Acting Group Scout Leaders Report 2002-2003
1st
Wheathampstead Scout Group
We have again had an excellent year in the Group. We have a membership of approx 100 boys,
which is similar to last year
We have as last year had some Leadership changes. Unfortunately
due to family commitments Bev Coleman has had to give up being Akela of the
Delaport Pack after only a year. Many thanks go to Bev for all her hard work
helping and then running Delaport Cubs. At the moment the Pack is being run
with Charlotte Cardross, help from Andrew Sully a Leader from the District
Team, two excellent parents who have offered to be at every meeting and Jason
who gets to meetings when he can. We will of course need to recruit more
permanent help who will be prepared to go into uniform. The scout section lost Phil Hobbs last year
to run the Explorer Unit so therefore they are in great need of more regular
help. The Mead Pack and the Beavers are fine but can of course always do with
more adults . The Beavers recruited the help of Carole Smale as a Warranted
Leader last year. We had hoped that we
had recruited two mothers to open another Beaver Colony but in the end they
decided they couldn’t do it, which is a great shame because there is a long
waiting list, and the boys are 7+ before they are able to join Beavers, which
only gives them a year to get the Badge work done which should take 2 years.
The Scout section has been very busy over the past year.
Their highlight was coming 2nd and 3rd in the Green Beret
Competition –many congratulations go to the two teams and to the Leaders who
trained them. It goes to show the high level of Scouting skills the boys
receive in this Group. A group of
Scouts and Leaders have been canal boating last October and camping at
Broadstone Warren site in the February half term. The summer camp this year was
held at Tipton St. John in Devon. Apart from the rain and the sickness bug it
was an excellent camp. An ex District Commissioner who now lives in Devon
visited the site and passed on to our present D.C. very complimentary remarks
about the boys and their Leaders. Tonight 7 boys will be receiving the Chief
Scouts Gold Award the first Scouts in this Group to achieve this new badge-
well done to them.
The Cubs have been very busy as well. Mead Pack won the
District Chess competition. They visited Duxford Museum in February half term.
The boys raised £29.00 for their Christmas Good turn by baking cakes and
selling them to each other and their parents. The money was sent to help Scouts
in Uganda hold a camp. The boys have been dry slope ski-ing and Line dancing to
keep fit and some of the older Cubs went canoeing with the County Team.
Delaport Cubs have also been dry slope skiing, been on a
night hike and sleepover at the hut. They visited behind the scenes at
McDonalds
Both Packs visited Activity World at Christmas, took part in
the District six-a-side football competition, and had an excellent joint camp
at Lees Wood in June. Three Cubs have been awarded the Chief Scouts Silver
Award.
The Beavers have had visits by the Hearing Dogs for the Deaf
and our local Policeman PC David Groves. They helped raise money for Beavers in
Ghana. Over £1,000 has been raised by Beavers in the District for this project
to help the setting up and running of Beavers in Ghana. At the end of the last
fund raising event the Beavers visited Aklowa an African Village near Stansted.
Four Beavers have been awarded the Chief Scouts Bronze Award.
Grateful thanks go to Keith Whitaker and Bob Hobbs who took
a group of Scouts and Explorers to the World Super Bike racing at Silverstone
to sell programmes and made £535.66 for our Group. Although hard work a good
time was had by all.
The second Group Carol Service held with the Guides and
Brownies at St. Helen’s Church was a great success and looks like an annual
event the date having been booked for this year. We have paraded in the Village
for Remembrance Day and taken part in the Service and paraded for St Georges
Day in Harpenden with the District and many members of the Group took an active
part in the Service.
All sections have got to grips with the new programme and as
you heard from the report boys
from them all are gaining their top
awards.
I would like to give a big thanks to Vanessa Neaves and
Nicky Berkay for being the parent representatives on the Group Executive they
are now standing down. We would like to welcome Rani Baines, Sarah Homan and
Phil Young who have agreed to take their place.
I would like to congratulate Barbara Catterall for being
awarded the Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service, which was presented,
to her at the District A.G.M.
I must of course thank the Executive Committee for all their
hard work. The Leaders are always giving Dennis a hard time by dropping sums of
money through his door with little notes, some of which make no sense at all
–thank you Dennis for putting up with us all!
Thank you Andy for all your years of service we will miss
you. And of course to Bob for being the lynch pin.
The values that Baden Powell gave to the movement nearly 100
years ago are still relevant today. The
aim of the Scout Movement is to help young people achieve their full physical,
intellectual, social and spiritual potential as individuals, as responsible
citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities.
Please think hard, we do need more adults to come and help us give the boys a
fun time in a safe environment. You too can be a very positive part in the
development of the boys in this Group and have a fun time in the process. It can be hard work at times. You can be
disheartened now and again but at the end of the day you will be bringing fun
and joy to the boys and give them experiences that they will remember for the
rest of their lives
Please think hard about being part of the team in
Wheathampstead. All the Leaders we have
in the Group were parents in the first place and were not born with Scout
Uniforms on!! We all started in a small way and got more evolved when we saw
how much the boys get out of Scouting and how much as a Leader you get out of
it too. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a timid boy, who says he
won’t attempt to go up the climbing wall be persuaded to try and then see his
face when he has got to the top, it is well worth any of the hard work. We would
like to hear from any of you. Please talk to any of the Leaders about helping
in any small way.
Thank you all the parents who have helped and supported us
in so many ways in the past year.
But the biggest thank you must of course go to all the
Leaders who give their time for free without whom we would not have the strong
Scout Group that we have.
Thank You Leaders one and all.
