Local scouts from the 2nd Hatfield on a power boat.

The updated site, www.brookmans.com/scouts highlights some of the many and varied activities that have been offered to local youngsters recently.

Public Relations Officer James Bentall relaunched the site to show how scouting has changed in recent years.

"It's sad to see that some members of the community obviously feel scouting has nothing to offer them and react by attacking our scout headquarters. Perhaps, if they were more aware of the variety of activities open to them, they might be more inclined to support us, and maybe come along and join in," he said.

The updated website includes a photo gallery of the extended range of adventurous activities local scouts have been involved in recently.

According to James, "there’s so much more to scouting these days including activities on land, on the sea and in the air - there’s bound to be something for everyone.".

He says an important part of the scout programme is that the young people in the local troop have an input into what activities they want to do. He says this allows them to follow their own interests and discover some new ones.

"Lots of people seem to have the idea stuck in their head of scouting as it used to be 40 or 50 years ago. However, we have moved on since then, and as the country's biggest co-educational uniformed youth movement, with nearly 500,000 members nationally, we are introducing today's youngsters to new and exciting experiences," he said.

For more information about scouting in the local area, have a look at the website or contact James by telephoning 01707 647834, or by clicking here selecting 'James Bentall' from the drop down menu and emailing him via this site.

You can discuss scouting in this site's forum.

James Bentall is one of the volunteers who helps maintain this website.

26 February 2005