Cub Scout Blue and Gold Dinner

As usual now is the time for the Blue and Gold Dinner/Banquet held in place of the typical Pack Meeting.  This annual event helps to celebrate the anniversary of Scouting and the Scouting movement.

One of the main things as Cub Master is to make some kind of statement and/or speech that relates to scouting and it's origins.  it is also a time to reflect on the year and give a kind of preview of the year ahead and where we as a group want to go.

So I've been having fun trying to find some information to use at the upcoming Blue and Gold Dinner.  I'm going to include a few things that I found and hope that some of them can be of use to those out there looking for resources.  One of the main resources in the USA is the Baloo Bugle.  This monthly resource has information for both the Pack meeting and Den Meetings.    There are tons of run-ons and skits that can be useful.

In the past we have done or had some major presentations for our Blue and Gold.  I made sure to get the local Order of the Arrow Chapter Dance team to come and present for our Blue and Gold Celebrating 100 years of scouting.  I was scheduling them way back in December to make sure I could have them.  Unfortunately, they got there late due to getting a little lost.  It all worked out well in the end.


And now the information.

History of scouting - skit of sorts (source - Baloo Bugle)

This is a 2 person play.  Grandpa is sitting as his grandson enters the room.  You could add more people by having more grandson Cub Scouts.

For the parts -
S is the Scout's part:
 G is the Grandpa's part.

S:      Grandpa, were you ever a Cub Scout?

G:     Of course I was!

S:      What was Scouting like then?

G:     Well Cub Scouting began in the United States back in 1930. Of Course it and the Boy Scouts were around in other countries since 1907. The Boy Scouts troops started in the United States in 1910 but there were unofficial Cub Pack in America as early as 1916.

         At first, we were just called Cubs and our leaders were called Cubbers. A Cub Scout was a Boy Scout who had been a Cub. In the earlier days, the dens were run by Boy Scout den chiefs, and about 1936 Dan Mothers started to help the den chiefs. I recall that in 1930 you could buy the entire uniform, all of it, for just $6.00! That was still a lot of money back then though, Den chiefs had to sign off the requirements – not your parents.

         The ranks were Bobcat, which was a small pin like the pins you can earn, and then there was Wolf, Bear, and after bear you were called a Lion. Webelos originally stood for “Wolf Bear Lion Scout.” BSA replaced Lion about 1967 to make it easier to transfer to Boy Scouting. In 1967 there were a lot of changes to the program! We had “Parent-Cub Dinners” as far back as 1933.

         About 1941 they started to be called “Blue and Gold Banquets.” You had to be 9 to 11 years old to be a Cub Scout. In 1949 , they allowed 8 year olds to join, We added about 150,000 boys that year! Tigers were the most recent change- It was added in 1982.

S:      Boy things sure were different back then!

G:     Yep, but we had a lot in common with you today! Cubbing was a lot of fun back then, and it still is now!

This next one focuses on lifting up thy brother, setting an example.
Since we had some issues with respect in our dens we are focusing on helping the boys be respectful, uplifting and provide more service.

I Wish I Was That Brother

Upon graduation from college, a few years back, a young man received a gift from his older brother. It was a shiny brand new Packard. The car of his dreams! One morning as he approached the car he saw a young lad of 12 peering through the windows into the car! Obviously enthralled with the car, the lad didn't hear the young man approach. "Is this your car?" the lad asked when he noticed the man. "Yes it is!" the man responded! "Wow! This is a nice car!" remarked the lad, "How much did it cost?" "I don't know!" answered the man. "It's your car, but you don't know how much it cost?" exclaimed the young lad. "No," stated the man, "you see, my brother bought it for me!" "I wish...I wish...I wish" stuttered the lad. The man thinking he's going to say, I wish I had a car like this. "I wish I was like that brother!" finished the boy!
Amazed at the lads response he offered to drive him around the block! As they were driving, the lad requested if he would drive him home. Thinking he wanted to show off that he was riding in a new car to his friends, the man agreed! They drove more than a few blocks to where the boy lived and as he turned onto the street the man noticed that it wasn't the best kept neighborhood! The houses were dirty and broken. He pulled up in front of the boys house. "Please wait," the boy yelled as he ran into the house! "Oh, he's probably going to get his family to show off the new car", the man thought to himself.

How unselfish this boy was....to be the kind of brother that looked after other first!
What kind of Scout are you...Are you like the older brother!
source - http://www.netwoods.com/d-smminute.html

Another from the the scoutmaster minute site.  This one is good for showing how our influence can spread, and the worth of a boy or person.  Each one matters or we matter to the one, though it might not seem like it at the time.

One Day At A Time

A friend of ours was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along, he began to see another man in the distance. As he grew nearer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things out into the ocean.
As our friend approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time, he was throwing them back into the water.
Our friend was puzzled. He approached the man and said, "Good evening, friend. I was wondering what you are doing."
"I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide right now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don't throw them back into the sea, they'll die up here from lack of oxygen."
"I understand," my friend replied, "but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can't possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don't you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can't you see that you can't possibly make a difference?"
The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied, "Made a difference to that one!"

• Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen taken from "Chicken Soup for the Soul"

There are hundreds of thousand (millions) of boys around the world who can benefit from the Scouting experience. We can't reach them all, but even within our own groups we see our task overwhelming, not making any difference. However, to that one boy in your den, pack, troop or post who looked to you as a role model, a friend, an inspiration (even if he never told you) you've made a difference!
You Do Make A Difference -- in making our world a better place to be....One Boy At A Time!
source - http://www.netwoods.com/d-smminute.html

And a couple of last ones.  A great quote from Lord Baden-Powell Founder of scouting.


Be prepared
The end is character with purpose.
Just like Saint George of old the Boy Scouts of today fight against evil and unclean.
There is no religious side of the movement; the whole of it is based upon religion.
As a scout, you are obliged to do at least one good turn every day.
You can smile at the rain if you have pitched your tent properly.
Scouts learn endurance in the open. Like explorers, they carry their own burdens and 'paddle their own canoes.'
A scout is 'clean in thought, word and deed.'
The scout movement is a world-wide brotherhood.
A boy learning what he can as a scout, has a good chance in the world.
Obey the Scout Law.
Baden-Powell Chief Scout of the World.

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How many good deed examples can you give that impacted the world?
"This I believe: A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a boy."

http://www.netwoods.com/d-smminute.html

Hope some of these have been helpful to someone stopping by.  And if you have one you'd like to share them by all means leave a comment so that we can see and read what you have.

Scouting can be so fun.  We can help the boys to learn life skills, respect to others, service and it's uses, and help them spiritually mature all while having fun in a clean, safe environment.
For Scouting fits so well with established religion.  It is like the activity arm....... but it can be so much more.


Buaidh - NO - Bas