Case study: DFs running a group - one year later. Recommendations: Don’t let other people try and tell you that you shouldn’t be doing it because you are too young Ask for help from anyone that may have experience, people are often willing to give advice and help out where they can Be organised with planning activities Have fun!
Summary:
Olivia gave a case study last year on DFs running groups. Olivia tells us how educating the youth of The North for social change is going and how you can do it too.
Useful links: Read Olivia’s first case study here www.issuu.com/woodcraftfolk/docs/ young_leaders_-_dfs_running_a_pione Great resources can be found on www.issuu.com/woodcraftfolk and www.woodcraft.org.uk The DF website http://www.spanthatworld.com
Folk “Woodcraft !” is AMAZING
“Just give it a go. You should be se en as equal: it’s Woodcr aft!”
“At training we learn t lots of things and took away some great ideas for group nights.”
What happened: The Pioneer group has got a good 6-8 members that come on a weekly basis there are a few others that come occasionally. The Venturer group are all quite old and will be DFs by September, however we’ve got a few younger ones that are starting to come, which is great because it means that we’ll still be able to run the Venturer group. Recently I’ve needed to take a step back from running the Pioneer group to spend time on university work,. We really struggled to get the parents to step up and agree to volunteer to help out, which meant that we were all worried that the group would collapse again, but at the last minute a new girl joined and her mum said that she would be happy to help out which is great! Over the past year I have been to a Venture Leaders’ training weekend at Lockerbrook with other members and leaders. We learnt lots of things and took away some great ideas for group nights to run with the Venturers, DFs and Pioneers. It has also meant that we have been able to teach the Venturers and DFs more about safeguarding which I think it’s really important they know about. I think there should be a mixture of both young and older leaders because the younger ones sometimes might find it easier to relate to the younger members and find fun yet educational things to do with them. However older leaders are very beneficial due to potentially more experience and to encourage sustainability. Young leaders might need to take time out or be moving away for education. For anyone who's not sure about having or being a young leader - just give it a go. It can be very hard at times because sometimes other adults don’t quite see young people as their equal, even though they should because it’s Woodcraft! Over the next year, I hope that all groups in Hebden Bridge continue to grow. We’re hoping for some District camps to various places and lots of fun to be had.