Growing up, many of the gen x and millennials would have found themselves attending adventures, camps, and other outings, as well as once a week going to a den to learn life skills and have fun.
Scouts, which incorporates Joey, Cub, Scouts, Venturer, and Rover, was a passage to manhood where you would earn badges for all kinds of activities and spend plenty of time in the bush.
Over the decades it has changed from just boys to include girls with an age range from five up to 25. From that point, leadership positions could be attained.
Shailer Park Scout Group has been around for many years and their Den is tucked up in the bush off Anakie Drive in Cornubia.
For a time during COVID, the Den needed to close and when they worked to reopen, they found they did not have enough leaders.
To get things moving again, the remaining leaders had an open day to invite children to join and parents to sign up as leaders.
Now Group Leader Simon Hurling, took his daughter, Matilda, to the day to sign her up and they advised they needed more leaders. Simon decided to put his hand up and now helps run the Den.
“On the same day that I signed up, we had two other parents who put their hands up and joined us in the leadership team,” said Simon.
“From there, we put the word out for more and I found out about a few ex-members and said, ‘come on we need ya, come back’ and I can be very persistent with no not being an option for them.”
The Shailer Park group now has eight leaders and 30 children enjoying learning and developing skills with room to grow at the Den.
One of the adventures they had was a trip to the pool where they did their testing and earned swimming badges.
A night at the Den included pushbike safety and maintenance with a ride for fun. This was not just for the night; it was in preparation for a bigger event planned in the future.
“With the reopening we’re building the foundational skills for them and it’s only getting bigger and better and bigger camps and things like that,” said Simon.
The different youth groups meet once a week during the school terms with camps done on weekends or school holidays.
Shailer Park Scout Group can be contacted on [email protected] or 0408 783 147.
