What is Palaver?
Palaver is an annual camp held by cub leaders, for cub leaders, as an aid to your work as a leader.
All leaders are invited to Palaver, not just cub leaders. All of our activities can be adapted for different age groups.
Please extend the invitation to all leaders in your District. We have joey, scout, venturer and group leaders that regularly come to Palaver and find it a fun and productive weekend.
If you have met and made a contact with a cub leader from outside our region at a course, or wherever, please feel free to invite them along.
South Met is one of only a few Regions to still hold a full weekend Palaver.
We have met many new leaders this year, who may not have heard too much about Palaver.
For those who are unsure of what Palaver is and how it works –
The camp is always themed, to give you a full program of activities run around a central theme.
From Friday night to Sunday afternoon, we have a structured program which can be used almost exactly to run a cub camp (Bambara district run their annual district cub camp using the year’s Palaver program).
You will come home with a thick package of notes, detailing at least three programs you can run at a pack meeting, games and activities, crafts, and often some form of formal training.
You will meet many leaders from around our region, and make contacts that you will meet up with on various other outings, such as Region Cub Day Out, Region Camp, Cuboree etc.
A lot of value is found in chatting to other leaders – you will hear about different activities, camps and outings that people have taken their cubs to, you can chat about different ways to resolve situations that come up in a cub pack, and many other aspects of being a leader are discussed. You will always learn something new. Keep a notebook handy.
As it is an informal and fun weekend, you can ask questions at any time. If we can’t answer your question straight away, we will find out the answer and get back to you.
Participants will be assigned into a team, within which you will work together in your activities.
On Saturday, participants will be asked to dress-up in costume relating to the theme – this information is sent to you once you apply to come to Palaver.
On Saturday night we have a sit-down dinner which somehow ties in with the camp’s theme, and some related entertainment.
We sleep in bunkrooms at either Heathcote Scout Camp or Camp Coutts, we don’t generally camp in tents.
From a Region point of view this is a training weekend, as it is considered to be of great value to leaders to attend. This means that you can ask you Group to pay for your attendance.
Sadly this is not yet supported at the State level, Palaver is not recognized as an official training weekend – we continue to work on this one.
Most of all, Palaver is fun. It is the ultimate “learning can be fun” camp.
It has been the beginning of many good friendships, and has often been a way to bring packs together, if you find a leader that is running an activity that you can bring your cubs along to.
We highly recommend that you come along and try it, Palaver is a truly rewarding weekend.
If you cannot make it for the whole weekend, you are welcome to attend for part of the time, just fill in the application form for the appropriate time.
We hope to see you there.