Goodness, I had absolutely no idea that it's nearly five months since I last posted. I guess this means that I've been busy...

Since I last posted my already hectic life has become even more chaotic than ever. With the opening of a new scout group in the nearby town of Edenderry, much of my time has been tied up with that. From its inception I'd been lurking in the background, overseeing its development from afar while my very good friend Mr B did the hard work and suffered the frustrations of trying to get things off the ground.

My reasons for doing this are self apparent, when you consider that I was already involved in another local scout group; I didn't want to upset anyone unnecessarily and wanted to continue with them for the interim to ensure a smooth transition between leaders. The last thing the scouts needed was any upset, remember a youth group is all about the youth!

When the last scouting year came to an end I was relieved. Also suffering some degree of burn out. And very unsure of the path I intended to follow during the year to come. My loyalties were well and truly torn between loyalty to my own group and loyalty to Mr B and the group that he was in the process of setting up. The new leaders were nicely settled in under the guidance of my old leader who had rejoined the section and things had progressed to the point that the youth members were happy to trust them. That was my cue to hand over the reigns.


Maybe I handled things badly, maybe I didn't. I handed in my resignation on the first evening back after the summer. I had to visit with my Group Leader and his wife at their family home to do so. This was immediately before the scout section reopened, without me as section leader. I felt bad, guilty, disloyal and frankly upset to be leaving them. In a way there was also a sense of relief. The new group, assuming it opened wouldn't be opening until January 2012 which would allow me a full six months to recoup and prepare for life elsewhere. At the time, it was debateable as to whether or not I would even go ahead and commit myself to the new group - I felt rotten, and I needed a rest.

St Paddy's Day 2012

Well, time has passed and the new group is open. In February I was voted into the position of Group Leader, which is a commitment lasting three years. It's not something that I'd envisaged, but Mr B was adament that I was the man for the job and my fellow scouters agreed. The rest is history...


The past few months have been really quite exciting. Working with ten committed people to make the new group work has been an absolute pleasure. Things came together very quickley in the end, much to everyone's surprise, although this wasn't without the occasional hiccup. Together we opened the doors on January 18th to a handful of kids who wanted to become either cub scouts or scouts, our numbers have steadily grown since then and now we have a nice round number of twenty-four youth members.


Of course anyone will tell you that scouting only requires an hour a week's commitment. My response to that is "...in your dreams!" I've gone from a position of off loading commitments or acquiring even more than before and to be honest it's not easy. I'm also back in place as secretary of Offaly Dyslexia (my predecessor dumped the job over Christmas without so much as a by your leave), I've been dragged onto the membership committee of my local BNI Chapter and I'm now the Group Leader in my scout group.


So there you have it. With all my ridiculous commitments, I'm struggling to make cards, let alone enjoy the sanity that blogging affords...

Polly Pierce

Vinca Cards