Patrol In Council

It is an excellent thing for each Patrol to have a "Patrol in Council," consisting of all its members, with the Patrol Leader in the chair. In some Patrols it is a practice for the Patrol to be entertained to tea every Sunday afternoon by one of its members. That is to say that each member of a Patrol of seven entertains his six brother Bears every seventh Sunday. After tea they may go off to attend the "Scouts' Own," if such is held. Between the tea and the "Scouts' Own "is quite a good time to hold the "Patrol in Council," but it can be held equally well on any other occasion.
The principal object of this Council is that the Leader should be in touch with the wishes and aims of the Scouts under him, and that he should act as far as possible in accordance with them. He has a seat on the Court of Honor, not so much to express his own personal views, but rather as the representative of his Patrol. In the matter of specializing for badges it has already been pointed out that the Scoutmaster should not impose his wishes upon his Leaders, but that he should put the matter before his Court of Honor. In the same way it is still more important that the Patrol Leader should not impose his wishes on his Patrol, but should, as far as possible, invite his Patrol to decide for themselves what badges to work for. This tends to bring in a good spirit of co-operation.
There is practically no limit to the questions which may be discussed at the "Patrol in Council." If there is a Patrol Competition, in which each Patrol may enter only three Scouts, these three would be selected at the "Patrol in Council." If the Patrol are doing any "Patrol good turns, these, too, will be arranged and decided upon at this meeting. Questions of irregular attendance, of new recruits, of Patrol camps, of inter-patrol visiting, will be thoroughly thrashed out, and in some cases Patrols hold their own debates, have their own special rules, and run their own magazine. There is a Lone Patrol in a village in North Wales which holds a very fine reputation as the result of four or five years of strenuous scouting, but it must be remembered that every Patrol is in many respects a Lone Patrol - that is to say, that it is a self-contained, self-reliant community, which goes about the world seeking to do its duty to God and to the King, to help other people at all times, and to obey the ten Scout Laws. It realizes that it cannot help other people at all times unless it knows how to help them. This is why the Patrols devote so much time to acquiring technical knowledge.