complaint about son's beavers group

[crisgal]

whenever my little boy brings anything home anything from beavers, it absolutely stinks of cigarette smoke.
I find it very offensive. Even his necker - he was so pleased to get it, but I had to take it off him to wash straight away.
His sister is in cubs at the same group, but it doesn't happen with her stuff.
I don't know who to complain to. All the beaver leaders and organisers seem elderly and have been doing it for years. I don't want to be known as the awkward parent. I've looked on the scout website to see how to go about it but can't find anything on there.

[emeritus]

http://scouts.org.uk/complaints/

This may help

[AlBags]

Take the stuff round to the organisers and ask them to smell it and tell them you are concerned.
They will understand I expect. Might even do something about it.

[crisgal]

i don't know how i missed that, emeritus!

Well, its a bit awkward really, Albags, i think its when stuff has been kept at the organisers house that it smells.
Its tricky really, as my neighbour is on the committee and we havn't seen eye to eye for years. I just want him to either, ignore the issue thinking that i'm being intentionally awkward, or treat my son differently. Do you see what I mean? If I go to the district commissioner, as it says in the above link - it looks like I'm going over their heads!
What would you do?

[ChuckFickens]

I'd speak politely to the person that you think is causing the smell first.

Smokers don't notice the smell themselves and a polite word just pointing out that the stuff smells of smoke will hopefully be enough to make them more careful about where they store it.

Not all smokers are inconsiderate, some of us will try our best to ensure our habit doesn't effect others.

[cazzz1975]

Tread carefully!, even if you are very tactful about it some smokers can become very defensive and upset about it .

[crisgal]

yes, i'm going to have to, aren't i?
I thought someone would answer that i'm being picky, but i',m really not am I?

We spent a fortune at the christmas fair, and every prize we won, absolutely stank. I felt bad passing it on to the charity shop.
it's not right.

[The-HouseHusband]

Hi crisgal,

Have a chat with the leaders when you drop your son off or pick him up from Beavers, if no one has mentioned it to them before then they are not going to know of a problem.

I am a scout leader myself and hate it when you get a visit from district for something that could easily be sorted with a quick chat between parents and leaders, we all get stuck in our ways at times and sometimes just need a gentle nudge to make us wake up and see things from a different angle.

Dont worry about your neighbour, if he is part of the groups executive committee then he is just a helper and is not a warranted leader so can have no input on what happens on a meeting night.

Hope all goes well for you and your son and that he carries on through the various scouting sections, he will get so much from his time and hopefully make you a proud mum.

[crisgal]

that's very helpful, thank you. I'll be a big brave soldier and do it on tues at his next meeting.