A Scoutmaster's Blog

Our local newspaper, the Melrose Beacon, showed their support of the Scouting program last month by printing a full page ad to celebrate the Boy Scouts of America’s anniversary. The ad featured photos of Cub Scout Pack 68 and Boy Scout Troop 68. It also featured the Boy Scout Oath and a short description of the goals of the program. (Click on the picture for a larger view.) The newspaper has done a full page Scouting ad for anniversary week for a number of years now.

The Melrose Beacon has been a supporter of Scouting since the troop began in late 1979 when it published a note about organizing a Boy Scout troop in town. I became involved with the troop in May 1980 and soon began writing stories about troop events and submitting pictures from troop activities to the Beacon. The newspaper has always been great about printing these stories. In fact, I must have done a pretty good job of writing them because only once do I remember them editing a story.

The pack and troop would like to thank the following businesses and organizations for picking up the cost of this year’s ad: VFW post 7050 (the troop’s charter sponsor). Coborn’s Grocery Store, Spaeth Sodding and Landscaping, Heartland Security, Freeport State Bank, Kraemer Lumber Company, Melrose Dental Office, and Hennen Lumber Company. This ad would not have been possible without their financial support.

Does your local newspaper support your local Scouting program? Do they print articles and photos of your troop activities?

The other day I received my latest copy of Scouting Magazine. (For those of you unfamiliar with that publication, it is the B.S.A.’s official magazine for adult leaders of the Scouting program.) I have always enjoyed reading Scouting and often got a pointer or two from each issue. The cover of this latest edition caught my attention. I did not realize that it is the 100th anniversary of Scouting magazine, but the front cover announces it boldly to the whole world.

According to the Scouting magazine website:

How many magazines do you know that can say they’ve published for 100 years? As of April 2013, you can count Scouting magazine among them. For 100 years, we’ve published more than 900 issues — all with the same goal: serving the BSA’s adult leaders and volunteers.

To celebrate our centennial anniversary, we’ve partnered up with the University of North Texas Digital Projects Unit to digitize every single issue of Scouting that ever rolled off the press.

You can view the initial product from this partnership at scoutingmagazine.org/archives. Here, you’ll see scanned editions of magazines from as early as 1913 to the mid 1920s. Visitors can search these scans, zoom in to examine photographs and illustrations, and read stories that describe issues faced by early Scouters.

http://scoutingmagazine.org/2013/02/welcome-to-the-scouting-magazine-archives/

This got me thinking. I signed up as an assistant scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 68 in May 1980. I have been receiving Scouting Magazine ever since then, for 33 years. That means I own one third of all the Scouting Magazines ever published. Yes, that is correct. I still have them. They are stored in a closet in the basement, along with 33 years of Boy’s Life Magazine. For some reason I never threw them away. A little weird, huh?

Congratulations to the folks at Scouting Magazine! May you have another 100 years worth of issues in your future.

Your have seen the presentation in the first video. You have heard from the former members of Boy Scout Troop 68 during the next two videos. Now it is time to hear from the retired scoutmaster. In this, the final of four parts of the retirement party, we finally get to hear what Steve has to say after 30 years of serving as the scoutmaster of his home troop. He talks about the Scouts, the parents, the leaders, the committee members, and brings his assistant of 24 years up to the podium.

Steve has not retired from the Scouting program. He still serves as the troop’s treasurer on the committee, attends the occasional troop meeting, and tags along on an outing now and then. He makes sure he is available if the new scoutmaster has any questions.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.
Or watch it online at the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast channel at PTC Media.

Subscribe to Melrose Scout Productions Podcast through iTUNES  (and rate the show)
or at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Leave feedback here, at iTunes, or on the forums at PTC Media.

If you have been following this blog and the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast you know that two of the four parts of the scoutmaster retirement party video have been posted. Here is the third part. It features more alumni of Boy Scout Troop 68 as they step up to the podium and share their memories of Scouting with Scoutmaster Steve. It features six more gentlemen, of which three earned the rank of Eagle Scout. A few of them are from the first decade of Scoutmaster Steve’s 30 year tenure. One is from the last decade.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.
Or watch it online at the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast channel at PTC Media.

Subscribe to Melrose Scout Productions Podcast through iTUNES  (and rate the show)
or at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Leave feedback here, at iTunes.

Can it be? Has it already been five years? I guess is has. On April 4th, 2007, I posted the first video to the Melrose Scout Productions podcast.

I began the podcast because I had a number of Scouting related videos to share. Podcasting was still fairly new at the time, and there was not a lot of Scouting videos online, like there is now. Even the B.S.A. had not embraced podcasting. (Some would argue they still have not.) I thought there may be a small niche of viewers that would like to see my videos.

The first two videos of the Melrose Scout Productions podcast featured a puppet called Buttons, the radical Boy Scout. The next three videos took the viewer along on a couple of the troop’s camping trips. There are currently 115 videos featuring songs, skits, Cub Scout and Boy Scout activities, and interviews. There are also some slideshows that were shown at Eagle courts of honor. I guess you could say there is a pretty good variety.

When I started the podcast it had a slightly different name: Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast. A couple years ago I needed to change Scouting to Scout because the B.S.A. sent a note that they owned the trademark to “Scouting”, but oddly not “Scout”. Whatever. If I was to rename it today I would probably call it the Melrose Scout Video Podcast.

Now that I have retired as the scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 68, I questioned how much longer I could keep the podcast going. Well, I have no plans to quit yet. I am still a member of the troop committee so I will still be attending some of the outings. I also have a lot of video tape sitting next to the computer waiting to be edited. I have a feeling that the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast will be around for at least another year or two.

I hope to have enjoyed the podcast and videos. Which ones have been your favorites? Which ones do you not care for? Leave a comment and let us know.

You have been reading about it in the blog. Now you can watch it happen. This post to the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast features the first of four videos taken from the retirement party for Scoutmaster Steve who stepped down after 30 years of service to Boy Scout Troop 68.

This video features the district executive presenting Steve with his last leader’s knot earned as a scoutmaster, a speech from his assistant scoutmaster of 24 years, and a special presentation from the new scoutmaster and the Boy Scouts. The video is about 18 minutes long.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.
Or watch it online at the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast channel at PTC Media.

Subscribe to Melrose Scout Productions Podcast through iTUNES  (and rate the show)
or at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Leave feedback here, at iTunes.

Last Saturday, February 25th, was the day Boy Scout Troop 68 held a party to recognize my thirty years of service as the troop’s scoutmaster. (I retired at the end of last year.) The party was held at the Melrose American legion. It began at 2:00 in the afternoon and lasted 5:00 pm.

The committee planned to begin decorating at 10:00 am. They had asked me if they could use my photo albums and wall hung pictures. Of course, I said they could. I thought it would be fun for any alumni who attended the party to look through the old photographs. I packed up the 36 albums, all the group photos and Eagle Scout portraits that hung on the walls, and a few of the awards I had earned over the years.I added four Boy Scout uniforms to the pile, including the uniform I had worn as a young Boy Scout and the one I wore to the 2001 National Jamboree. Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, also decided he needed to go along.

By the time I finished packing their were over six boxes of stuff representing over 32 years of the Scouting program in Melrose. It was a good thing we had a couple of vehicles to transport it all.

Once everything was carried into the American Legion the question arose of how should we set it up? I did not know what the committee had in mind for the afternoon for at first I just shrugged my shoulders. It soon became evident that no one really knew what to do since none of us had ever done anything like this. I suggested that we make a long line of tables to display the photo books. Someone else suggested that we should keep the tables away from the wall so people can view the books from either side.

That was when we discovered that 36 photo albums take up a lot of room when they are open. It took five eight foot long tables to display the the regular troop albums. At the end of the room we used four more tables for the 8×10 group photos, the high adventure albums, and the three shadow boxes. Two more tables were used to display the Eagle Scout portraits. I think we ended up with 80 or 88 feet of tables filled with photos and other memorabilia.

A couple of small table were set by the entrance. A guest book was there for people to sign as they arrived, along with a basket for cards. People were greeted by Buttons who stood on a table in his Boy Scout uniform. In the back of the room was a television on which a slideshow of our 1989 trip to Philmont Scout Ranch was playing. The four uniforms were hung on the wall behind the podium serving as a backdrop to the speakers. Snacks, cake, and refreshments were placed on a couple other tables.

Five rows of tables were set up in the center of the room. Bowls of candies and pretzels were placed at each table. To tell the truth, I did not think we would need all the tables for people to sit at, but I was wrong.

It took nearly two hours to get everything ready for the party. We all thought it looked impressive with all the albums, photos, and other memorabilia. We looked things over once last time and then left for lunch. Show time was only a couple hours away.

The troop committee and parents have decided to host an open house to celebrate (?) my retirement as the scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 68. I have been told I need to attend this party. They even checked with me to make sure I had the date available so I suppose I will be spending the afternoon of Saturday, February 25, at the local American Legion.

The committee has kept me out of the planning. It is like they do not want my help or something. I do not quite understand. Oh, wait a minute. I have to take that back. They did ask for my help for a couple of items. They wish to invite all troop alumni but they do not know how to contact of them. I have the email addresses for some of them and I am friends with quite a few on Facebook. The committee asked me to contact them and invite them to the open house so I send out an email and posted an event notice to Facebook. I did it but it seemed weird to invite people to a party about me.

The committee is trying to keep me in the dark about what they have been planning. I know it will be three hours long. I recently discovered a post on Facebook about the chance of there being some speeches. A parent has asked that I allow them to use the thirty-some photo albums I have made of troop events through the decades. They also want the pictures of the Troop 68 Eagle Scouts I have hanging on the wall in the Family Room. I thought it was just an afternoon for the current troop and troop alumni but Monday night I happened to see my name on the credit union’s electric outdoor marque so I guess it is open to the public.

A few years ago my siblings and I held an open house for our parents 50th wedding anniversary. My parents were worried that not many people would show up. (Just the opposite happened). Now I know how they felt. Will any alumni attend this party or will it just be the current troop members and their families? (There have been several alumni that have replied to the Facebook post.)

Most of the former troop members have moved away from Melrose as they went off to college, began careers, and started families. Only a few still live in town. A dozen or so still keep in touch regularly. If it were not for Facebook I would not know much about any of my former Scouts.

To tell the truth, I am looking forward to the open house because (I hope) it will be an opportunity to see several alumni that I do not get to visit with very often. I am sure it will be a good time.