Well at long last the summer weather looks to be here even though Kent has just had an Earthquake!! That means we can get our young people out and about and enjoy Wilverley and our nearby scouting activity centre’s and the New Forest. We are so lucky to have such a wide range of opportunities on our door step. For those of you planning a camp can I please prompt you to send me well in advance your nights away notification form and a full list of anyone over the age of 18 years old going on the camp. We must insure the records are correct and our safe guarding measures are upheld.
I had a wonderful evening with our members of SSAGO with a ball on a boat. This was organized by the SSAGO members in Southampton inviting other members from all over the UK. It was a wonderful dinner and a great time was had by me and all those that attended. Thank you for inviting me.
We had a great weekend again at Biblins in the Wye Valley for the scout Explorer and Network activity camp. A huge thank you goes to Ian Budd who yet again organized this event with ease and great efficiency. The young people climbed, walked, floated, and aimed and had a wonderful time. This weekend has always has been the highlight of my own scouting and long may it continue.
It is with great regret that it was decided at the last moment that we best not hold our St Georges Day Parade this year. The Centre of the City was closed off due to some crazy people wanting to run not walk. That made it impossible for us to hold our event safely and easily. Fortunately the 29th, 2nd and 1st Scout Groups assisted the race by volunteering to be marshalls and man the water stops. This was a great opportunity to again see scouting helping in the community. I have received several letters and emails from some of the runners saying how grateful they are to the scouts for helping and what a great encouragement they were. Well done to those that helped you did us proud.
The AGM season is upon us and so far I have attended the 1st, 9th and 14th AGM’s which have been wonderful events and well supported by the parents and everyone in the groups. Well done these formal meetings are a great way of shouting load how good we are and to also ask for more Parents to give us a helping hand.
The District AGM is being held on the 2nd July at 7.30pm at the 11th Scout HQ Kentish Road. I hope you can ALL come and join us for the evening and celebrate our scouting. We don’t often all get together so this year let’s try and get a full house. Please bring a dirty car the young people going on international trips are still fund raising and they will clean your car and you can buy a burger.
Don’t forget to ask for more adult volunteers, we have a Southampton City wide adult recruitment page if you have anyone at all who would like to get involved in our scouting please refer them to southamptonscouts.org.uk that will tell them of a range of different opportunities to join us and our adventure!!
We will be launching very soon a District Youth Council. I have asked Mike Langford and Heather Porter our new District Network Commissioners to help me by leading on this initiative. They will be guided by Keiran Brackley Ben Hibbert and Taylor Watson who are all young leaders. In partnership with Stuart Ganney and Dave Bowers on behalf of the scout and explorer sections. The format will be to invite two scouts from each group and two explorers from each unit to form the District youth Council. We will be asking for nominations soon. It will be wonderful to ask the representatives to help us shape our scouting going forward. Look out for more details soon.
We are also looking to recruit more adults to help us with the Tuesday morning maintenance team at Wilverley. If you know of anyone who would like to get involved please ask them to contact me or Laura Dyer the camp Site Manager. We would love to hear from them.
Recently I asked the District to look for the next DC as I would like to stand down in July next year. My thoughts were it would be a great help to me if the appointment was made now and they could help me in my last year. Several people were suggested as being well placed to take on the challenge but to date no one has put themselves forward. So be it, no worries I will crack on for my final year in my own peculiar way and see what we can achieve for our scouting.
I will be reviewing my position over the summer and will update you later on what the long term plan for the district management will be in the future.
Yours in Scouting, Colin Floyd, District Commissioner