Preparing young people with skills for life
We're Scouts and everyone is welcome here. Every week, we help almost half a million people aged 4-25 develop skills for life. Are you ready to join the adventure?
We're Scouts and everyone is welcome here. Every week, we help almost half a million people aged 4-25 develop skills for life. Are you ready to join the adventure?
Welcome to the 4th/85th Dunblane Scout Group where we believe that the experience of Scouting will impart skills for life and lots of fun. Dunblane Scouts has played a prominent part in the community over the last forty years. We are part of the Stirling and Trossachs District, one of the four Districts in the Forth Region.
In our Group, young people ages 6 – 14 years old belong to one of four sections: Beavers, Cubs, or Scouts depending on age.
Scouting for young people between 14 – 18 years old is provided through several District level Explorer Scout Units. And, adults 18+ years old are welcome as volunteers within the group leading Beaver, Cubs, and Scout sections, or in the District’s Network Section for young adults and SAS (Scout Active Support) Unit for all adults with an interest in supporting all Scouting activities in the District.
Our meeting hall on Ochlochy Park next to the Dunblane Sport Club.
We are in the fortunate position to own a purpose built meeting hall on Ochlochy Park next to the Dunblane Sport Club. Inside is a bouldering wall, toilets for boys and girls, a committee meeting room, a leaders’ room, a full kitchen and lots of storage. The building is fully centrally heated.
Dunblane Scouts also has a broad range of modern camping equipment including tents, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, cookers and cooking supplies, allowing our members to attend camps on a regular basis.
Without our volunteers, Scouts simply wouldn’t exist. Volunteering is a brilliant way to boost your mental wellbeing. It’s a great feeling knowing you’re helping young people get skills for life, and you might even learn a lot about yourself along the way. Want to learn more about volunteering?
The Trustee Board exists to support the Group Scout Leader and ensure the effective administration of the Scout Group. It is responsible for:
Ex-Officio Members These sit on the board because of their appointment. If they resign the role they cease being a Trustee Board member and a trustee.
Nominated Members’ Persons nominated by the Group Scout Leader and approved at the Group’s Annual General Meeting (Note: nominated members are not required to be members of the Group Scout Council before nomination, but may well be). The number of nominated members must not exceed the number of elected members.
Elected Members Persons elected from the Group Scout Council at the Group’s Annual General Meeting.
Co-Opted Members Are chosen annually by the Board for their skills to be on the Board. The number of co-opted members must not exceed the number of elected members. Other people who the board believes are suitable for a specific function are ‘co-opted’ onto the board.
Ideally, between the nominated members, elected members and co-opted members, the Trustee Board should include a parent of at least one member of each of the sections in the group.
When the aliens tell me to “Take me to your leader” they’ll be going to Kenneth! He works hard to keep the day-to-day minutia ticking along in our busy group, and even finds time to lead Thursday Scouts, too. No question is too small for Kenneth. He will point you in the right direction if he isn’t the right person.
Helen can help when there’s a funding issue or reimbursement request. She’s also pretty handy with power tools if you need a compost bed built out of pallets.
Christina is our hard working membership secretary, a very busy role in a group as popular as ours. If you have a placement question or want to check on your young person’s wait list spot, she’s on top of it.
All the leaders your young person will come into regular contact with during their time in scouting have been through a formal vetting process to ensure their suitability to work with young people. The leaders are all PVG scheme members who take part in a training programme that must be regularly updated and includes first aid training.
If you wish to e-mail the Dunblane Scout Group Lead Volunteer privately, please send your message to groupscoutleader@dunblanescouts.com. This e-mail address is controlled by the Group Lead Volunteer only.
Scouting UK mandates minimum adult-to-young person ratios for safety, so we will often call on parents to help. Scouting is also a regulated activity so that all adults attending programming must be PVG screened.
We leaders either were or are currently scout parents ourselves so we like to meet other parents interested in getting more involved like us. There are loads of opportunities for us to work your skills and knowledge into the programme, but we also greatly welcome basic assistance with supervision, so get in touch if there is something you’d like to share.
When parent helpers are essential (like when we meet outside the scout hall), we will note it in OSM (‘parent helper rota’) where you will be able to sign up to be a parent helper on a particular night.
The Dunblane Scout Group is a registered charity made up of entirely volunteers. We welcome support of all kinds. If you would like to make a monetary donation to the group, please contact treasurer@dunblanescouts.com or visit our Givey Donation Page and support to the fundraising efforts of our young people in the 4th/85th Dunblane Scout Group.
Or hold the camera on your phone up to this QR code to link directly to our Givey Donation page to donate via card and leave a comment. We really enjoy reading them all!
4th/85th Dunblane Scouts run a few regular fundraisers each year including the Scout Post, Santa Sleigh, Bottle Stalls at the Dunblane Fling and the Bridge of Allan Highland Games. We are always in need of volunteers with these events, so don’t hesitate to get in touch if you can help.
Scout Post Scout Post is a scheme that has run in Dunblane for many years and offers members of the public an affordable alternative for posting their Christmas cards within Dunblane. All the sections (Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Young Leaders) in 4th/85th work together to provide a local Christmas card delivery service for just 50p per card!
Stamps are sold in local shops along the high street like Wags, Weigh Ahead, and Meldrum’s. Then, collected, sorted, and posted by members of the group in the weekend before Christmas. It’s a very popular and successful fundraiser for the group.
Santa Sleigh In addition to the Scout Post at Christmas-time, Santa rides his sleigh around the streets of Dunblane spreading Christmas cheer with colourful lights and festive music while his 4th/85th elves knock on doors to collect change for charity. In previous years the Scouts Santa Sleigh has supported Ross Dowey, Ochils Mountain Rescue, The Dunblane Centre, and Ripple Retreat.
Coffee Morning Occassionally, Dunblane Scouts will host a coffee morning where the public is invited to enjoy a coffee or tea and home baking while being waited on by our young people. It’s another favourite among the young people – like playing at being a server for a day.
Bottle Stalls at Local Events Some of our most popular fundraising efforts are when we run games and bottle tombola stalls at local events like the Bridge of Allan Highland Games and the Dunblane Fling. The stalls are 100% run by the young people while adults supervise and ensure that money is handled safely. Contact your one of your section volunteers if you’d like to be part of the next local event.
An explorer, adventurer and TV presenter, Dwayne's been seen in BAFTA nominated Channel 5 series Race to the Pole, on BBC Springwatch, Countryfile, National Geographic and Disney+.
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