Manager's Blog - April 2015
24th April 2015

Welcome to my first ever Managers Blog !!! following the unit camp, members told me you wanted to hear more about what’s going in the unit, and how you can get involved. So, what better why then a monthly blog to tell you what’s been happening, and our plans for the future. This month’s is a little longer then usual, but please bare with me as I have loads to tell you.
Working with HQ
As mentioned as the unit camp, I hold a bi-monthly call with HQ and the Specialist Advisors for Inclusion and Diversity to talk about what FLAGS are working on, and how we can support their work. This month Debbie, UK Commissioner for Adult Support joined us to talk about the wider diversity strategy and the work plan for the year ahead. The call was a great opportunity to share my thoughts for what HQ should be focusing on, but also an opportunity to explore the work we can do over the next 12 months.
Here is just the headlines of the areas we discussed, and working together we will look at how these can be taken forwards on the next year. Throughout my blogs, I’ll not only give you an update on how we doing against our service agreement, but also how we are moving some of these areas forwards.
1.LGBT Role Models
We want to take as many opportunities as we can to showcase LGBT adults in Scouting and show more people that it’s ok to be Gay and a Scout Leader. We’ll being using pride events, and other key moments throughout the year to showcase leaders and young people, and show we’re a diverse movement. We’re also looking at ways of developing videos to share our experiences.
2.Supporting Young People
We’re going to spend time over the next year looking at how LGBT young people would like to be supported in Scouting, and collecting an evidence base to feedback to HQ and Debbie.
3.Supporting Pride
This will continue to be a key focus for the next 12 months, we will initially be looking to support more of the key pride events, and then be looking at how we can enable local scouting to attend events
4.Programme Ideas
We want to look at creating a small reange of diversity programme ideas for leaders to use with young people. We will do this in partnership with HQ.
5.Gilwell Reunion
We want to review our attendance at Gilwell Reunion to ensure we are providing the right support to all members of the unit, and the wider association.
6.Membership Survey
In September we will complete a membership survey to ensure we are still meeting the needs of our members, and begin to complete information for our new service agreement.
International
This month our international work has stepped up a gear, and we are being asked by more international Scout Associations for advice and guidance on supporting LGBT members. Earlier this month I took the time to have a skype call with Australia to share with them our experience of London Pride, and also start them on the move to setting up their own LGBT fellowship.
This month, the UK Scout Association hosted the Overture Network; this is an informal network for Scout and Guide Associations in Europe to share experience and best practice. During the weekend I had the opportunity to network and share best practice with organisations across the Europe, and have not only made some great friends but also developed relationships with different organisations. I took the time to build a longer term relationship with the Rainbow Scouts of Austria, and also with Scouts Ireland. You can read more about the relationships here.
This coming month Ill be attending a roundtable with the europeaon region of WOSM, Ill update you on this in my next blog.
Get Involved
There’s loads of ways that you as members can get involved in supporting the unit and its members. Why not check out our service agreement,, and let us know if there’s a way you could support it. Here are just a few of the areas were currently looking for support
- We’re looking for someone to support us in filming and editing a couple of videos. One about coming out as a Scout, and the second about attending pride events.
- We’re looking for members to organise social events around the UK, to help bring members together, we’ll support you we just people to choose a venue and be visible to members on the night.
- We’re looking for members to help us organise attendance at pride events across the UK. We’re looking for people to be our local contacts, and help us promote our attendance with local members.
- We’re looking for someone to help us write a document to share our experiences with Scouts across the World. This will be a one off project, and would be ideal for someone who knows the history of FLAGS.
Finally, Thanks for taking the time to read this extra large manager’s blog. Each month a member of the team will also provide a short update on their projects, as well as continuing to let you know how you can get involved.
Thanks Mike.
Manager@flagscouts.org.uk
Comments
I am delighted that Flags has been formed. I was involved in Scouting from 1947 to 1967, coming out was quite impossible during those years. Well done Flags !
Ernie Everest - 03rd May 2015 at 11:02am
interesting blog. be interested in being a local contact would like to have more detaiols about this.
IAN DAWSON - 02nd May 2015 at 2:20pm
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