Newsflash

We’re pleased to remind our readers that our next Memories Cafe will take place on Sunday, 5 April 2026, where our theme will be flags and pennants.  Please click here for more information.

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The Scout Section has been busy working on various different topics, including badgework.  Here are details of one of our badge nights:

Communicator Badge

The night began in the usual manner with flag break, inspection and allocation of patrol points.  This was followed by a game of dodge ball to run off some energy and have everyone ready to concentrate.

Then it was on to work.  The theme for the night was communicator skills, centred round everyone working towards their Communicator Badge – helping bring people closer together.  There are various options in this badge (click here to see all options – the link takes you to the Scout UK Website).

Being a modern and forward-thinking Scout Troop, and very conscious of online safety, we selected Option 3 – mobile and internet communication, so set the Scouts was to ask if they knew how to use their phone and the internet safely and what online safety is.

We started the communication tasks in the modern era by using our phones and managing media (media being photographs/images/documents), the first tasks being to test everyone’s skills and knowledge by:

• Asking – can you send a text accurately texting at least 50 characters per minute?
• Asking – do you know common terms and chat abbreviations?
• Show – you can send and, importantly, safely manage media.

As a result of all this, we discovered how fast we can type to send a text, tested our knowledge, learned some new abbreviations and reinforced our skills at managing media, all bearing in mind that online safety is paramount in everything we do using our phones and other technology.

Then it was on to some old school methods. They’re not part of any of the badge requirements, but we think these skills are every bit as useful and valuable as modern-day methods of communication, so we worked on sending a message by Morse code; using the phonetic alphabet; and sending a message by semaphore (all available on the Really Useful Stuff page on our website).

After all the hard work, there was just enough time for a game of Hedgehog, the night finishing in the usual manner with a prayer, flagdown and dismissal.

A typical hall night of training, with a purpose and fun games, in a structure many of our former scouts recognise.

Learning and development are a big part of what we do at Scouts, so if you’d like to learn new skills and develop those you have, we’d love to see you, so please come along.  There’s more about what we’re planning this session on our Section Info page (clicking here), so please have a look and decide if we’re the place for you.  If you’d like to join, please use the Join link at the top of this page.

We look forward to seeing you.

John Gillespie
Scout Section Lead Volunteer