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Looking to do a weekend in Blackpool with Scouts & Explorers at the end of
May.

Firstly, any local accommodation that anyone can recommend? (Scout Hall
floor variety, although campsites not ruled out)

Secondly, it's their idea to visit the "amusements", but anything else
anyone could recommend?

Tony

Just exactly how much of an issue is this to UK Scouters?

We have a thread, I'll not dignify it by calling it a debate, which
has been initiated by merkins, and has opened URS up to all the usual
merkin drivel that arises elsewhere.

I'm dropping out of the threads because I can see things degenerating
into the vile cesspit of vitriol that exists in the merkin news groups
where homosexuality and religion are far more important than actually
discussing Scouting.

I checked out Escouts, to see what comments there were on the subject
there... none, not one word, not thing at all. It is a non-event, a
non-issue. If it were not for the merkins no-one would be discussing
this. So, since I trust merkins like I would the next door neighbour's
rabid rotweiller, I'll drop out of those threads and continue with my
Jolly Roger approach to Scouting ;-)

Ewan Scott
http://www.claytonwestscouts.org.uk

http://www.whitleybeaumont.co.uk

Assume for the moment that we MUST have a religion.
Since the SA does not discriminate between religions provided that the
religion is not at odds with the Laws and objects of the SA then Jedi is
probably acceptable.
What would happen if we created and atheist scouting based 'religion' taking
buddhism as a templete.

In Buddhism the Buddha was nothing more then a bloke who discovered some
profound truths and created a road map for other to follow and adapt as
necessary. Siddharta became revered and his teachings adopted and followed.
There is no god and, despite the mysticism and rituals added by some, there
are very minimalist flavours of buddhism out there.

Supposing our figurehead was BP who discovered some profound truths and
created a road map for other to follow and adapt as necessary. His teachings
(Scout law etc) are ourroadmap. He is not a god and the rituals are simple
and fun (camping, campfires, etc)

Would the SA ever accept this as a 'religion'?

IIRC the SA has accepted people from other recently made-up religion such as
scientology. Pastafarianism (bless his noodly appendage) may even squeeze
in there.

I've just completed this (a little late, natch - gotta annoy the
administrators somehow!), and we've ended up with a pretty normal
distribution in the Unit (though a bit skewed to the younger age
range):

Age 13 = 1
Age 14 = 7
Age 15 = 15
Age 16 = 11
Age 17 = 2
Age 18 = 2

Is this typical? I can understand why we're still getting 14 year
olds up from the Troops, and I guess that the latter drop-off is a
reflection of the age of the Unit (we haven't really lost many people
of late).

Regards,

Andy

Intrepid ESU
www.explorerscout.net