[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Your comment, Martin, about taking 16/17 year olds on the digs if parents are
> there in loco parentis, is interesting. Does this mean that if I wanted to
> bring a group of 16/17 yr olds on a dig - and I was in loco parentis, then it
> would be okay?
I wasn't that heavily involved in the discussions that led to the change to a
minimum of 18, but I suspect that might be true. I'll contact you offline about
getting in touch with somebody who would know more.
>
> A point on alcohol and my "College" trips, where youngsters were 16+. The
> licensing laws were strictly maintained - even though we would eat in pubs -
> and at home many youngsters are regular drinkers. Even those over 18 were
> only allowed one drink with a meal - you see I did take my responsiblities
> seriously.
>
I guess the difference is that WRG isn't running youth holidays, it's running
working holidays for adults of all ages - and until a few years ago chose to
define the iower limit of adulthood as 16 and then 17. While we make a point of
always saying during the camp intro that there is absolutely no compulsion to
drink alcohol (and we do have some teetotal volunteers), I rather doubt if
you'd get many takers for a Canal Camp where the over-18s were limited to one
drink a night with their meals - a bit like trying to run such a rule at the
GIG - although I daresay it's a perfectly appropriate rule for a youth group
boat trip consisting of say 16-19 year olds.
Without seeking to suggest that there was any kind of attitude among WRG
leaders towards under-age drinking of "Well, we all did it didn't we?" we just
felt that for an adult volunteer leader of an adult volunteer work party, it
was just one responsibility too many for them to have to keep checking that
among the 18-70 year olds having a couple of cans in the accommodation or a few
pints down the pub, there wasn't a 17-year-old sneaking a drink - when the
danger was that said volunteer leader could be held to be legally in the wrong
if they were.
Martin
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
