Southampton City Scouts News Archive

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District Camp 4^th to 7^th May 2012

A huge ‘Thank You’ to you all for all your hard work at District Camp. It is one of only a few occasions that the whole District gets a chance to come together and we can be rightly proud. A special thank you to Mike and George who yet again were the coordinators for the camp and to Stuart for the Scout and Explorer schedule.

Thanks also to Dave, Kieron, Patsy, Pat, Andy, Lin and Elaine who helped us by being on the working party.

Adam Jollans, CC, spent Sunday morning with us and was greatly impressed by the amount of activities on offer and the high spirits and joy shown by the young people. I really hope you have all had a lot of parents saying thank you because you all deserve that.

During the camp Adam awarded Long Service Awards to:

Forty Years and Silver Wolf

Mike Jackson

Forty Years:

Colin Brown

Evan Morgan

Twenty Years:

Irene Hillier

Ten Years:

Nick Buck

Stuart Ganney

Andrew Jones

Five Years:

Peter Brown

Chris Buckland

Jason Ledwich

David Mc Keeman

Richard Sanders

Many congratulations to all of them. They are the people that make Scouting GREAT!! 

St Georges Day Parade Sunday 22^nd April 2012

Please pass on my thanks to everyone who attended the St Georges Day Parade. The rain was very unkind to us. It started to pour at 2pm just the time we arranged to meet at Kingsland Square. We get very wet and then it did it again when we came out the Church. Well done to everyone who kept smiling and again thanks go to Chris Davis for helping Itchen North organise the service.

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

Hampshire Scouting are holding a parade at Winchester Cathedral in the evening of Friday 15^th June. We will be taking a large contingent. I have booked a 48 seated coach to take us from Shirley Precintt at 5.15pm to Winchester and after the service will return us home.

I have sent messages to all GSL’s asking them to forward me the names of their Beaver Cub and Scout representatives. If I could have those soon I would be grateful. The young people will be looked after by a number of adults that I have invited to join us. If any one has any queries about this event please give me a call.

I would remind everyone that Scouting and Guiding are supposed to join forces to organise an activity to benefit the community. Please start to think how you will do this. If you want to make contact with your local Guide Unit but are not sure how to do that please speak to me and I will direct you to a nearby Guide Unit.

District Youth Council

Southampton City has been chosen as a pilot District to form our own Youth Council. The aim of the Council is to get a bigger voice from the young people in our district and for them to help us shape the scouting for the future. I am plesed to say that Naomi Kench and Fran Upshon have agreed to help lead this initiative with any other young people who are up for the challenge. We will be asking every group to put forward a scout to represent them and also inviting explorers and young leaders to join the council This iniiative will be starting soon so to all you young people please tell me if you would like to get involved. We are also looking to start a hospital group so if that interests you come forward!!

It’s the Time for Group Annual General Meetings

These are the dates of each of the groups meetings please feel free to come along and support your group.

1^st        Monday 14^th May @ 6pm

2^nd       Thursday 24^th May @ 7.30pm                              

7^th        Friday 15^th June 2012 @ 7.30pm

9^th        Wednesday 16^th May @ 7pm               

11^th        Tuesday 15^th May @ 7pm

13^th      Thursday 17^th May @ 7.15pm

14^th      Thursday 31^st May @ 7.30pm

22^nd     Thursday 14^th June @ 7.30pm

25^th      Wednesday 13^th June @ 7.30pm

26^th      Friday 15^th June @ 7.30pm To be rescheduled please

29^th      Sunday 20^th may @ 12 midday

Wilverley

We are holding two Wilverley Maintenance Days this year 14^th July and 29^th September. I would ask each and every group to come along and help us keep the site to a good standard. Please put those dates in your diaries and promote it amongst everyone in your groups.

WIN YOUR GROUP A FREE WEEKEND AT WILVERLEY

Your district camp site needs a new camp site badge and we thought it would be really good to challenge every group to design this for us.

The winning group will be given a free weekend at Wilverley.

The badge should be all about the building and the forest and nature and promotes scouting.

We have extended the entry date to the 1^st July Please send your entries to Colin Floyd by that date so we can select the winning group.

Adventurous Activities

Please note that any enquiries regarding permits are being dealt with by Lee Budd. Please contact him if you need any help. If you need a nights away permit please speak to Pat Rea for beaver and cubs and Graham Meeering for the Scouts. It would be good to get qualified before the summer.

Adult Appointments and Reviews

Some GSL’s have been asked to do reviews of some leaders in there groups some of these are well overdue for a review. All those being reviewed must have completed the safe guarding and first response training or the review cannot be approved. The review process should be concluded by now so if you’re a GSl and not done the reviews yet you need to do them now!!

District Website

The web site is proving to be well used and it is meeting its main objective which was to SHOUT LOUD HOW GOOD WE ARE.

A lot of work has taken place to get it to this stage but we would welcome some positive feedback on how the site could be further developed. We are looking for each group to use their own group page as a good way of promoting themselves to the community.  You should have all now signed into the members area if not please do so then you can be better informed and have a copy of the district calendar and the directory. If you have forgotten your password to the members area please contact Tony Kench who I am sure can help you. At this moment we have 98 members signed up.

The web site has delivered us several enquiries from Adults wishing to join us in Southampton City Scouting.

Southampton City Scouts Get’s on it’s Bike

The District agreed to enter into an arrangement with Forest Leisure Cycling in Burley to look after our cycling groups. They have offered us some substantial reductions in their hire costs for members of the District and also to Scouting and non-Scouting groups using the Wilverley Campsite.

NEW FOREST CYCLE HIRE – Enjoy the Ride!

Forest Leisure Cycling – Village Centre, Burley

I have attended most district events and have been to the following events not mentioned above

National Scout Service and Parade

I had a very enjoyable day at Windsor Castle attending the parade to celebrate with Naomi, Jason, Neil, Fran, Mike, Lisa and Jennifer on being awarded their Queen’s Scout Awards. They paraded past the Queen and Prince Philip and Bear Grylls Chief Scout. The national statistic is that only 1% of scouts go on to obtain this award so for us to have seven queens scouts in one year are a fantastic achievement. Can I pass on my thanks to them and I am sure they really enjoyed the event.

County Cub Six a Side Football Competition

I spent a lovely morning watching the 22^nd Cubs participate in the county competition. They of course did us proud. They played very well in a sporting manner and got through to the plate competition well done 22^nd Cubs

Hampshire Scouting County Conference

I attended the Hampshire Scout county conference. The main topics for the day were the rise in membership to scouting, the rise in the amount of girls joining scouts and discussing strategies for future growth. Flexible volunteering and how to get more parents into help us with our scouting.

Lots was spoken about the vision up to 2018 and we as a district will need to do more work on our own vision over the next year

Scout Roverang Show at the Nuffield Theatre

I and the ADC’s had a lovely evening at the Southampton Scouting Roverang Show. The children who performed in the show were having a wonderful time and it is yet an opportunity to give them some really happy memories that only scouting can offer.

Regrettably we only had two of scouts in the show and I really hope that we can greatly improve upon that next time. We have an open invitation to get our young people “stomping the boards!! And I can tell you we have lots of children who like to show off!! They will have a huge amount of fun and make new friends.  If any of our leaders would like to also help please tell me and I will get you involved.

The Active Support Annual General Meeting

I had a lovely evening with the support members listening to the support and events that they have facilitated during the year. A huge thank you goes to this happy band and for the support they give us with our scouting.

Up The Saints

Finally congratulations to Southampton FC for getting us back into the Premier League where we belong!!

Please don’t forget if you need to speak to me with anything your concerned about just give me a call and I am sure I can help you.

Mob Tel 07770364711 or colin.floyd@ntlworld.com

Yours in Scouting

Colin Floyd

District Commissioner

Southampton City Scout District

This year we had 8 teams reported ready to take part, this produced the ideal situation with 2 leagues of four. Network provided 2 referees and 2 Leaders also volunteered so we had a very efficient league playing schedule and were able to complete the league matches soon after 11. 

As time was on our side we were able to run a ‘Plate’ competition for the losing teams that hadn’t finished in the top two of their league. This was won by the 13th,”the best of the rest” as one the parents put it..

The final results of the two leagues produced semi-finals between the 14th and 2nd and 29th and 22nd.  The first semi final was won by the 14th with the 22nd winning the second semi final.  This made the final between 14th and 22nd, a repeat of the last two years final, with the 14th winning. Third place saw the 2nd taking on the 29th with the 29th coming out as the winners to take 3rd place.

Special thanks to the referees and Leaders for their help and support, also congratulations to all who took part in this event.

Graham Meering.

I had quite a bit to do with the change in the old West District where we decided to have several Units for Explorers and to try to establish our own Network Unit (this was against the initial recommendation for an informal County setup).

The Network Unit took the name of “Duck” and, despite this, has flourished adding a body of older Scouts continuing with their Scouting and supporting the District. A number of the Duck Unit went on to achieve the Queen’s Scout Award.

In 2003 Ian Rutherford, Rob Greenaway and myself took a small party of Explorers to camp at Coniston. Amongst them were Naomi Kench, Jason Ledwich and Neil (Bob) Boulter. Last week Ian, Rob and I were at the 11th HQ watching them receive the Queen’s Scout Award from the County Commissioner. What a splendid way to commemorate 10 years of Explorer Scouting and Network. Congratulations to them and to Fran who also received the award.

Coniston 2003 – Jason, Naomi, Bob, 2nd 3rd and 4th from left.

Footnote: they all had an impressive range of achievements to gain the award but I must mention Bob. For his Physical activity he ran the “Marathon du Sable”, 150 miles in 5 days across the Sahara Desert. He also spent 6 months in New Zealand walking in the mountainous South Island. I am amazed.

Fly

Adult Leadership Training

Well done to Nico Chart & Sam Chapman who have made a great start to improving the training arrangements in our District. They held a training Validation Breakfast to kick start our new approach to the training of our Leaders. This was a great success.

We now have eighteen Training Advisers helping fifty seven of our adult Leaders proceed through the various modules to complete their Wood Beads training. This is a far better approach to training and I would like to thank all the new TA’s who have kindly stepped forward to join the district training team that is greatly appreciated.

On a personal note I am pleased to say I have completed the additional five modules required for a DC and Adam Jollans the CC has awarded me my wood Beads certificate. So I am leading by example!! Please crack on with that training and validation it is easy.

Adult Appointments and Reviews

I have carried out some reviews of a number of Leaders in our District Team and I will be completing this task over the next few weeks.
Some GSL’s have been asked to do reviews of some Leaders in their Groups as some of them are well overdue. All those being reviewed must have completed the Safe Guarding and First Response Training or the review cannot be approved. The review process should be concluded by the 15th April 2012 so if you’re a GSL and not done the reviews yet you only have a few weeks left.
So everyone understands why we do reviews, the reasoning behind all reviews is that it is a really good opportunity to celebrate what we have done well and to check everyone is happy and find out if they would like to do more?
We have a lot of good people involved in our District who may want to go up a role but that maybe only possible if they go to another Group. It is also a really good opportunity to deal with some of the silly misunderstanding and issues that happen in our Groups.

Scout Group HQ Leases

We have held another meeting with the City Council and our fellow Southampton Scout Districts to agree a generic Scout HQ lease which will offer us some long term commitment to Scouting in recognition for what we offer the cities young people. Once those leases are concluded we will be presenting them to Groups and asking for each Group’s approval.

Group RAG review

I and Veronica Radford the District Chair have now met with three Groups to help them establish their Group Development Plans. This is a great way of looking at what works well in your Group and forward planning how we could develop and improve our Scouting. Those Groups that have not come back to me with an appointment for us to meet with you please do so. We would like to meet with all the Groups before the District AGM at the end of June.

St George’s Day Parade Sunday 22nd April 2012

This Parade is being organised this year by Itchen North but I am pleased to say Chris Davis our District Chaplain is carrying out the service. Further details will be sent out after Easter.

District Camp 4th to 7th May 2012

The organisation for the camp is going well and a further meeting to set up to make the final arrangements on Monday 16th April 2012.

I hope that every Group have their individual activities well organised. I am really looking forward to us spending the weekend together.

If you have any concerns or queries about the camp please speak to Mike Jackson and George Longhurst who I am sure will be able to help you.

District Website

The web site is proving to be well used and it is meeting its main objective which was to SHOUT LOUD HOW GOOD WE ARE.

A lot of work has taken place to get it to this stage but we would welcome some positive feedback on how the site could be further developed. We are looking for each Group to use their own Group page as a good way of promoting themselves to the Community.

You should have all now signed into the members area if not please do so then you can be better informed and have a copy of the District Calendar and Directory. If you have forgotten your password to the members area please use the reset an e-mail password option at the bottom of the sign in page. At this moment we have 98 members signed up.

The web site has delivered us several enquiries from adults wishing to join us in Southampton City Scouting.

Eastleigh District Scout Shop

Mike Clements of the Eastleigh District Scout Shop in Albrook has contacted me to say he has written to every Group, Explorers and Young Leaders and given them a credit note. He tells me that some of the Groups last year did not claim the free badges that were being offered. Please use your credit note this year, you don’t often get something for nothing do you!!

Adventurous Activities

Please note that any enquiries regarding permits are being dealt with by Lee Budd. Please contact him if you need any help.

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

Hampshire Scouting are holding a parade at Winchester Cathedral in the evening of Friday 15th June and I would like to take three representatives from each Group and representatives from Explorers,Young Leaders and Active Support to the event with a sufficient team of Leaders to supervise them. The District Executive Committee has agreed that they will fund the cost of a coach to transport us to and from Winchester. We may also use a mini bus if the coach is found to be insufficient which I hope will be the case. Further information will be sent out nearer the time.

I would remind everyone that Scouting and Guiding are encouraged to join forces to organise an activity to benefit the community. Please start to think how you will do this. If you want to make contact with your local Guide Unit but are not sure how to do that please speak to me and I will direct you to a nearby Guide Unit.

Sports Events

Unfortunately the Cross Country event had to be postponed due to the weather being terrible. I hope that this can be rearranged asap. As for the Cub and Scout Six a side football that was held. The Scout section was won by the 14th and the Cubs by the 22nd. Well done to everyone who participated. The 22nd Cubs went on to represent the District at the County competition and did themselves proud.

Wilverley

After much deliberation we have decided to continue to use the main route into the site but are looking to improve the signage to the car park, the main car park gate and the road to our Camp site. This will hopefully mean that less people will get lost, especially when it is dark and they are visiting the site for the first time.
We have received £2,000 of grant funding to set us on the road to provide electricity at the site. That fund raising campaign continues.

Bookings are still taken by Peter Hull.  Richard Cook is now dealing with invoices and payments. This shared approach is far easier to manage. All availability of the Camp site is on the District web site Wilverley booking calendar. So take a look and book yourself a event at your District Camp site.

We are holding two Wilverley Maintenance Days this year, 14th July and 29th September. I would ask each and every Group to come along and help us keep the site to a good standard. Please put those dates in your diaries and promote it amongst everyone in your Groups.

Win Your Group A Free Weekend At Wilverley

Your District camp site needs a new camp site badge and we thought it would be really good to challenge every Group to design this for us.

The winning group will have a free weekend at Wilverley as a thank you.

The badge should be all about the building and the forest and nature and promotes Scouting.

Please send your entries to Colin Floyd by the 1st May 2012.

I have attended most District events and have been to the following events not mentioned above.

PL Training Weekend at Wilverley

Many thanks to Stuart and all the Scout Leaders for a really good training weekend. I called by on the Saturday and they were having a great time. We were talking about how scout groups involve the young people in the decision making of the programme and clearly we could improve on that. Watch this space!!

County Youth Council Dinner at Ferny Crofts

I spent a very pleasant evening having dinner with the County Youth Council, We were talking over dinner about how Districts are being encouraged to get far more youth involvement in all areas of our Scouting. This is something that is long overdue and will be a focus for me over the coming few months.

Recruitment Day at Southampton University

Graham Meering and I spent the day at the University trying to recruit the young students to get involved in Scouting. We have very strong links with the University and we are looking for other similar partner organisations. If you work for big organisations could you forward us some contact details of key people that we could approach.

Meeting with the 1st and the local Guide Company

We met with the local Guide companies to arrange a joint community activity between the Guides and the 1st Scout Group. Thanks for to Eve for arranging this. It would be great if you all arranged something on similar lines.

Please don’t forget if you need to speak to me with anything your concerned about just give me a call and I am sure I can help you. Please feel free to contact me through e-mail. dc@southamptoncityscouts.co.uk

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