Fifty Years Old and Still Going Strong
This post is greater than 6 months old - links may be broken or out of date. Proceed with caution!
By Ruth Grant, former President of SCRA
Fifty years ago 14 participants completed the first Scottish National In-Service Ranger Training Course. Having worked and stayed together for 10 weeks – how things have changed! They decided they could not just say goodbye and never meet again so they formed the Scottish Countryside Rangers’ Association (SCRA). It quickly got on with developing a Constitution, appointing Sir Frank Fraser Darling, an iconic figure in conservation in Scotland, as its first President, and producing its first newsletter, SCRAmble. In the first edition the editor said “...our main function will be to act as a forum for Rangers where views and ideas may be aired and exchanged...”.
In the early years membership expanded as more posts were set up in this new profession. The annual national training course was a fertile recruiting ground and almost all Rangers became members. Among their activities were meetings to exchange good practice and the production of about 3 editions of SCRAmble per year. It is still going strong as an on-line magazine – we have just produced edition 127. In the early years there was a lot of enthusiasm for developing skills of managing the area where the Rangers worked, environmental education and interpretation, and dealing with difficult situations. But there were also contentious issues including low pay scales and the place of volunteers. SCRA is not a trade union but nevertheless expresses its members views forcefully.
We should not underestimate the influence of the Countryside Commission for Scotland (CCS) which gave generous grant-aid for Ranger posts and, as well as running the training course (which settled on 6 weeks as the right length), also hosted an annual meeting of Rangers and their managers and gave a platform to SCRA to develop its work. During the '80s SCRA was very active with innovative projects. We were early promoters of working with diverse groups and ran the first Scottish workshops on working with disabled people. We also delivered the Healthy Outside project, in partnership with the Scottish Health Education Group. We ran workshops and produced Healthy Outside, a directory of opportunities for people to get out with Rangers to help to improve their physical and mental well-being, still a priority for today’s Rangers.
We also looked outwards to the international stage. We began by visiting Denmark with a contingent from England and Wales. We also twinned with the Icelandic Rangers’ Association which continues today. The biggest achievement was the formation of the International Ranger Association (IRF) during a SCRA conference at Loch Lomond, along with the Countryside Management Association (England and Wales) and the Association of National Park Rangers (USA). It now has over 100 member associations and has a triennial World Congress. SCRA organised the 5th Congress in 2006, a highlight of our 50 years.
There were many ups and downs in the 2000s. In the early '90s CCS had merged with the Nature Conservancy Council (Scotland) to form Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Rangers became little fish in a big pool. The national training course was long over, as most people got their jobs after doing relevant higher education courses like Countryside Management. Not only did the shock of the 2008 financial crash affect the number of Rangers but also SNH reduced grant levels and, from 2008, the Scottish Government banned it from giving grants to publicly-funded bodies like Local Authorities. Rangers felt unsupported although SCRA did its best to promote them to decision makers and the public. We negotiated with SNH to set up the Ranger Development Partnership (RDP) where managers of the major Ranger employers co-operate on promoting and supporting all Rangers.
By now social media had become vital for promoting Ranger Services. We started with a website, which we have recently redesigned to be more comprehensive and user friendly. Our facebook page is very active and we use other social media channels to some extent.
We also did two major projects, with support from RDP. These were the development of a continuing professional development (CPD) programme and a revitalised Junior Ranger scheme – we had been involved in a European initiative in the '80s and '90s. Both these still operate. We are piloting a revised approach to CPD and the Junior Rangers goes from strength to strength encouraged by a part-time Development Officer paid for by members of RDP. We also revived the idea of SCRA conferences with a biennial 3-day Ranger Rendezvous which not only provides training but is also a great opportunity for Rangers from over Scotland to socialise and feel part of the national network of Ranger Services.
By 2015 there had been a steady reduction in the number of Ranger posts and SCRA decided action was needed to change this so we took a petition to the Scottish Parliament, asking for a revision of the policy on Ranger Services. We had done a survey to find out how bad the problem was and this helped the Petitions Committee to uphold our request. By the time this process had run its course Covid-19 had arrived and we knew that there would be many more staycationers than normal, with all the attendant problems of car parking, dirty camping, fires etc. The Government set up a Better Places Fund and a considerable proportion of it was spent on seasonal Ranger posts across Scotland. We believe this may not have happened if we hadn’t put a lot of effort into the petition.
We could not have achieved all that we have over 50 years without the voluntary input of Rangers on our Council and the support of our members. We are busy organising our next Ranger Rendezvous at the end of November where we will also celebrate 50 years of SCRA. You are welcome to join us – see our website www.scra-online.co.uk or contact us via email.