There are more scout volunteers than ever, but waiting lists are at record levels

Bob-a-Job Week, in which boy scouts knocked on their neighbours’ doors and offered to carry out modest household chores for a shilling, was washed away 25 years ago on a tide of health and safety and child protection regulations. And this Easter, it emerged last night, children with no knowledge of what a bob even was, are lucky if they can get even their foot in the door of the local scout hut.

A shortage of volunteers means that thousands of young people in Yorkshire alone have been consigned to waiting lists before they can put on the traditional scarf and woggle.

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The pressures of 21st century life are blamed for the bottleneck, with record numbers of helpers coming forward but many limited by the constraints of their work lives to the hours they can donate, the Scout Assoc­iat­ion says.

A scout parade in the Bob-a-Job eraA scout parade in the Bob-a-Job era
A scout parade in the Bob-a-Job era

The organisa­tion picked the traditional Bob-a-Job holiday to launch a new appeal for officials.

It said that although more than 33,000 young people in the Yorkshire region were now involved with scouting, another 3,668 were on waiting lists to join up.

Nationally, despite 154,000 volunteer youth workers, charity trustees and instructors, the waiting list is put at 51,000 - its longest ever - with 7,000 having joined joining in the 21 months to the end of January.

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Places in cub scout packs, for children aged eight to 10, are said to be the most popular, with a 158,000 membership swelled by nearly 2,000 new recruits in the last year. Girl scouts, no longer a separate organisation, account for just over a quarter of total numbers.

A scout parade in the Bob-a-Job eraA scout parade in the Bob-a-Job era
A scout parade in the Bob-a-Job era

Tim Kidd, UK chief commis­sioner at the Scout Association, said: “Our adult volunteers today seek much more flexible volunteering arrangements than in the past, so that they can fit it around their busy lives.

“Many adults who are signing up with the Scouts have a limited amount of time to donate to us, and so we need more volunteers as a whole in order to accommodate the continued demand for Scouting among young people.”

He urged people to volunteer for the scouts, adding that the organisation was making it easier for those with limited time to join by being flexible about a range of roles, including group leaders and trustee positions.

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Overall, there are 457,000 young people involved in the Scouts across the UK. Once adult volunteers are included, the membership is 618,000, up 7.8 per cent. In Yorkshire, a total of 44,000 are either scouts or volunteers.

The adventurer Bear Grylls, the organisation’s chief scout, said: “Volunteering changes us all for the better.

“Our challenge is to keep recruiting even more adults, as we’ve got 51,000 young people wanting to join and benefit from what scouting offers.”

Olympic rowing champion Helen Glover, who signed up last month as a “scout ambassador”, added: “Adult volunteers are the lifeblood of our movement. Whatever your skill, big or small, come and share it and help inspire the next generation.”

Other celebrities to volunteer so far this year include Paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds and the Bradford-born TV presenter, Anita Rani.

Related topics:Yorkshire