Badger Hill Scout Group
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Badger Hill Scout Group |
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Latest News - 26 November 2004 Click on any item to see details......... STOP PRESS - ENTIRE EXPLORER UNIT IN JAIL
For many years the Scout Association have operated and built up a chain of 27 shops selling all types of clothing and equipment required for outdoor activities, operating under the name "Outdoors", and which returned all their trading profit to the Scout Association. They also sold all items of uniform for Beavers through to Leaders, as well as the full range of manuals, guides, stationery, etc needed to run a Scout Group, and also provided the same service for Girlguiding UK. As of 1 November, the Scout Association has announced that the chain has been sold to the Outdoor Group Ltd, who own both Blacks and Millets. As we understand it, this means that any connection with the Scout Association has ceased as from 1 November 2004, and the shops will no longer sell any items specifically related to Scouting or Girlguiding. The full range is still available from the Scout Association at Lancing by mail order, but if you are purchasing uniform and wish to try things for size, etc, we suggest you contact the local Scout Group shops listed in the equipment suppliers section of our Group Guide. We have had excellent service in recent times from the Luton Someries shop, and the Henlow shop at Boyd Field has an reputation for going out of their way to help as well. We held a session to test the various staged of the swimmers badge at Saxon Pool during half term, with the following results: Stage 1 James A, Sam T,
Andrew S, Michael S Well done to everyone - several people improved on the level they obtained the last time we had a pool session, and all the people who did stages 4 and 5 did particularly well as they are all still in Scouts and did well to be swimming at this level at their age. There are also several Cubs in the above list - well done! Thanks also to the Leaders, Parents, and Explorers who helped to do the testing - Penny, Helen, Richard, and Amelie; don't know what we'd have done without you :-)) As there was a lot of interest this time round, we may try and run the next testing session at the February half-term, so keep up the swimming, see what is wanted for the next stage, and get in some practice. In Scouts and Explorers, there are water based activities such as Kayaks, Canadian Canoes and Sailing and the minimum requirement to participate in them is to be able to swim 50m in your clothes; even if you can do that, there's still quite a difference between doing 2 lengths of a warm indoor swimming pool and being dumped upside down in the Ouse when you capsize a kayak and having to swim (with the kayak and paddle) to the bank, so the more proficient you are, the better!! EXPLORERS COMPLETE SILVER EXPEDITIONS 15 Explorers went to Cornwall at the end of August for summer camp, a major part of which was to undertake expeditions for the Silver and Bronze levels of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. 12 were doing Silver level, 1 was doing Bronze, and 2 more were doing Bronze and Silver practices respectively. Everyone passed assessment with nothing worse than a few blisters and some aching muscles, despite covering 30 miles in 3 days, including 2 nights camping out. They had to carry everything required for the three days - food, stoves, fuel, tents, clothes, sleeping bags, etc, the only exception being water which could be topped up en-route. The route was a circular one on Penwith moors, an area of hill farms and moorland and extensive old mining activity North of Penzance. The route roughly went from Penzance to Zennor, then almost to Lands End and back to Penzance. One team were camped at Zennor about 30 miles down the coast from Boscastle on the evening that the floods hit, and caught the fringe of that storm which gave a new meaning to "heavy rain"! This is no mean achievement and congratulations are due for everyone concerned, particularly the team leaders Mat and Nick. They must be doing something right, as their teams were virtually unchanged from the teams that did Bronze last year despite the composition of the teams being left up the Explorers themselves to decide. 94% of Explorers are working on DofE in Badger Hill, and this is probably the highest of any unit in the County! YOU CAN NOW BE A LEADER AT 80!! Up until September this year, it was compulsory for all warranted leaders to hand in their warrants and "retire" when they reached age 65. They could continue to assist as hut managers, stores quartermasters, etc, but were excluded from any direct role with young people, such as running a section. Some leaders were quite happy about this, but there are also substantial numbers who felt it was a waste of their experience to be forced to leave at 65, which was also the point where a lot of them retired from work and had a lot more time to get involved and actually do more in Scouting. It is a well known fact that Scouting keeps you young (in heart at least), and many leaders believe that age is an attitude of mind anyway. From September 2004, the age restriction has now been removed, recognising that given the acute shortage of leaders, it made no sense at all to be compulsorily retiring the most experienced leaders around. Leaders continuing past 65 will be subject to the same review of their warrants as everyone else is at maximum 5-yearly intervals by an appointments board, and the board will still have the power to withdraw a warrant or suggest a change of post. What this also opens up is the opportunity for "retired" leaders who had to go under the old 65 rule, to come back into Scouting again, either doing what they were before or trying something new, and age will be no bar any longer. If you were a leader in the past, have time to spare, would like to get involved again, and miss your Scouting as many do, get in touch with us via the webmaster in the first instance Webmaster@Badgerhillscouts.org.uk . We can have an informal discussion with no commitment at all on either side about what you would like to do, and where you could fit in to a very active and progressive group which would really value the experience you could bring with you. GOING SHOPPING FOR ANYTHING IN THE OUTDOORS LINE? If you're thinking of buying anything vaguely Scout or outdoors related, such as fleeces, waterproof jackets, sleeping bags, rucksacks, compass, Swiss Army Knife,etc, etc, don't forget that the group has a purchase contract with Cotswold Camping, one of the largest suppliers of this type of thing in the country. Our contract gets you a minimum of 15% off of everything you buy, and it doesn't have to be just for the Scout in your family - relatives, friends, etc are all covered, all you have to do is produce a copy of the contract letter with the contract number, and you get the discount with good free advice as well if you need it. All Cotswold staff are keen "outdoors" people themselves, and often ex-Scouts. Email Webmaster@Badgerhillscouts.org.uk for details, or ask any leader. It's also worth bearing in mind that Cotswold only sell branded quality kit - there is no "own-brand", made in the third-world stuff like some of their competitors; libel laws do not permit naming names, but the discount with Cotswold often means you can get a good quality branded product for much the same money as an own-brand from elsewhere that falls apart when given any serious use. See their on-line catalogue at www.cotswoldoutdoor.com, if you want ideas, and they also do mail order. As from September this year, there is now a branch of Blacks in Bedford, in Harpur Street just up from M&S on the opposite side. Blacks in fact also own Millets, who have a branch in Church Arcade about 100m away, but we understand that both will remain in Bedford, as Millets cater for the "cheaper" end of the market, whilst Blacks have had a reputation for years for supplying good quality clothing and equipment. Both Blacks and Millets will give 10% discount on production of a Scout record book or other evidence of Scout group membership, and Blacks may be able to give higher discounts on some items for Duke of Edinburgh's Award entrants on production of a logbook, as they are official sponsors and supporters of the Award. If neither of these have what you want (which would be surprising), or you are in the Milton Keynes area, you could also try the Outdoor Shop in Stony Stratford High Street, who also have a good range, knowledgeable staff, and will give discounts for Scouts and DofE. The Vango Hydra 300 hike tents that Scouts and Explorers use came from here, as did the new Coleman Sahara 8 tents bought just prior to Cub Camp, and the prices on both were unbeatable even on the web! www.the-outdoorshop.com. And no, the webmaster doesn't have shares in any of these companies, he's found all this out the hard way! CAROL SERVICE - MAULDEN PARISH CHURCH, FRIDAY DEC 10 at 6pm The Group will be holding it's annual Carol Service at Maulden Parish Church at 6pm on Friday Dec 10, followed by mince pies and a glass of something warming in the hall afterwards as is customary! Richard Winslade will be doing his widely acclaimed double act as the Rector of Maulden, and at the same time Badger Hill Group Scout Leader. This involves him in two lots of "uniform", which at least ensures he keeps warm if it's a frosty night. Previous occasions have been extremely enjoyable even for those who are not of a regular church going disposition, and it's one of the few occasions during the year when the whole group, children and parents, can assemble in one place and get to see each other. If you haven't been before, do give it a try. The church is warm, the atmosphere is friendly, and it starts Christmas off very nicely. DECISIONS TAKEN ON FUTURE GROWTH Our Links co-ordinator Sue, who is looking after new applications to join and also co-ordinating transfers between sections, has done some forward projections on Group numbers. The results are impressive if you're an outsider looking at Badger Hill Scout Group, scary if you're one of the existing leaders, probably a bit worrying if you're a parent of a potential Scout, and a big problem (but a "nice" problem) to have if you're Richard our GSL who has to find the leaders to run it! The numbers Sue has calculated are using the average rates of growth over recent years projected forwards, and take no account of any extra young people coming in from "outside". According to the Scout rulebook, if someone moves into the area who has been in Scouting where he or she used to live, we have a duty to take them in unless there is an extraordinary reason why we can't, and given the expansion of housing currently taking place and projected to come, this is increasingly likely to happen. Briefly, the pressure on Beavers will continue with a Colony of 30 at present, and nearly as many on the waiting list. Following on from this both Cub packs will continue to grow as Beavers reach 8 years old and move up. The consequence of having two Cub packs since Jan 2003 is now being felt in our single Scout troop, which is at an all-time high of 37, and predicted to reach 61 in two years time, which means a second Scout troop is being planned for in the fairly near future. Our linked Explorer Unit will grow more slowly in the short term, but is still gently and steadily expanding. All this expansion has meant that decisions have had to be made about the direction and future size of the group. Experience has shown that given the differing lengths of time that the members stay in the different sections (Beaver 2 years max, Cubs 2 1/2 years, Scouts 4 years, Explorers 4 years), the present structure of one Beaver Colony, two Cub packs, two Scout troops, and one Explorer unit is a good working structure. Were we to add another Beaver Colony, this would eventually need the creation of third Cub and Scout sections, and probably a second Explorer Unit, and take the group from it's present 130 members to well over 200. At a recent leaders meeting, a decision was taken to hold the group at it's present structure and size (after the creation of the second Scout troop), and not to start a second Beaver Colony which would in turn start the process of expansion in the other sections. This decision has been taken almost entirely due to the position regarding leaders. All the existing sections desperately need more leaders, and the present leaders felt unanimously that it was better to recruit more leaders into the existing sections and enable them to run more varied and interesting programs and provide better Scouting to the members we already have, rather than recruit new leaders just to cope with expansion of numbers. If the pressure on numbers continues, it is the responsibility of the Ampthill & Woburn Scout District, of which we are part, to decide how to deal with it, either by encouraging and assisting some of our smaller neighbouring Groups to expand, or by creating a new group, or by restarting some of the former groups in the area which have gone dormant. For example, there used to be groups in Houghton Conquest, Westoning, and Clophill at various times in the past which could be re-started given the support. This decision was not taken lightly, but it was felt the only logical one at the moment. If we have a sudden influx of volunteers as uniformed leaders there is nothing to stop us reviewing it, but this is the current position. DID YOU ENJOY YOUR TIME IN SCOUTS OR GUIDES WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG? Badger Hill Scout Group has been an amazing success recently, and opportunities exist to become an adult helper, assistant leader or leader in all of our sections. All the sections have grown in the last two years, with young people joining by "grapevine" and recommendation - we've never actually needed to run a recruitment campaign! Beavers (aged 6 to 8˝ ) have increased from zero to 30 with a waiting list which could start start another colony by itself, Cubs (8˝ to 10˝) have gone up from 18 to 40. Scouts (aged 10˝ to 14) are now 37 strong, and we have a linked Explorer Unit (14 to 18) which although a District Unit, meets at Badger Hill and is the natural progression for our Scouts . All of these boys and girls have been ably supported by our existing leaders and helpers, and those leaders now need more help in the rewarding and enjoyable running of our growing group. Can you help? One evening a week, or even one evening a month on a regular basis, of help at any level or in any section or ‘committee’ role would be enormously valued by the Group and the Scouts in it. A lot of parents enjoyed a period as Scouts or Guides in their youth, and were able to do this due to the adults who took on the leader roles. The young people we have now are in exactly the same position as you were, and need adults to take on the leaders roles so that they can get as much fun out of Scouting as you did.....! We will provide all the training that is required, and a lot of this is now being done by distance learning methods, recognising that it is difficult for potential leaders who probably have children of their own, to attend formal training courses. The adult training scheme has just been completely overhauled and starts by recognising what you already know and then building on that to provide what you need to know to carry out your particular role. Scout training has always had a high reputation and a lot of it is designed and delivered by people who are full-time professional trainers in their day jobs. You will be supported by all the existing Leaders, the Committee and the District team. The vetting and Child Protection system is effective, efficient and well implemented in our group, and we take great care in selecting and training our potential new leaders. Scouting is fun for leaders as well, Badger Hill has a great group of leaders who will make you welcome and make Scouting a pleasure. Please look around at the rest of our website to get just a taster of the sort of things that we get up to! The Group Scout Leader can be contacted either directly or via Webmaster@Badgerhillscouts.org.uk , or you are welcome to talk to any of the leaders to get an idea of what part you could play. We will be happy to answer any questions that you might have. WORKING PARTY There is a regular sequence of working parties throughout the year, as there are always various DIY type jobs that need doing. Some of these are quite small, and could be done at a time to suit the person doing them, so if there is anyone who wants to lend a hand, either contact the chairman direct, or email Webmaster@Badgerhillscouts.org.uk who will forward it on.
Last Updated : 29 December 2005 22:12 |
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