AFTER 10 years of teaching life and leadership skills to hundreds of Cohuna and district youth, Stuart Richardson is preparing to hang up his Scout scarf for the final time.
The dairy farmer will retire as Scout leader, but not before a replacement is found.
Mr Richardson – who is also the leader in charge of all sections – officially joined as a leader in 2007.
“My four boys were interested in the movement, so I joined Trevor West, whose kids were also keen, as a leader,” he said.
Mr West has also announced his retirement.
Mr Richardson was a youth member himself in Cubs, Scouts and Venturers.
“My biggest achievement was attaining the Queen’s Scout [the highest youth award achievable in the Venturer section for children aged 15 to 18 years of age]. There were two of us at the time and same for about three or four years in successive years,” he said.
Mr Richardson joined the popular worldwide movement as a leader when it celebrated its centenary birthday and said the movement has developed and changed its attitudes, with a greater emphasis on outdoor adventure.
“Other groups would kill to have our locality setting, which is why I wouldn’t want to see the group fade away and die, which the Guides have, unfortunately,” he said.
“On a hot night the Scouts can jump into the creek for a swim or a paddle in the canoes.”
Mr Richardson recalled the time when the group barely managed financially with just three members.
Today there are 10 Cubs and 15 Scouts registered with the group.
“I have made a lot of friends and enjoyed witnessing the kids grow into adults,” he said.
“I like to have just as much fun as the kids – so we always organised activities where I could get involved too.”
He said the biggest highlight was the opening of the hall extension two years ago after more than five years of lobbying for grant funding.
The expanded hall included a new equipment storage area, Venturer den and accessible bathrooms.
Another momentous feat was convincing a socially and intellectually disadvantaged member to attend the Australian Jamboree.
“When he first joined he didn’t speak, by the time he returned from the Jamboree he was a different person,” Mr Richardson said.
Mr Richardson said he would be pleased if someone could manage the day-to-day running of the group.
“It’s just time that someone else had a go,” he said.
Mr Richardson said he would assist new leaders in the immediate future.
“You don’t have to be an ex-Scout, nor a good camper because training is provided,” he said.
He praised past and current committee members for their competent financial and operational decisions.
